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!

If you are ruthlessly organised and check in as soon as it opens 48 hours before your flight you will be able to chose from the 0 pay seats, at least in twos.

Thanks! Okay so my kids are 6 and 4. One is autistic as well. They would definitely want to sit near one of us at the very least. Flight is a few hours.

I definitely don't want to be a dick and make other families move - this is my concern and why I'm asking on here. But at the same time, £80 sounds outrageous. We are not made of money. I'm a schoolteacher and am working 5 days of this Easter holiday to earn the money to pay for this trip. £80 is a LOT to us. I can't believe the airlines can charge this for little children to sit with their families.

It looks like there are still lots of unbooked seats. So I think we'll try to check in exactly 24 hours in advance and hope for the best... 😬

She is cabin crew and swears it isnt. I trust her over "pretty sure" on MN.

Dont know how true that is

It's bollocks, because there are no "rules" that would allow parents to sit "close enough" (within, say, three but not four seats or rows) to their children.

Ryanair makes parents of under-12s buy a seat for themselves and then gives the under-12 a free allocated seat next to them, which seems to be a better deal than OP is getting with Wizz Air (who in my experience are far worse than Ryanair on almost every measure). Very occasionally someone manages to circumvent this somehow and then comes in here to complain about how they weren't seated together and how it's the end of the world that Ryanair charges the parent £10 and why wouldn't anyone give up their seat for them.

@HauntedBungalow people pay extra to sit next to someone in their party, usually children. Obviously you have paid for ‘a’ seat in the cost of the flight but paying extra means you are paying for a particular seat configuration. Maybe you have been lucky to have been seated together but that doesn’t always happen

I always book seats and on the one occasion I was asked to move by a CF'r Geordie man who wanted me to swap with his wife which would have meant me sitting half a plane away from my DH, he didn't seem to want to take me up on the offer of reimbursing us for the £20 or whatever it cost us. Made for an interesting flight with him huffing and puffing all the way 🤣.

This is what we plan to do... except I think it's only 24 hours in advance.

He is an adult now but when my son was young (he has CP) I paid whatever was required to make sure I was with him. I am genuinely shocked that you are taking that risk with your child with autism.

Flights are a lot cheaper relatively if you just book a basic seat than they were in the old days when everything was included in the price but you didn’t have a choice

This. £80 in terms of booking a holiday is a drop in the ocean. You don’t want to be those entitled people who get on the plane and beg other paying passengers to move seats for their little darlings..

Kindly OP, if you can afford a holiday you can afford £80.

@Worriedmotheroftwo at 6 and 4 and with autism in the mix, you pay. End. Of.

By all means, feel free to be 'shocked, but with respect, you don't know my son or his autistic needs...

I have always driven to Europe so I dont have the seat angst. But my good friend has no reaon to lie. When I say "rules" obviously I mean their T&Cs, and DD is 13.

I couldn’t care less where I’m seated on a plane, I have zero preference so never book a seat. I wouldn’t mind at all moving for a parent and child to sit together.

Well his needs are enough for him to want you near to him (your words) and yet you didnt bother to make sure that you would be.

ETA changed next to near

Do you want to end up in the Daily Mail? I think you'll have to suck it up and pay.

@Worriedmotheroftwo so your child with autism would be happy to be surrounded by strangers and their parent be sat behind or in front of them, not next to them.

Well, their T&Cs are that children 12 and over can sit where they like (or be seated at random anywhere), while the parents of children under 12 have to buy a seat next to them. So there is no "just close enough to meet the rules/T&Cs", because it's either "the next seat" or "anywhere".

I'm sure your friend is not deliberately lying, but the fact that she was once cabin crew does not mean that she is necessarily privy to every secret about every company in the industry. 🙏

Agreed!
Never paid of seats ever.

If it's 3 on each side most of the time its
DC DH DC Asile Me
I think once I've ended up behind them. DH is always the lead on our booking (Man thing) and they always allocate him between the kids. We do swap around but that's the way they are allocated.
Our last flights were a small plane just 4 seats across. They allocated it as one adult and child on each side.

I always book an aisle seat for my leg length. I won't move unless I get another aisle seat. Last time we flew the seats were booked beforehand without any additional cost. Only the extra leg room ones and first class seats cost more.
Both external and internal flights in India were a fight for many to get their designated seat as many passengers sat where they wanted.
Clearly different companies have different rules.

OP wizzair seats a child with an adult automatically - it's their policy.
'During the check-in process, the adult and the child will automatically be assigned seats next to each other.'
https://www.wizzair.com/en-gb/help-centre/booking-information-and-services/with-children/seating-with-children

For the PP with the disabled child - and anyone else travelling with a child or indeed an adult with a disability - if you notify the CAA of the disability the airline will seat you together.

we flew with Whizzair a couple of times with our son (7). One parent is always next to their child (usually the mother), however, the other parent is always seated separately. I believe with 2 kids it’s usually the same (2 children sit with 1 parent, the other one is somewhere separate).
it also doesn’t really matter when you check in, it’s always been the same set-up for us.
we usually ask if someone wants to move, but we don’t mind if they say no

They overbook seats on some flights on the gamble that people won't turn up, if you're on an overbooked flight where everyone turns up and you haven't booked a seat it's probably easier to get rid of you.

Plus we like leg room and not sitting near the toilets with no ability to recline if the person in front of you does.

i wouldnt risk it and i also wouldnt move for you id ive paid for my sdeat which i have on ba and its double what wizz charge