Airlines forced to seat children with parents

[ibeentothetop]

Thanks Burnham, now it’ll be more expensive for child free people like me to pick a seat. I can’t believe that things like this even need to be legislated for.

This

Also, the airlines will just raise all seat prices to cover the amount that they would lose if they now have to do this without a separate charge.

So if I pay to fly first class and a random parent near me has also paid to fly first class but not booked for their offspring - will I get moved to a lesser seat and lose out while their child gets upgraded? Do I get compensated? Does the parent get charged extra at some point?

I don’t have children. Parents should always be seated with their kids on a plane. Seating them apart is a huge safety risk in an evacuation. I don’t want to travel on planes that have seated people in a manner that will make it less safe for me in an emergency. This should be basic common sense.

I think as far as possible, the person who paid should always get moved to a better seat in the exchange. So in that case, the parent should go down to economy if that’s where their kids are & someone in economy gets a lucky upgrade.

Yes it's a money making scheme...

But perhaps not for the reasons some like to portray - sorry if some have heard what follows before...

The public have been shown to like cheap fares.

Many of the on-line flight selection/booking sites order the flights they find in price order, and/or you can select a range of fare prices you are prepared to pay....

So in order to get your custom the airlines have had to strip as much as possible out of the fares, and then try and recover the lost revenue through the ancillaries - speedy boarding, baggage charges, meals, seat choice charges.

Making money that way allows them to offer low fares but make some profit on the deal (not a lot, on average typically sub £10 a passenger)

if you ban charging for certain bags, seat choice etc then basic fares will have to go up...

BTW someone hinted at there being international regulations about child seating - some regional regulators such as EASA may issue guidance but mostly it's down to the natiional regulator (e.g. UK CAA, US FAA).

I’m glad you are confident he can, because I’ve seen him talk more about bus fares, airline seats and baps than I have about actual serious policy issues.
I am old enough to remember when the PM would be focused on the ‘big stuff’ and small little policies would be for the ministers to be concerned with.

I've always paid to sit with my kids but have always felt it was a money making scam, yesrs ago it wasn't a thing and the airlines always sat me and dh together.

My kids are now teens and too old for the criteria for a free seat. I'm curious whether if I pay and book seats now we will get turfed out of them now because the airline is obliged to sit parents and children together? My 14 year old is quite shy and a nervous flyer and wouldn't want to sit alone.

But a lot of prices for these things were built in (l concede not seat selection) as the old saying goes “there’s no such thin as a free lunch”.

Airlines are not cash cows, look at the number of UK and European airlines that have collapsed in recent years, remember BE, Monarch, Excel, Excalibur etc.

Charging for hold luggage though is not a money making scheme, it’s to put you off checking bags in. Rightly or wrongly they don’t want you to check bags in; it is time consuming, can cause delays and labour intensive.

😂

Exactly. Good luck sitting next to my youngest!

...If you're child free what are you even doing on MN in the first place?

Oh yes, of course this is Andy Burnham's fault, and not the airlines fleecing people for extra money.

It should be bloody obvious that a child needs to sit next to their parent (and not just in front of/behind). This shouldn't need legislating for, but big businesses get away with shit like this unless you create legislation.

BINGO!

And yet, and yet ...

Some ticket structures require you to pay for an in-cabin bag rather than just a hand bag.

Also the cheek when they stop you at the gate and say "oh we will check this in for free ..." No: that was packed to travel with me thanks.

So they don't always seem that keen about non-checked luggage. I think the bottom line is they just like charging for oxygen.

Strange thing about a lot of the general gripes is for a long time people pushed for the deregulation of air travel because they thought it meant cheap flights.

In it came (mostly late 80’s onwards) and fares did go down...but now some aspects of the deal aren't suiting people they are clamouring for the regulators to step in..the recent issue over handbaggage involving I think Ryanair and some authorities being a case (SWIDT) in point.....

This. For all those celebrating that they’ll no longer have to pay seat reservation charges, do they not realise that the airlines will just raise basic fare prices for everyone? The airlines will still want to make a profit. People can’t really think that the likes of Ryanair will just accept taking a financial loss with this proposed policy. I can’t believe so many people seem to have fallen for this policy which is clearly politically motivated.

I love Ryanair, 40+ year record of no fatalities! I’d rather that and some extra charges !

Me too but I guess some people want the cheapest price without the ‘trimmings’ so this way covers everyone.

I think there are potential safeguarding issues, so yes they should do this It surely an'y cost the airlines all that much, they could just improve their booking programs so that children at the time of booking have to be given a seat with parents. It wouldn't need to be the seat with most leg room etc. And I am sure they could make up the cost on their family package deals.

OP - self centred, much. Epitomy of what's wrong with society.

Yep..

The present system allows some passengers to fly for way below cost.

No one should be charged for seat selection. No one should be forced to use an app and be able to print out a ticket.

Stop all these rip-offs, if airlines don't comply, take away their landing slots. And any customer who lies about a charge that does not happen and it is proven, allow the airline to refuse them travel in future.

This rule was an EU initiative originally back in July, the UK followed suit in October. So whether you like the rule or not, it was not initiated by the Prime Minister.

Forcing people to use an app is not allowed.

I dont think people want to sit bext to strange children. They just want tge seat theyve booked for their own reasons... one near the front as they gave a connecting flight. Next to their new spouse in a honeymoon. Carers with disabled passengers. A window seat so they can sleep. An aisle seat for claustrophobia. All sorts of reasons.