Not paying for seat selection with 3yr old

[Tooken]

We've just booked a family holiday to Spain with first choice for myself DH and DD3, DD3 do you think I'll be OK not paying extra for seat selection? I'm prepared to be split up in two blocks of two but surely they'll sit a 3yr next to their accompanying adult rather than say the seat in front? I'd pay to sit together if the kids were older but my logic is they won't split really young kids into a seat on their own?

They can and they will, there will be lots of other families in the same situation who have paid extra- they won’t move for you!

I wouldn't move for you, I've paid to sit with my family, as far as I'm concerned it's just part of the holiday cost.

I always pay, wouldn’t take the chance!

Please dont be an entitled CF onboard. It really annoys me when Ive paid for my family's seats and see other parents asking (paying) travellers to move so that they can sit together with their kids. Oddly enough they always want to sit together right at the front of the plane, for free. Its also a hassle for the airline crew to have to coordinate. If you want to sit together, you pay a couple of pound to be seated together. If you take the seats at the back its only a few pound per seat and you wont be annoying everyone else.

I’d pay too risky, if the rest of the plane have paid for seats you will just allocations wherever they are free. People who have booked seats together with their DC won’t give their seats up for you....
it’s up to you, chance it if you want, but run the risk that they could end up next to strangers!!

Ha ha, people have posted on here before about that very thing. They have been completely split up and were furious, disgusted, appalled in true MN style.

Many of the responses said the OP was to blame for not paying to sit together.

It’s the risk you take, but if the only seats left when you check In are all apart, then that’s what you get.

I’d pay to be sure. If you can see your child that can be sufficient so they can seat the dc pretty much where they like with the exception of bulk head etc. I pay as I prefer to know we are all together an there is no way I’d swop.

Yes they will have to sit your dc with you but that may be at the expense of a party who have paid to sit together. I wouldn’t be delighted if I had to move for you. Also sitting with your 3 year old may also mean they are in front, behind or across the aisle from you so they may not sit you in the seat right next to them.
Dh and I just flew a domestic and didn’t pay because it was a short flight and were happy to be sat apart if it came to it. When we flew with ds last year we paid extra to make sure we were all together because I wouldn’t be that person that rocked up and had to have people who had paid moved.

www.manchestereveningnews.co.uk/whats-on/family-kids-news/should-parents-pay-sit-children-13485626

I travel with young children. I don’t pay for allocated seating. I have always been allocated a seat with my child when checking in.

When we went on holiday with another airline it said that seat for adult 1 and child 1 would be together and then we paid to have adult 2 sit next to us as I also had a baby on my lap. So it might be worth checking. Also I only think it was only £6 each way to have my DH next to us all.

I check in online the minute it opens. Any issues then I pay to move one of us. It rarely happens and I travel a lot.

So the guidance is that children should ideally sit with parents however if no space no more than one row away. this is from civil aviation so realistically they “could” be on the row infront or behind you or your DH

Pay or don’t pay it’s up to you.

Just don’t expect people who have paid to give up their seat so you can sit together. That is the height of cheeky fuckery.

I’d move for you
I wouldn’t want to sit next to your dd3 / no offence but they’d probably cry 😢
All the seats are the same to me
I don’t need a window seat or more room etc

But op on MN 85% of people don’t like the fact that you might get something without paying that you should get without paying

Whereas I’ll just sit anywhere but the pilots seat 😉

Every single airlines T&Cs state that 'seated together' means next to, OR in front, behind or across the aisle from. They also say that 'every effort will be made to...' rather than 'must'. Even the CAA guidelines (note: guidelines, not rules) say the same.

Yes it's shit. Yes it's an extra tax on parents. But it's also tough luck (Or you could just chill and accept that the price when you factor in seating is the actual price and those who don't need to sit in particular seats are getting a discount)

We once were split up on checking in (2 adults, 3DC under 4) in the days before online seat selection. I was annoyed because we used the holiday company's transport to airport and I thought they would have kept a block of 5 seats together when they had child age information. I didn't have much problem asking 2 people to swap seats when they realised the alternative was sitting beside DH and 2 small DC!

I think airline will definitely want a 3 yr old beside their parent.

Just don’t expect people who have paid to give up their seat so you can sit together. That is the height of cheeky fuckery.

Yes this!!
I travelled alone for many years before I had ds. I was constantly expected to give up my chosen and paid for seat for families who wanted to stay together but hadn't bothered to book seats together. I always did but it was a constant irritation. You are being a cheeky fucker if you do this, basically expecting people who have paid to move around for you.

You don’t have to pay but then your DC’s may not be sitting next to you. If someone has paid for their seats it’s unlikely they will be prepared to move.

Yes, they can seat your child in the row in front or behind you and it's still classed as being seated "with" you. It happened to us when our children were smaller (we honestly had no idea this could happen and I hadn't had the sense to ask Mumsnet before flying!).

Nobody would swap seats with us to start with, and the cabin crew didn't help (and to be fair, why should they, we had made the mistake after all). It was awful. Managed to persuade someone in the end to swap so that DH and DS (then aged 5 and super wriggly and loud) could sit together. DD (aged 2) was in a seat next to me but separated by the aisle. We both reached across the aisle and held hands for takeoff and landing, and as soon as the seatbelt sign went off I put her on my lap.

I always pay for allocated seating now, even though my DC are teens and would probably love to be seated away from me

I hate that airlines do this - but my hate doesn't change the policies.

I have a 3yo DD and ALWAYS pay. It's not worth the risk or stress.

Check in inline and then decide if the seats are ok, they do ask

We’ve never been split up - I’ve never paid

On a return flight from America they swapped the plane and several families who’d paid extra were split up because of the seat configuration. We were still together

I pay for an aisle seat because I have a disability, and I need to be able to put my leg out or I am in agony.

Why should I have to move because you’re too tight to pay the peanuts it is to sit with your 3 year old?

Rules say they can be a row in front or behind you.

Pay the money.

I have a 3yo DD and ALWAYS pay

I have a 15yo DD and still pay

I like spending time with her and holidays are exciting.

we had an issue with this last year as after booking the holiday, we went online to choose seats, and the only ones left to reserve on the flight home were extra legroom seats which children under 12 weren't allowed to sit on for safety reasons. We were travelling with dc3yrs and dc18months. We rang up and they said there was nothing they could do at the time, but reassured us that they would never separate children (under 10 I think) from parents. They said worse case scenario is that dh and dc1 would be separated from me and dc2 (which we were fine with), but what would happen is 3 of the extra legroom seats would now disappear from the online booking system and be offered to other passengers as free upgrades on the day, so they could sit us together. I was really worried the whole holiday but it was fine. I was mainly worried as still bf youngest dc, and as she was under 2, would have been on my lap for the flight, so the thought of potentially being crammed between two strangers trying to bf, with her legs on someone else's lap was not great, and I kept imagining them marching eldest dc to sit by herself with randoms, and she would have been so scared, even though they promised this wouldn't happen, I read some horror stories online. I personally would always choose allocated seats as I kept thinking about it all holiday and it stressed me out, paying that little extra is worth it to know there won't be any added airport stress. And this is exactly why you can't expect people who have paid for allocated seats to be moved on your behalf, no one pays to reserve a seat, thinking they might not get that seat, otherwise no one would bother to pay.