British Airways Premium Economy vent

[GingerBeverage]

Just venting really, but I've been separated from my 2 year old in the PE cabin for upcoming 7 hour overnight BA flight.
I booked 4 months ago and choosing seats was always listed as significantly extra (c£50 each from memory) so I relied on their family seating policy. I'd already paid to upgrade, it didn't make sense to pay more.
I checked regularly and seats were always chargeable until a week ago I saw they'd been allocated. OK, I'll move them!
Nope. Cabin is fully booked.
Went on chat and was told they can't help, here, follow this link to complain.
Reply via email 5 days later: You shouldn't have used this link, aka shut up and go away.
The specific seats they have given us are next to toilets centre section aisle, centre section middle, and last row next to toilets centre section middle.
So looks like (we are A, toilets are T):
XX AAX XX
TT XAX TT

If we put 2 year old in aisle he will run away. If we put 2 year old in centre he will annoy the stranger next to him. He's going to cry anyway when he sees he's separated from either me or dad. And the two strangers on either side are not going to want to have him clambering over, nor will they want to swap from an aisle (that they probably paid £50 for) to a centre.

And all this will happen next to toilets which will (if he ever sleeps) wake him up.

I've never regretted an upgrade more. If I could go back and choose economy again I'd do it in a flash. There's no amount of extra mm legroom that can compensate for how much I am dreading this experience.

They said to ask to move at the airport but the chances of that helping are slim to zero. I feel sorry for everyone around us.

So you still have two seats together? I assuming the family policy whatever that is only guarantees children are sat next to one adult not two so they have still followed that.

At the end of the day if you wanted to choose your seats so specifically (not near toilets, a window seat for DS) then you needed to pay...BA really aren't at fault here.

Also you say you don't want DS in an aisle/middle seat but assuming you did have the 2 seats by the window then one of you would be split up anyway which doesn't solve the problem of him crying because he isn't with one of you?

I've learned the hard way you have to cough up to pay for seat selection. Bloody annoying I agree.

If you are happy to be in Economy it won’t be hard for them to find someone to swap with you.

Child is sat next to an adult. I’m struggling to see the issue here to be honest, no you’re not all together but that’s always the risk you take when you don’t pre book your seats

YABU for booking anything with BA, ever, even codeshare flights. They are a low cost airline in all but name.

Sorry but BA aren't at fault here. One adult is sat with child - if you wanted assurances you'd all be sat together and in specific places you should have paid for seats.

I'm confused. From your post, it looks like there are 2 seats together so one of you sits with him and the other sits behind? Unless I have not interpreted correctly, they have provided 2 seats next to each other for an adult with the toddler.
If all 3 of you wanted to sit together, of course you should have paid

You have two seats together. Your child only needs one parent!

Just swap with DH halfway through so you share the load of sitting with two year old

Lesson learned. Pay next time.

Airline policy is usually to ensure that a small child is next to an adult. They’ve done that so not sure what your complaint is? If you wanted to guarantee that all three of you were sitting together you needed to pay.

No you haven't misinterpreted it, OP wanted to all be sat together AND not near a toilet, if only BA were mind readers!

I don't think BA have done anything wrong here. Your child is with an adult.

I don’t understand the problem you or your DH can sit with him? He’ll be more resilient than you think, I honestly think parents make issues where there aren’t any. If it was me I’d be overjoyed to be leaving a toddler to DH to deal with and sitting behind to read my book!!!

I don't see the issue. The child is with the adult. Two of the three seats are the least favoured seats in the middle, which is to be expected if you don't pay. If you wanted to choose seats together away from the loos, you had the option of paying for that. 🤷‍♀️

Sorry, OP, it does seem to me also that BA have done about as much as can be expected here. You are all nearby each other and have 2 seats together so that your child is sat next to an adult. This seems to be absolutely in line with the wording of the policy...

*"We want to make travelling as a family as enjoyable and stress-free as possible. To ensure your family has the best seats when you fly, we recommend choosing yours in advance when you book, for which there may be an additional fee.

If you don’t choose your seats in advance, we always do our best to seat your family together. This may mean that you’ll be seated in adjacent rows or across the aisle. All children under 12 will be seated with an accompanying adult. Anyone over 12 may be seated separately."*

I agree with the suggestion to swap round halfway through the flight so neither of you are doing the full 7 hours and I don't blame you for not looking forward to it. But I don't think this is BA's fault.

Think an airline would define that as being seated together. One parent is with toddler, probably limited by child oxygen mask. If you wanted three in same row or a window seat for child you need to prebook seats.

Lesson learnt. If it's an overnight flight, the 2 year old should sleep anyway, not "clamber over" passengers or "run away". You really should have pre paid for seats so there's not much point in moaning now. It's not BA's fault.

They can only select from the seats bit already chosen by those who paid to sit together. Are you expecting them to move people who have paid and chosen their seats when you haven't?

It's up to the parent to ensure the child doesn't run away when say on an aircraft. This is 100% down to you for choosing not to pay for the service you are now complaining you don't have.

You haven’t been separated from your two year old. Nobody will stop you swapping to the seat allocated to his dad. I don’t see the issue with being near the toilets, they aren’t noisy (compared to the noise of the plane) so why would they wake the child up? Especially on a night flight when very few people will be using them. If you want to sit together you pay; all the other people on your diagram have probably either paid to choose seats or they are frequent fliers who have free seat choice.

You or DH sit next to child and stop them running away. Swop mid flight if you or he needs a break.

Family seating policy generally covers one parent sitting with children. They assume one of you can handle it.

This

I don’t understand the issue. You have 2 seats together so they’ve followed the family policy. What would your plan be if you were travelling on your own with him? My toddler has never annoyed a stranger they’ve been sat next to on a flight, won’t they just sleep or watch cartoons?

Another not seeing the problem. You have two seats together so obviously you won't be sitting the two year old on his own! We usually prefer it this way, means one of us gets a break.