Is seat booking needed?

[AccidentallyRunToWindsor]

We are off to New York this year (not long haul technically I know) and I am trying to work out if it's worth the extra money to reserve seats.

It's £80 each way, the DC are 15 and 13 and I thought that as they were under 18 the airline would automatically sit them next to us so we will at least be sat in 2's

Have I got that right? Or should I suck it up and cough up the extra money?

You won’t automatically be sat together and so if you want to ensure you are pay he extra to book

No they won't automatically sit you together but at 13 and 15 do you really all need to sit together?

I think the guidelines state "young children", and next to is also open in interpretation- can be over the aisle, row in front or behind. Not sure if yours would count as young.
You could also end up with a 3/1 split.
If being split up would be disastrous, you need to pay. If you are prepared to take the risk, save yourself £640.

You wouldn't qualify as "young children" with most airlines, I don't think, so if you don't book; you may not all be together.

If that doesn't matter, save the money. If it does, book the seats.

My concern would be ending up in the middle seat.

Your children are over 12 and I’m guessing you are paying adult fees. My 12 year old is flying unaccompanied and would only need to pay extra for someone to look after him if he needed help with the toilet!! My point being that if your children needed help they can come and get you and you can walk to them?
It’s only a 5-6 hour flight isn’t it? I would think your children will be fine.
You might also find you are together. I would rather save the money to spend on the holiday

They seat families with ‘young children’ together but that can mean in the row in front/behind or across the aisle. Yours are considered adults by the airline as they’re over 12. Seat reservations are worth paying for just avoid the middle seat though so would definitely go for it!

You definitely have to ask! Mine are 2 and 3 and so can't do toilet, gas masks etc or much on their own and we weren't put together. Couldn't do it online either so had to phone the airline to sort it out.
Yours are a lot older so I think it'd be more your preference than a need. But book them if you'd prefer it.

Yes we are paying adult fare for them so I guess they won't automatically be sat with us if we leave it until check in to be allocated seats.

I'm not fussed if they are not sat with us but I would hate for a 3/1 split like a PP has suggested could happen. Looks like I need to suck up the extra cost!

If you definitely want to sit together as a family you will need to pay for seat selection. This is another way amongst many that airlines use to make money. Many short haul carriers also charge for seat selection.

Flights to NYC can be around 7.5 to 8 hours in duration leaving the UK so can seem quite long as well (its quicker returning to the UK because of the tailwinds).

It's £80 each way, the DC are 15 and 13 and I thought that as they were under 18 the airline would automatically sit them next to us so we will at least be sat in 2's

They won't. I was on a BA long haul flight Feb this year. A 7 or 8 year old boy wasn't sat next to his mother. Luckily it's half term and the flight was filled with single students. One of them swapped with the mother and got a aisle seat. There are investigations in the US of airlines deliberately not seating people together to make people pay. Before this new pay for your seat thing become a norm, maybe just 3-4 years ago, the airlines have no problem seating groups together. Now they seem to have real problems. I do not believe all those students paid for seats.

This is one of the coverage of airlines deliberately breaking groups

www.independent.co.uk/travel/news-and-advice/airline-seats-caa-ryanair-easyjet-british-airways-seating-allocations-splitting-middle-seats-a8193431.html

They seat families with ‘young children’ together but that can mean in the row in front/behind or across the aisle.

That's how BA sat the mum and the 7/8 yo boy in my flight from east asia. It's a 12 hour flight. Mum in the row in front of the boy.

We flew long haul with Virgin last year, our 'kids' were 19 and 16 at the time and we were allocated 2x 2s, one row behind the other.

We are going in half term as well so I imagine the flight will be busy.

I remember flying back from Singapore as a teenager and being seated away from my parents and loving it- I think they were glad of the peace too.

Agreed that it's a rip off to get you to pay more. We decided to take the chance with not booking seats when we flew with Vietnam airlines a few years back- glad we diddnt, the plane was empty! We had a row to ourselves.

I should've added that when we flew back we were allocated 3 and 1, although the single seat was just across the aisle. Again, not a problem.

We're actually flying to New York next week, but without the boys this time. I'm considering booking our seats as I love looking out of the window when flying and would hate to be allocated seats in the centre. Looking at the seating plan though, very few have been prebooked up until now so I'm playing seat chicken at the moment.

I think teenage children can sit together quite happily. Or one parent can sit with each child. Why are parents stuck together like glue? It’s only 7/8 hours. DH and I have done this and we really don’t care. As long as we have 2 seats together and another 2 seats together, that’s ok. It’s only 7/8 hours! Not a lifetime!

I would save the money. If you are BA you can move seats on check in anyway. You don’t have to stay whereyou are allocated. There have to be seats available to move to, but usually there are.

Students are unlikely to pay for special seats. If they are single they sit anywhere. Usually we have found we are near each other. Rarely, another psssenger has swapped to fascilitate this when the children were young, but generally we were happy with the seats.

We aren't flying BA so not sure that's an option with our airline.

On the 'being stuck together like glue' part- not sure where you have that from? The question was 'would the kids be sat with us due to their age' not 'the world will end if we aren't next to each other.' I'm just trying to gauge from others if the gamble is worth it. I've not flown with teens before, hence why I wanted to ask!

From many posts previously about flying and seats, it is fairly common for parents and children to expect to be together. I went on holiday with 16 adults recently who kicked up a fuss because they were not all sitting together - for less then a 2 hour flight.

Therefore people seem to get upset about the notion of being separated. All I suggested was that an adult partners a teen if that happens. Who can know what seats your airline has allocated to you. If it’s a cheap as chips one, I think you will have less room for negotiation.

Teens are adults - which you know. You know the cost of booking seats. What no-one will ever know is what seats you will be allocated. If you can wait until check in and then move seats if they’ve got you all separated, then do that. See if it’s possible. You know your own DC and whether they can sit on a plane for 7 hours without you nearby if they have to. Mine did lots of unaccompanied flights so some children take it in their stride.

None of us know if nearly £700 means much to you or not. If it’s pocketmoney, book the seats and then you have certainty.

It's £160 not £640 surely?

Get online as soon as check in opens and providing your ticket type allows you to pick your seat then you should be fine, especially if you’d be happy with 2 and 2 as opposed to 4 together. However, if it would ruin your trip to either all be split up, or if some or all of you were in middle seats between strangers with no better seats to move to then I’d pay the money to pre-select. You can do as a PP suggests and keep checking the seat map to see if it looks like it’s filling up.

Yes it's £160 not £700- I wouldn't even be considering if it was the latter!

DSC will be absolutely fine to sit away from us, I will be fine to sit away from them I will glad of the peace! I would prefer to be sat with my husband as I'm a nervous flyer but I have flown on my own for work so it's not the end of the world if we don't get seats together, just a preference.

Good idea on looking at the seat maps- if it starts to look busy then I might have to suck it up and pay. We are flying with Lufthansa- not sure if anyone has experience of them?

Ok. I read it as 80 per person per leg. For 160 (20 per ticket) I'd just do it.

I thought someone said £640 earlier. Who does seat reservations for £20?