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'm now retired from the flying job so things may have changed but as I recall our company procedures were that in the event of a decompression the cabin crew were trained to initially grab a drop down mask (to protect themselves) and sit tight ( to avoid injury in the possibly steepish descent.

Once the aircraft had bern manouvered/ descended to a level where the crew could switch to walk round bottles (if the altitude was such oxygen was still needed) then and only then would they move around to tend to passengers...

So in the first instance for the passengers it's self help/ help with the mask from a neighbour.

FWIW if someone does lose consciousness in those circumstances they should recover OK after a prompt descent, but obviously such is not desirable.

I take it you have quite severe anxiety around flying? These are some rather far fetched scenarios that you’re making up! DH is a pilot - in an emergency situation the crew take full control and get everyone out as quickly and efficiently as possible. There’s no ‘rushing all over’ or ‘impeding the flow’ as it’s just simply not an option.

This thread has officially descended (no pun intended..) into batshit territory. Parents - if you can afford to go on holiday you can afford to spend the extra ££ to select seating beside your children. Don’t be the tight arsehole who simply expects other passengers to move in order to accommodate your family and lack of organisation.

I'm a tight ass who just wouldn't waste £160 reserving seats.
In 14 years of flying with kids we have never been seperated.

And it was someone in the airline industry who pointed out they won't separate parents and kids because they know in the event of evacuation parents will not leave without their children. That becomes dangerous for everyone.
I hadn't thought about oxygen masks but I bet it's the same thing. They know it becomes dangerous for parents to be unable to help their kids. And are likely to risk other people if they can't reach the kids.

But after many many years surely everyone knows that these low prices are just a starting point, the reality will be as high as you want it to go.

No, I don't mind flying at all - the chances of an accident are far lower than in a road traffic accident. Motorways make me nervous, but not planes. I'd rather be killed outright than catastrophically injured.

I know you're being sarcastic with the energy drinks. :-) It can be fun to joke about scenarios in situations we'd never do for real.

For real, I'd just make out that the kid isn't there as far as what I'm doing. If they asked me to stick the straw in their drink I'd do that, but I wouldn't read them a book or play a game or colour with them (unless I felt like it, you can get pretty bored on planes). That would be in the realm of 'go ask Mummy or Daddy'.

Yet there are plenty of parents in this thread who say they were sat apart from their children, just in close rows.

No idea, i would never be in that scenario because i would always pay for my seats to ensure my kids are right next to me or their dad but maybe this is another selling point for paying for selected seats 🤔

the advice is always to help children before yourself.

Don't know who you have been flying with, but that is most definitely not the advice

Agree. They always say to put your own oxygen mask on first. You can't help anyone if you aren't safe yourself first.

Already responded to this

This is the thing with budget airlines like Wizz Air. If you want actual service, like being able to sit together and a decent luggage allowance, it will cost you extra (a LOT extra!) Very often it ends up being false economy.
If I’m travelling solo for work and I’m neither paying nor intending it to be fun - bring on Ryanair.
If I’m with my children and I could do with a level of service above zero, I go legacy carrier like BA (or equivalent for the country you’re going to).
It doesn’t work out much more expensive once you take everything into account (even things like flying low-cost carrier into Luton and having to get a train into London vs flying direct to Heathrow with legacy carrier can be a hidden cost).

I know you’ve already booked Wizz Air now, but I’d just pay the necessary £80 and chalk this one up to experience, next time factor in EVERYTHING before comparing costs of different flights and airlines.

For those who have unwillingly given up their seat they paid for, I have a question. Why did you do it? If I pay for my seat, where I know I will be most comfortable, I am not giving it up.
I would just like viewpoints from those who gave up their seats but didn't want to do so.
The only way I would give up my seat is if I was offered first class in exchange.

As you can see by this thread, people absolutely do get separated from their children. It depends a lot on the airline. And as for the tight arse comment. Well it's tight arses like you who often get on the plane all wide eyed and disbelieving, and kick off when they realise they are not directly next to their children. Then it's people like me who have planned and paid for seats who are asked to move and made to feel selfish and uncomfortable for saying no.

I am flying soon and have booked a front aisle seat for a good reason. I booked and paid months ago. I won't be moving for anyone.

I think the kick back against corporate greed is good not tight.
the more people that do it the better

Someone asked why you would move if you had paid for your seat......
So everyone can just get on their way and the flight doesn't miss it's take off slot. Sitting on the ground for an extra hour means I'm really uncomfortable and we haven't even taken off yet.

If all the money collected from seat selection charges went in a pot labelled "pure profit" ypu might have a point....but it doesn't.

The charges are part of the overall pricing structure, the cash goes into the overall income pot and allows the airlines overall to make perhaps as much as £10 per passenger over the year if they are lucky (though I think Ryanair are aiming for £20).

Seat charging fees aren't an example of corporate greed...get rid and base prices and or other fees will go up..

I'm not a fan of how some seat allocation appears to be done but I do wish some of those who appear to be campaigning for their abolition would at least admit that abolishing charges won't bring total fares down

Flown with kids numerous times and never booked seats. Have always been sat together. Paying an 80 quid admin charge is a rip-off too far for me.

I'd never move for a family who can't be asked to book seats, any delays etc are down to the airline who attempt to accommodate the idiots... not on someone who has paid up front

If you want to sit next to your children, then pay for the seats you want, booked in advance, its not a great deal of money, on our recent EJ flight to Spain, it was £6 each.
Prices start from £1 per seat....

I've not yet seen a £20 charger per seat unless its extra leg room and an additional larger cabin bag... rest of the cabin seating is cheap.

also ime many people don't book seats, we've left it to the last minute and see plenty of unallocated seating.

it’s non an admin charge though… it is an upgrade fee …. when are people going to get this through their heads 🙄
i work hard to earn my money so why should i pay for someone else’s seat because they couldn’t be assed or were too tight to buy their own 🤷‍♀️
attutude of some is astonishing

keep checking the site (pretending you will be selecting / paying for seats) to see if people are booking seats up! and to get an idea of how busy plane will be etc Does manage your booking show you where your current auto seats are? you may already be together

Just as long as you don’t expect anyone to move for you if you’re not sat together.

Because in that case it would be trying to rip off other passengers.

I agree with you, but Ryanair seem to quite like their brash 'low prices' approach to marketing. I'm no marketing expert, but it must be working for them in some way. But it is all a bit silly tbh.

Not my problem. Those people causing a disruption are the ones who should have paid for seats together. If people quite rightly refuse to move then those causing the disruption should be told to disembark. (Obviously this excludes people who have had no choice, for example in the example cited above where a child was unwell and the family were booked on a different flight at short notice)