Seat reservations

[catcatcatcat]

Apologies for the, perhaps naive, question.

Flying with Air Canada, DH, me & 2 DD's (under 10's). On the website it says we'll be sat with DD's automatically- does this mean if we don't mind where we sit we don't need to pay seat reservations? Online I see that I can select our seats but do I not have to do this then?

Never flown long haul so not really sure what's best & don't want to mess up and then be those people expecting everyone to shift about for them. Thanks!

Does it say you have to pay to select the seats? Tbh we always do pay so that we can sit together. Although they will sit a child with a parent you may not all sit near each other e.g. You could have you and 1 child at the front and your dh and the other child in the middle of the plane. You wouldn't all be guaranteed to all be sitting together

What pp said - you should all be sat near each other but not necessarily in the same row of seats. Could be in front or behind or across the aisle. If you want to guarantee seats in the same row or at least that you're sat 2x2, you need to reserve your seats.

The easiest thing to do is phone the airline to check. The only thing to worry about ime is that "On the website it says we'll be sat with DD's automatically" can be interpreted differently by different airlines - so "with" can mean across the aisles, in front of, behind, diagonally across from and so on. When I'm in this situation I usually just suck it up and pay (begrudgingly), but obviously that depends on you and your circumstances and the costs. Some airlines also let you choose seats for free after a certain point (like seven days before the flight) - if Canada does, and you do this as soon as that function is available, you'll typically also be fine unless it's a busy route at a busy time.

PS: This thread may imminently descend into hundreds of posters calling you entitled and worse for expecting the airline to accommodate you above all the child-free passengers, and how they won't move to help you once they're on the plane because they paid for their seat so why should they, and so on. Feel free to ignore.

Thanks for the advice. I did try to word it so that posters understood that I don't expect us to sit together - just wondered how it works! I'll give them a call tomorrow I guess. Thanks all!