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!

Not a snowball in hells chance that I would move (my paid for) selected seats to accommodate someone’s wishes to sit with their family when they just don’t want to stump up the extra. Pay for the security of seat choice or take the risk but don’t expect others to accommodate your life choices.

Exactly this, and looks like @HauntedBungalow has missed that airlines regularly sell MORE tickets than they have seats for. Hooray for overbooking...

IMO no airline attendant should be expected to ask anyone to move seats...

All the information as to whether you want to sit together or not is in the brief, as in pay to reserve seats with family sitting together and that shall be accommodated.
It's all there for one to read.

If you decide not to pay and take a chance that's on you and only those that feel they're above others would then complain and expect someone else to sort out their "we couldn't be arsed and will take a punt" attitude.

If a random stranger asked me to look after their child on a flight because they hadn’t paid for seats together, I would laugh and say no. That is not my responsibility, and I don’t want that responsibility.

If you don't want to pay for the seats that's fine but then you can't complain when you don't get seats together. So if you are happy to take that risk it's ok.
But if you don't pay please don't be one of those people who cause trouble , is rude to the cabin crew and makes people who have paid move because your child is not seated next to you when actually they are seated ust across the aisle from you.

I would be looking you in the eye and promising to teach your child to swear in several languages, telling them about the Santa lie and possibly letting them share my duty free.

Because you're being a bit of a twit with that attitude, but i am professionally petty and vindictive.

TBH i've never been asked to swap by a parent. I was once asked to swap my lovely aisle seat for 2nd in row of 4 by an Air Korea attendant once so that a very very elderly korean lady could sit next to her very very elderly husband (and then wait on him hand and bloody foot for the entire long-haul flight. I wish I'd said no and spared her the labour). But they were lovely, very grateful, apologetic to have moved me to an obviously worse seat, and kept sending me sweets and chocolate as thanks. The attendant told me i was the last person of about 15 they were going to ask.

Yeah, my wife has a disability, I’ve never known an airline that has refused to prebook our seats without charge. Call the airline and they will be able to book your seats for you without cost. Never done that for more than just me and DW though, so not sure if they will book all 4 of your seats or just 2, but it will halve the cost

I would be petty too. I might not go that far but I’d put my earphones in and wouldn’t give the kid a second look. I certainly wouldn’t be looking after it

It’s not the same.

Whole families should not be entitled to sit together regardless but I think children under 12 should be automatically assigned a seat next to an adult as if the adult were alone.

i mean - i may say that, but in reality i'd be headphones in and eyes closed as soon as my bum hit the seat. But would you risk it? I have seriously grumpy resting face, people take me seriously most of the time. 😂

Budget flights are cheap because there are no frills and costs have been cut to the minimum. Before budget flights costs were higher. So if you want to take advantage of a cheap flight you have to pay the extra to if you want extras such as the security if knowing you can sit together

And actually airlines sell more tickets than there are seats. Which is why sometimes volunteers are asked to take a later flight

Having someone ignore them is the best case scenario too. I ended up next to a crazy lady who was, I can only assume sedated. We had some bad turbulence and she was screaming that the plane was going to crash. She kept grabbing my arm. And there was a creepy man who kept brushing his leg against mine. Like seriously if you want to save £80 then go ahead but your kid might end up traumatised. Perverts and weirdos aren't excluded from flights.

Ryanair and Wizzair won't overbook. They'd rather poke themselves in the eye than pay out statutory compensation.

I believe you should pay for the seats, you can afford to go on the holiday so don't quibble the £80 which will make your lives easier and mitigate any risk of a whole load of hassle when you board the flight.

If people are happy to pay to book specific seats of their choosing why can’t they. I really don’t see why whole families can’t book to sit together

Of course some airlines don’t charge anything for this

I always pay to sit with my children, it’s just part of the cost for me. I wouldn’t be happy to risk it and I certainly would not move for anyone when I prebooked and paid for my seat. Your children are too young to risk IMO.

Indeed. It's the airline who makes the "dick move" by putting passengers in this position when it never used to be the case, and I've been taking cheap flights for 25 years! Their monkeys, their circus, they can sort it out.

And in the summer holidays hardly any flights are cheap anyway and the seat reservation cost for four people can be huge.

As posters have already point out it isn't really "next to". Often it's a seat in front of or diagonally to. If the OP is happy with that then fine. But lots of people have experienced entitled families who expect everyone else to move for them.

Hey I’m here for it!

I've never paid for seats in my life and have always been seated with my children, but you guys have just scared me into paying for seats for an upcoming flight. I couldn't quite afford the 4 seats each way (120 pounds, ouch!) so I booked 3 seats together, and one person (either me or DH) on their own.

I pay extra to ensure I sit next to my cared for in the seats of our choice. No way am I moving for some CF who can't be bothered to do the same, nor would I be looking after someone else's kid.

If you can't afford £80 for seats, you probably shouldn't be going overseas. There's always a risk of unexpected out of pocket costs, usually medical related. Are you one of those who doesn't bother with insurance either @Worriedmotheroftwo?

I wouldn’t risk it and mine are 12 and 17. We like to sit together so I pay for that. I wouldn’t move for anyone! If you want to make sure you’re sat right next to your kid, pay it!

We flew with Wizz last two years to Egypt. In 2023, my DDs were 8, 11 & 14. We were all sat together except the 14 yo. I called them up and asked if she could be put with us and they did it immediately with no issue

I would always pay rather than take the risk. I wouldn't move either. Its sad for the kids that their parents are prepared to risk it, but I'm there to travel or enjoy my holiday, not to improve the experience for DC with shitty parents. I'm sure it likely depends on the time of year you travel too. During the school holidays, who is going to be forced to swap when the plane is full of parents with school age DC.