Unable to book seats together on EasyJet

[SairAngela]

Hi there,

we are due to fly in a few days with easyJet. Family of 4 with a 3yo and 6yo.

when I checked in online there were no seats left together. So currently we are all sat in various different rows. With the kids completely on their own and many rows between us all.

I know I should have checked in as soon as check in opens, but I work 2/3 jobs, the kids have been sick and it’s been crazy.

when I did try and check in early all the seats were gone.

I called easy jet and they said we will have to speak to cabin crew on the day.

does anyone have experience of this? What are the chances that ppl will swap? I’m not expecting all 4 of us to be together, just one child with an adult each. Which is what we have on the flight back.

no judgment or unpleasant comments please. I’m stressed and annoyed enough as it is.

Try not to worry. I can't imagine that they'll allow a three- and six-year-old to sit alone. The flight attendants will probably ask if any other passengers are willing to switch seats.

Even if that ends up being impossible and the kds do have to sit alone for take-off and landing, ask if one can sit on your lap and one on your husband's lap during the flight. It'll be OK.

There are regulations about supervision of young children- they need to be within adjacent seats or rows I think. They should sort it at the airport or on the plane when they realise

I’m afraid this is why they want you to select your seats when you book - at an extra cost of course!
With any luck you may be able to swap with someone else. If i were on your flight and was asked to swap Id want a refund of the fee I paid to pre select my seats.

How close are you at the moment? And where are you going... is it the sort of place where people might be flying alone or more likely to be holiday makers?

The majority of people want to avoid sitting next to an Unaccompanied 3yo if they can possibly help it!! (Unless its their own child on their other side for example)

You can select seats when booking if you want to sit together. I suspect as it's school holidays other families had already booked seats together. You might get lucky and someone swops but if they have paid for their chosen seats you may find a lack of cooperation.

We're on an easyjet holiday on Friday.

Flying with DH, teen DS and his pal, we're all sat together but that's more because I'm an inveterate planner and checked in as soon as I was told to. If someone asked politely and explained circumstances then we would change seats for sure.
Hopefully there will be similar people on your flight.

I really think they do this deliberately to make people pay!! You used to always get the seats together if you booked for two or three people but now they are always separated by rows and rows of seats! pain in the ass

Easyjet holidays don't let you prebook seats. If you just buy the flights alone you can- but if you buy the holiday package, you have to wait until check in opens 30 days before your flight to book seats. It's really annoying as I want to pay and prebook seats but I can't with Easyjet holidays!

No where near close. Like 10 rows between each of us.

I’m willing to pay, but all the seats are gone. It’s just solo seats all over the plane. Ryanair just allocate adults with under 12’s and I’ve never had this issue with EasyJet before. I still checked in, in advance and no seats together. I clearly didn’t check in as early as everyone else and got unlucky.

If you download the easyjet app and put your holiday on there, it lets you prebook seats way in advance. I’ve done it a few times 😊

I think you would be very unlucky if in a whole planeful of people you couldn’t find someone who would swap with you to let you sit with a 3 year old and 6 year old. And if you can’t, that is about the saddest statement of what our world has come to.

if I were you, I’d take a couple of little boxes of chocolates in hand luggage to give the people who swap with you a thank you, as you can explain by the time you checked in you had no hope of getting seats together but had prayed someone would be kind enough to swap on the day.

If I had paid for seats I wouldnt swap, but if I'd got them free on checking in at the 30 day opening I probably would. It surprised me we could check in so early.

Thank you but it still won't let me. When I booked it, it said that they don't offer pre booking seating on their holiday packages. I just get this on the app... that I have to wait until 30 days before the flight to select seats!

I used Easyjet in the summer but just for flights and I prebooked seats over a year in advance

I swapped onEJ flight a few weeks ago so a Father could sit with his children. I wasn’t keen because I do like a window seat !

I can see it now. What's the betting that solo travellers will be put under pressure to give up their seats, even if they're prebooked and paid for?

To be fair, Easyjet open their check in 30 days in advance and if you had set a reminder you could have easily got seats together (frequent flier here and i never struggle to get seats together if i check in on time). You will have to rely on the kindness of others.

just a reminder of my original post. No judgment or unpleasant comments please. Very stressed, had a lot on. We all drop balls every now and then. Don’t need the obvious stating.

This happens to me fairly frequently on Easy Jet - I’m always willing to pay for seats but often have to travel last minute (flying one adult with two under 4, both who need seats). And their 30 day booking policy means that there are no longer any available options to sit together. It’s not ideal but cabin crew always have to ask people to move to accommodate us. There is no other way to manage it on their system!

Well, it shouldn't be legal for young children to end up alone. It's a racket to make more money.

I totally agree. Thank you for understanding and being helpful.

And have you always managed to be sat with your children?

So those solo seats... did you manage to grab anything that's tradeable currency, or is it four middle seats? Good luck if the latter.

What seats did you get? I will swap for a family, but absolutely not to a middle (and not at all if I've paid to choose my seat in advance).

If you can, try to get windows and aisles even if solo seats, as they are considered 'better' and others in middle seats will generally be happier to swap.

I’d swap if I didn’t have to sit in a middle seat. I’d also entertain your LO if it wasn’t more than a couple of hours. Have done it before! As long as I had a book or two and some colouring material!