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 fly with Wizz loads and have never had an issue with being seated with my son.

The person who said that £80 is nothing....that's not true for everyone?

OP, don't pay for seats it'll be fine

But then there shouldn’t be moral pressure that people should move as you don’t know their circumstances either. My son is autistic but older teenI’ve never braved flying with him yet but we’ve been in the cinema where seats split a family and he refused to move seats so they could sit together as he couldn’t cope with the fact of not sitting in his allocated seat which the lady was not happy about. There’s no way I could expect him to move seats on a plane whilst still trying to keep him calm. I guess people will then say if he can’t cope with that he shouldn’t fly which is part of the reason why I haven’t braved it so far

N’ah, I’m not falling for it.

No decent parent of a young autistic child would risk them not being seated together on a plane and to throw in that they’re a teacher, just further eggs the pudding.

What on earth do you mean?
If the plan drops out of the sky, it won't matter if you are seated next to your babies or not.
If your child happens to be sitting next to a weirdo 12 rows back, that's on the parent, not the airline

Exactly!

MN is very gloom about you must pay to sit together. But it's almost like people need to justify why they cough up.

With a 4 year old and a 6 year old, one of whom is autistic, and a flight of "a few hours", I'd definitely pay to ensure seats that are properly next to each other in a preferred part of the plane for their needs/easy management.

Have you flown with young children before, @Worriedmotheroftwo ? It can either be brilliant or terrible. I've seen small children refusing to sit in their seats, becoming hysterical and needing held throughout take-off and landing... Don't put your own children or the other passengers through that. Do what you need to do (ie, pay) so that your children have appropriate parental supervision (ie, a parent sitting directly next to them) without other people being inconvenienced.

Mumsnet is so harsh! I totally see where you are coming from @Worriedmotheroftwo, £80 is a lot of money especially if it’s to get what is standard on a non budget airline or on a train. If you don’t fly a lot you wouldn’t expect the cost (so while I get the point from the poster about rethinking the fare this doesn’t come easily). My kids are a bit older now and have no additional needs so I wouldn’t pay it, they can cope for a flight sat away from us if needed. I think I did pay it absolutely ages ago (& even then only paid for 2 of us to guarantee my youngest was near a parent) so most flight we have not paid for seats and the kids have always got seats in a row near a parent. We’ve never had to ask people to move. A few times one of the adult seats was further away but most times it was just over the isle as only 3 seats each side of a row anyway.

Oh one other thing I have just remembered when I did pay to book a seat ages ago on Ryan air it was combined with an extra bag which we needed, if wizz do that and you need to pay for luggage you may save yourself a lot

This is their policy! If you are feeling stressed just make sure to check in as soon as you can rather than 5 mins before the cut off

Absolutely, anyone who has paid extra for a specific seat who is asked to move should be reimbursed, plus compensation!
Families with kids should be seated together but it’s not the fault of other passengers if they’re not. People often choose seats because of specific needs which may not be obvious or something they want to discuss in public if a cheapskate CF wants their seat.

I've always been in the same row as my children.

It's just their dad that gets somewhere else.

Wtf? £80 is not “nothing”.

Several threads on MN recently about cabin crew asking passengers who have booked and paid for their specific seats to give them up so that families who haven’t booked and paid can sit together. I’d pay the £80 for peace of mind.

It might depend on destination too. We had good experience with Wizzair. They seated us 2x2, each parent with a child we didn't have to swap or anything. Yes check in as soon it opens.

It may have been front and back of plane but the twos next to each other.

Ryanair is worse they would do the 2 window seats behind each other or opposite end of the same row, but Wizzair was ok. Do some more reading on forums I paid extra for Ryanair seats but not for Wizzair seats (and actively seek Wizzair flights if possible).

Fingers crossed, have a great holiday!

Now that I get. Paying to pick seats with extra leg room.

Agree with you but it’s unfair to say £80 is nothing. I would build this into the budget though op even if it meant saving up longer.

My dh wanted to chance this on our kids first flight. They were 2, 6,and 7. I said no from a safety point of view and stumped up the cash, I factor it into the cost. It isn't any cheaper for the rest of us who book our seats. I find your behaviour selfish. It isn't fair to hold up a flight to get stuff like this sorted when it could easily be done before. All those who say they don't separate kids and parents, have just the same amount of posters saying that they do. You can be sat behind, infront or across the aisle. That isn't the same as next to!

A 5 year old was sat next to our 2 year old and the mother directly behind. She asked dh if he would swap and couldn't comprehend that he wouldn't leave our 2 year old without a parent next to her for her 5 year old. An air hostess intervened, told dh she wouldn't expect him to move and leave our 2 year old and said she would ask others instead. They did an announcement and one solo female traveller did in the end. The lady wasn't particularly happy about it mind and did say to the mother that it could have been avoided had she just booked her seats.

I resent the fact that families with young kids are pretty much forced into paying extra for this, one of my dcs would be fine there is no way the other would accept sitting on his own

assuming you are flying in school hols everyone else wil be paying so I’d just pay. That said you could just keep checking how many seats are available and if still a few when it’s online check in time hope for the best.

I’ve just flown back from abroad with Ryanair and am pleased I didn’t pay because I was allocated a middle seat and had a row of three to myself, happy days. But in school holidays going to a sun destination you can pretty much guarantee wizzair to be full and almost all families will have paid up

Me either, especially now I’ve read so many entitled posts on this thread.

As long as you don’t expect other people who have chosen and paid for their seats to give them up so you can sit together.

My flight last year family of 3 didn't book, no seats available together so crew made an announcement asking for someone to swap, no one wanted to as we'd all paid for seats. In the end my parents swapped for take off (crew said plane wouldn't be leaving until someone did) to allow dad and daughter to sit together and then they swapped back after take off although the dad and daughter tried to stay in my parents seats. Don't be that person.

I think the policy refers to infants, not all children.

I've travelled with my autistic (now adult) children and I spoke with airlines directly- most allowed at least one pre booked seat for free as they needed someone with them during the flight. They may also allow things like fast track through security and access to a quiet lounge at the airport (UK side at least) if these would benefit

A plane falling out of the sky is not the only thing that can go wrong on a plane. I was thinking of it having to be evacuated at ground level, either before taking or after an emergency landing; or extreme turbulence during the flight causing chaos, or the plane being hijacked but not with the intention of crashing it.

Flying for 18 years with kids never reserved, never had a problem. For those who’ve been asked to move just can’t fathom why you don’t just say No. Waste of money to reserve another way airlines profit. £80 can get you nice meal out when you’re there. Happy hols.

It offends me on principle to pay for a seat. But whether I coughed up or not would depend on the airline. Ryanair I would suck it up because in my experience they seem to go out of their way to split fsmilies up so you have to cough up - when I was travelling with my DH we'd just accept sitting separately but I wouldn't risk it with an autistic dc.

Other airlines seem to put families together anyway so I wouldn't pay extra.