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!

The amount of posts we have seen here on MN where a poster hasn’t paid and is upset no one will move for them because they weren’t given seats close enough to their child as they expected…

…and yet there are still apparently parents with a very young autistic child who are willing to take the risk.

Bearing in mind that sitting with parents can mean across the aisle, diagonally or in front, it’s just unbelievable.

It’s also horribly unfair to a young autistic child. And I say this as an autistic woman with two autistic DC.

If you can’t afford to pay £80 to make sure your young disabled child gets an appropriate seat then don’t book the holiday. Save up the extra £80 and go later in the year.

If you’re unlucky and you don’t get seats that are actually next to each other it’s unfair to your young disabled child and it’s unfair on other passengers.

Nope. Don’t be this poster either.

You said about your child with autism upthread “They would definitely want to sit near one of us at the very least”

You are a teacher on a decent salary. Suck it up and pay for it! Why’d you would potentially subject your child with special needs to being separated from you is utterly beyond me!

We were flying with 4 kids aged 2 to 12 and dotted all over the cabin

If he doesn’t have needs sufficient to require him to sit with you, why would you even feel the need to mention his autism?
I quite often pay for a seat even though I travel alone, because I like what I like. No way would I swap with anyone because they were too mean to pay, unless they were offering me a better seat (which is unlikely as I usually pick the best one for me).

I completely agree. No way should they be expecting people to move when they have paid extra to secure a specific seat, as the airline is always strongly encouraging people to do at the point of booking, let's remember. The parents of these children will have been encouraged to do the same and reminded of the risks if they don't.

How dare the airlines do that, then just decide to remove that seat you paid extra for from you anyway? It's outrageous.

As long as you don’t expect those of us who have chosen and paid for seats to move if you don’t get seated together ( but close) then crack on!

Agree. I'd pay to ensure I sit with my 3 yo.

and what is the cost for train travel compared to cheap flights?

If you are not going to move people so you can sit together thern fine risk it but I how many other people are sick of seeing tantrums over people to lazy to book the seats they want?

I think you need to think of it the other way. That's the cost of the ticket. The cheaper seat is not having those extra benefits, seat, food etc, and that's why it's cheaper.

flew 3 days ago on Ryanair. There were 4 couples all separated into 5 different rows by automatic seat selector no one had paid for seats. Everyone swapped the one person who had paid for their 2nd row window seat ended up front row window seat. everyone happy. Sure Ryanair's policy is to separate couples otherwise why wouldn't they have been allocated together

In your circumstances I would pay.

It is really unfair to your DC to run the risk that they might be seated in front or behind or across the aisle from you (which counts as "with you") when they are so young, have not flown before and have special needs. I also would not want to have both DC with one parent and the other parent at the other end of the plane.

They will definitely allocate you a seat next to your child as they are young. Maybe not all together, but they will automatically book you a seat together, so save the £80. I guess maybe on busy flights it doesn’t always happen if people are asking others to swap. If i’d have paid, I wouldn’t move from a window seat. Even though my youngest is 17, I would pay to be seated together. I’d hate to be sat elsewhere if had bad turbulence etc.

The people reassuring you that you will be next to your child without paying clearly don’t fly much. For a start the “next to” requirement does not necessarily mean seats together in the same row, for example a seat behind would meet the legal requirement to seat a young child next to a parent. Gone are the days when common sense prevailed, now it’s all about how many extra charges airlines can add on BUT if you put it in perspective a really cheap fare with add ons will still be way cheaper than a full service airline fare back in the day. If your young autistic child is not seated beside you of course you are going to try and guilt others into swapping. Don’t be a dick.

I have a friend who is cabin crew. When I told her I was thinking of taking DD abroad for a holiday she said to never fly Ryanair because its known within the industry that Ryanair deliberately sit families who dont pay close enough to each other to follow the rules but make it so difficult for all involved that they pay next time. Dont know how true that is but I trust my friend and have heard enough horror stories to believe it. Especially give that prick that runs it.

I am pretty sure it's true. When paying for seats came in over 10 years ago, I decided to chance it. Dd was 2. I thought that there was no way they would split us up. They did. Lesson learnt!

I mean, do whatever you want, as long as you don’t throw a fit if someone refuses to move to accommodate you.

Or you tell a random stranger 'look after my child for me'

Pay to book seats! It’s really not worth the hassle. I know there will be people who are happy to move but there will also be some people who have paid and will be disgruntled if they have to move. Rightfully so, they have paid extra.
not worth the risk in my opinion.

Nothing I would love more on a flight than to have to entertain some random toddler.

Plus @Worriedmotheroftwo what if something happens during the flight? Do you really want to risk not being near your children?

Surely this thread can’t be real.

I've been across the aisle from my 4&6yos (in a 2-2 seating organisation). It was actually completely fine, but mine were used to flying

My friend got but across an aisle from her 2yo.... he wasn't fine.

It will PROBABLY be fine. Its just what happens if they can't put you together, do have to put you across an aisle, or in two window seats behind each other etc.

Book seats. £80 is nothing. The alternate is being a twat where you force people who HAVE paid their money for a seat to move in the name of kindness because you couldn’t be bothered to pay to sit with your own kids. Don’t rely upon the kindness (and financial support) of strangers to ensure your children travel with you. It’s a dick move frankly

This. I've felt obliged to move to accomodate other people. I book an aisle seat because I find being hemmed in stressy and then end up with a window seat.
To save someone else £80. Really annoying.

I was THAT person when my children were young a few times who asked people to move. I actually flew a lot and never paid for seats, always thought no one paid unless they wanted the emergency exits seats/ extra leg room. Was always happy to move for others when asked and just genuinely didn’t realise it was a thing that people would mind and also never had an issue and people moved. Only happened a few times as mostly we were sat together even on Ryanair. These days I never pay and my children are grown so don’t need to sit together. I would advise to pay for a seat as now realise how unhappy many people are to move.

Say no.

I wouldn't move from the seat I paid extra for to accommodate someone who was being too cheap or disorganised to do the same.

It's their policy that a parent has to sit next to a child, so why would you pay if you're happy to sit 2 x 2 and don't mind where?

Why on earth would you think people would have been happy to move in the first place? whether they paid for a seat or not wouldnt they be sat where theu chose to sit?

I’m going to put a slightly different spin on this….

i was on a flight, one of my children was not sitting with me but next to his grandparent, a few rows behind and on the opposite side. I could turn around and see them. All good!

Until, we hit a storm , high wind, thunder, lightning and turbulence like you’ve never experienced.
Without a word of a lie, no one on that plane thought they were going to survive. People were screaming, crossing themselves and all I could think of was the fact, that I wasn’t sitting next to by son, holding his had, calming and reassuring him we would be ok. It was a really traumatic experience that has stayed with me.

There is also another thread active a the moment discussing people on planes watching porn on their devices. I wouldn’t want my child sitting next to them either.

Its £80, pay it!