Not selecting seats on plane... risky?

[Worriedmotheroftwo]

Flying with Wizzair. 2 parents 2 children. Not selected seats. Selecting seats for all 4 of us would cost us £80 total. Their policy is to seat a parents with a child...

We will obviously try to check in and get seats sorted at first opportunity. Happy to be split up as long as each of our children is with one of us. But what if the plane is full of people who have booked seats though and there's not 2 pairs of seats available for us? Would we not get to go on the flight?

On one hand, £80 is a lot of extra money. On the other hand, I don't want us to not get on the flight at all!

We haven't travelled much with children so not sure how risky this is. Would welcome opinions. Many thanks!

I think it’s ridiculous you have to pay extra to sit with your children. A booking of two adults and two children should automatically place an adult with a child. The booking of seats started off so that people could pay extra for a bit more room or a window but the fact that it exists means you now have to pay extra to ensure your small child isn’t on the other side of the plane to you. That said, I once booked a package and didn’t realise I needed to contact the airline separately to book seats so didn’t and they seated the four of us (including a 4 year old) completely separately. It was stressful and I wouldn’t risk it again so I would just book them but I don’t get why people are so accepting of it.

This with bells on:

“Think about it differently. The base price is a discount for people who don’t care where they sit and don’t want to pay for checked or large hold luggage. You do care so you don’t qualify for the discount.”

If DH and I fly without ds we don't book seats, we are happy to sit wherever and not next to each other. If we fly with ds we always book because he talks a lot and asks millions of questions and I don't want to subject strangers to that so we book him the seat in between us.
I wouldn't move for a family who didn't want to sit one behind the other and I wouldn't be looking after someone else's child either. It's part of the cost of the holiday of you want to sit together, focus are much cheaper than they were when allocated seating was included.

Kindly, OP, - if you want to guarantee that you are sat together- pay the £80 and prebook.
If you aren’t that fussed- don’t. But if you don’t, and you aren’t seated together, you’ll have to suck it up. None of this giving the Airline staff grief or guilt tripping other passengers to move.

We always pay to sit together on flights, yes it’s more expensive but there is no way in hell I would fly if I couldn’t sit with my kids. We are their parents, it’s our responsibility to look after them and imo that means swallowing the costs of booking seats.

I’m really shocked that people with kids take a chance and rely on the kindness of strangers to move. It’s bloody cheeky in my opinion.

Not to scare you but I flew home with easyJet last year ( 4 hour flight ) and my 6 years old was 7 rows behind me , luckily she couldn’t care less as very independent but they can and will!
A lovely man offered to swap with her but she said she was fine with her iPad .
If she was a more sensitive child I would have paid

If you can’t factor in £80 extra on a foreign holiday stay in the uk.

I feel the same about people who start go fund me pages when they don’t buy travel insurance and disaster strikes.

And if I was seated next to an autistic 4 year old for a few hours who really wanted to be sat with their mother/father but said parent couldn’t justify spending £80 to ensure that would happen the air would turn blue.

Check out wizz airs family policy.
I’ve never been separated on wizz air and never paid for seats.
Saying that I don’t think our daughter would mind being parted from us. And she’s a great flier so probably would be fine to be separated but that’s never happened (and we fly loads)

Take the risk, but don’t be one of those annoying parents who expect others to move because you could not be bothered to pay to be seated together.

Never paid for specific seats. Never been an issue.

You say one of your children is autistic and ‘would need to sit near you’ so don’t risk it for the sake of £80. Save £80 somewhere else in your life but I wouldn’t risk it and have the stress of it hanging over me.

They do automatically sit the children with an adult(usually one adult with 2 children and the other adult somewhere else random) so I wouldn't pay if that's ok for you.

Sometimes people do offer to swap too so everyone together when we have been split up I haven't asked or expected it though.

I don't get this weird moral pressure that you should pay.

i was reading an article about air ticket prices recently. The problem found through research is that most passengers only look at the headline fare before deciding who to book with. That’s why the likes of British airways etc have ended up having to follow the likes of Ryan air because people were just seeing that they were charging £100 for a flight when Ryan air were charging £15 and didn’t take into account the extras included in the £100.

Did this once years ago when booking seats was a relatively new thing. my 2 aged 9 and 5 had to sit together 2 rows behind me and 2 rows in front of DH, it was a nightmare. And this was after I phoned the airline panicking and this was the best they could get us.

I always pay for seats now, I factor it in to the cost of the holiday. I had someone in september try and get me and DH to move so she could sit with husband, we said no, we had paid and it was awkward,,,,,and I was the one that came off looking unreasonable for not moving.

And, I probably earn less than you

I frequently travel with my child and the only 2 airlines I ALWAYS pre book seats with are Ryanair and Whizz. Every time I’ve flown with them I’ve seen families find out they are sitting in separate seats then starting the debate with cabin crew about being moved; cue other passengers either rightfully not moving, kids crying and families getting stressed.

In my experience most airlines are fine but those 2 don’t budge on the policy. It can make for a very stressful start to your holiday.

Sadly, it will take a tragedy happening before airlines rethink this.

I didnt know people did this and expect other people who have paid extra to have specific seats, to move. I wont be moving, I pay extra to sit in particular seats.

I was initially going to say don’t pay, but interesting how many people say they wouldn’t move. I genuinely had no idea how many people paid for seats!
We were asked to swap on a tui flight and as a thank you got free food and drinks throughout it. I’d happily do that again !
DD (adult) and I flew with Ryanair and didn’t pay for seats. Neither did another mum and her daughter (not people we knew). Both of us were sat in the extra legroom seats one aisle behind each other, so the two girls swapped seats. It did feel like we’d been deliberately seated apart but clearly the seats left were the more expensive ones.
So I wouldn’t pay for seats but if I had a child with ASD then I would, unless contacting disability means they guarantee your seats now. Stressing for weeks beforehand isn’t worth it - do one extra day supply instead.

Unless you're happy to all sit separately then you need to pay the fee

No, they automatically sit infants and parents. I’ve seen children being sat in different rows- as reflects the experiences of many other posters on this thread.

Surely they won't be the only people on the plane who haven't booked seats, if this is what it costs? So they probably won't have to "force people who have paid to move", the airline can slot them in by moving round some of the others who haven't paid either?

Check in as soon as it opens online and you will be fine. Set an alarm to do it the moment it opens. I have 3 small kids and this method has worked for me numerous times. The seat booking charge is ridiculous

That's why they don't separate parents and kids. They know it will lead to a plane not being evaluated in 90sec.

If parents are daft enough to want to pay for seats their choice but my experience airlines won't separate young families.

They will sit the children next to one of the adults though - that's their policy so it's not a risk.

I've flown Ryanair and wizzair a lot and always been next to the children without paying.

Budget airlines are on very tight turnaround times. That's part of how they keep costs low.

Asking staff to calculate who has and hasn't paid for seats, and doing the gymnastics of moving those around to accommodate someone too mean to pay a few extra quid, is obnoxious.