Seating on plane

[Seriously79]

We are planning to fly to Florida at the end of July.

We haven't booked seats, and are wondering if we should.

We are led to believe that the 3 year old and 11 year old will automatically be seated with a parent.

We will have a 13 year old and a 14 year old, who, if we don't pre book, could be seated anywhere, possibly away from the main party.

We are led to believe that they try to keep groups together, depending on what has already been pre booked.

Anyone got any experience of this? Would you pre book for young teenagers?

I do, I wouldn't want to sit away from DD (for my sake, rather than hers). I wouldn't move for someone who wanted to sit with their children and hadn't booked, so wouldn't ask anyone else to either.

'Seated with a parent' usually means 'near' (maybe check the wording with the airline?) so I think they can put your younger child across the aisle or in front of you next to a stranger etc. If you can pay for seats together, a lot of people do so they can't always accommodate families together I guess.

Yes please do book - its a very long flight for your children to be sat next to strangers far away from you.

Its very unlikely they will have 6 seats together if you arrive on the day.

They wont always have seats left together at all - ive been asked if I could move before on a flight as a family with young children needed seats together to fly but hadnt bothered to book them - its so selfish to expect that when others have paid for their seats.

Florida is an expensive holiday, i know its a pain but its not much on top of the holiday cost so book seats together and enjoy the flight as a family.

You don't say who you're flying with but to the best of my industry knowledge BA systems will automatically try and allocate 6 or more passengers on the same booking reference together as a group.

Thanks all. @ImInStealthMode yes we are flying with BA.

@Seriously79 Can't promise of course but I had a query on a group of 6 last week and was told they'd been auto-allocated together by the system.

The issue with relying on the auto allocate is when other people then prebook their seats which can move your non-paid for auto allocations around, and can mean you are no longer together. The paid for groups will be given priority over non-paid for seats.

'Next to' - even with a 3 year old - can (and has happened many times) mean in front of, behind or across an aisle. You have to be willing to accept this or be the person trying to guilt trip other passengers to move from their booked seats on the plane, causing a stressful start to your (and the other passenger's) holiday. The older children are more likely to be away from you in such situations, and will often be separated and placed in middle seats - these are often least popular seats for prebooking so often the ones left over.

I always book, even though we are all adults, as I want to be dat next to dh and dd, especially as I'm not a huge fan of flying.

Not this old annual chestnut? Book and pay for reserved seats, only take the risk if the end result doesn’t matter.

every year without fail there are MN posters exclaiming their horror at being separated from their child for being too tight to guarantee seats together.

If you want to be sat together pay.

if you don’t mind the risk of being split up don’t pay. But don’t expect others who have paid to move!

Florida at the end of July will be a flight full of families. They will make sure any child under 12 is beside an adult (this can however mean across an aisle or in the row infront or behind in airline speak). You might be in middle seats . They only allocate seats to people who haven't prepaid about 2 or 3 days before travel and you will be allocated seats as best they can from what is left and try and keep people together. However there will be other families in the same boat so expect to be split in some way. If you are happy with the above then don't pay. If you have any preference at all (window, all being together, near the front etc etc) then you need to pay to get it.

No flight company will definitely seat you together without paying If you or your children will be upset or unhappy with being sat apart, then pay don't push that onto other passengers by either asking them to move or have your annoyed or distressed teenager next to them on the long flight.

It is a long flight. If you don't pay, your 13 and 14 year old will get unpopular middle seats probably a long way from you.

Hi, I'm ex cabin crew. The best advice I can give Is if you can afford it book the seats together. You may be allocated seats in front or behind or across the aisle from your younger children.

If you don't and you are separated the crew may make a pa asking other pax to change seats (they may not also). It is unlikely but if the other pax have paid to choose their seats and you have what is left it is a really difficult situation.

Some children do fly unaccompanied and there are guidelines around this so sitting a child on their own isn't unheard of.

If you can't afford the pre book, get to check in early and be very nice and very clear with the staff, also if they do manage to help be prepared for some of your party to be split up.

Hopefully it won't be a full flight and you'll be accommodated.

The idea that a family of six travelling to Florida in the school holidays can't afford to pay for allocated seats is clearly absurd.

It is so much easier if you're altogether. Especially if your teenagers are as dozy as mine are!

I would always book seats, I want to sit with the people I'm travelling with. If your not fussed then don't boo but if you want a guarantee your seats will be together you need to book them.

I never said that we couldn't afford it.

There are actually 10 of us flying.

I once was too shy to refuse to move from my carefully chosen window seat to a middle seat at the request of a CF who wanted to sit with his kids. He obviously saw a teenager travelling alone and (rightly) thought I wouldn’t be able to say no.

I’ve only been asked once since (by the flight attendant) and on discovering it was again a move from a window seat to a middle seat on a very lengthy journey, I declined.

Basically, don’t assume you will be able to swap to sit with even the 3 year old (although you’ve got a better chance if you are offering to swap your window or aisle seat for a middle seat) or that the flight attendants will insist.

Definitely book together. I always do, many do and I often see families who haven't and are scattered across the plane and pissed off about it. I've had people ask us to move so they can have our extra legroom seats because they're taller than us. I've had people ask us to move because they want to sit together. I've even had people ask us to move halfway through a flight because we have had "enough time with the window seats" and their kids want a turn. Sorry, but no: pay for the seat you want

Nobody is going to move for you, I book and pay for seats for my own reasons, and I pick a different flight if I can't get ones that suit.

It's part of the holiday budget.

"Next to" in plane tickets can mean in front of or behind or next to.

If you really want to sit next to each other you really have to buy seats in advance nowadays.

If I had paid for my seat and a family next to me hadn't but got split up I'd feel very conflicted.

I can understand the need to sit near each other but on the other hand why should I give up my paid seats?!

I wouldn’t feel conflicted at all. Maybe that makes me a cow but so be it!

in July me and my partner are going away for a few days, our first trip away together without caring duties. We have paid to sit together. We are sitting together. If others don’t want to pay that’s the risk they take

My family of 5 flew to Florida a few months ago. Our original seating was the 3 kids (10,8,5) all sitting together, my husband on his own 5 rows back and myself about 15 rows back. For some reason the children’s tickets were classed as adults so we were literally all over the place. I noticed this about 2 days before we flew, called the airline and they changed us to a 3 and a 2 arrangement (after I waited on hold for 90 mins). I think it’s quite risky to wait and see.

If you can afford it, what's the point of risking unless you don't care? You may get lucky, or you may not. Why risk it if you can prevent it? Sounds silly to me.
Pay if you want to sit together. Don't pay if you really don't care, but don't expect others to move for you.