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 also still don’t really see why people won’t move if you are swapping like for like, ie window with window and don’t ask people sitting together to move or for people to move far from their luggage. Personally I always just offer my seat up if I see people who would like to sit together as I don’t care where I sit. We all get there at the same time!

Because they dont have to move, why cant people just book the seats they want in the first place? that would be logical

Different seats have different safety profiles, some have different leg space. If someone has chosen a particular seat and paid extra for it, they have their reasons. It's not for you or anyone else to challenge. If you don't care, fine, others might.

I don't mind if someone finds they have to leave their young child next to me. I have a good capacity to shut out other people's children when I want to.

Flights with low cost airlines are sold cheap and then upsold - it has been a standard practice for years. If you want to guarantee seats, you need to factor it in the inclusion of your flight price

If you are happy to be sat away from your children (next to is technically one row away and can be diagonal or across the aisle) then run the risk and don’t pay

I haven't flown Wizz Air. With EasyJet I set an alarm to check in (30 days before). Have always had sensible seats. Usually 4 across (3+1), sometimes 2 in 1 row, 2 behind.

Why does it cost so much to choose a seat.
We used Air Asia a lot when in SEA and it's about £2 to choose a seat!

Either pay or dont be annoyed when people refuse to accommodate your poor planning

I wouldnt move, i pay for the seats i want

I fly Ryanair at least twice a year. This is simply not true. Since my kids got older I don't pay for the seats and we are rarely together but we are usually relatively near, think 1 or 2 rows apart. It's not difficult. When the youngest was small you have to pay for a seat next to him and I forked up for that so I could sit next to each other.
For a 2 hr flight I'm really not bothered and nor are the kids. We just sit and read or play games or whatever and I buy everyone snacks so they have their own at their seat.
Why Ryanair are is very bloody clear that everything is chargeable. And the rules are fairly easy to find. I personally like the fact that I can not pay for bags or seats because I don't need them and my flight is cheaper as a result of not paying for things I don't need.

Because the airlines like to keep the headline cost low then make their profit from the extras like seat selection and extra baggage.

Apparently easyjet for example makes on average £5 per customer.

If that ever happens to me i will be offering the kid an energy drink on landing

enjoy parents.....

No, be this person. I have stopped buying seats. It’s great.

Yes I get it, I am just pointing out that if you like me are an easy going person who genuinely don’t mind swapping a seat, then it wouldn’t necessarily occur to you that it would be an issue for others. Now there has been so much in the press about and I have read threads on MN, I obviously know and wouldn’t do it. I still always offer to swap if I travel alone and I see a couple who might sit together as it just seems the done thing to me 🤷🏻‍♀️

I'd just laugh and ignore the kid no matter what. It's not my problem to look after their kid. If they're distressed or whatever, they can get up and come deal with it. I'm doing whatever I'm doing.

I always select and pay for my seats, even without kids. I'm fussy about where I sit, and it's part of the cost of the holiday. Just do it, OP, and remove the stress.

The couple could have booked together, the done thing, but didn't. So no need for you to change anything for them. If you don't care, sure, but it's not being 'uneasygoing' to say no. If I saw you moving I'd just hope you weren't one of those poor people who can't say no and didn't feel they could.

There’s going to be an event with an emergency on a plane and all emergency procedures will go out the window because not everyone will be sat together and will be trying to find their loved ones.
I can’t believe they even got away with charging more to sit next to your household during Covid times!

Your children are 4 and 6. And it seems as if you have no (hardly any?) experience flying with them.

Autism is simply an additional factor. But their ages alone make it obvious that they’ll rely on actually sitting next to a parent.

so how could you risk not sitting next to them? Or expect somebody who selected their seats to move their seat for you and your DC?

If I’d paid for my seat I wouldn’t move for someone who hadn’t, on principle.

I just figure the kid has had a long day, they may need the energy pep, im sure the parents want to see their cherub all awake and alert

till 5am......

It's dangerous to give kids that young energy drinks, so I can't get on board with actually doing it but, in principle, I totally agree with the idea. :-)

Or maybe just tell them Santa isn't real. Except that would be mean to the kid rather than just giving the parents something to deal with.

@PyongyangKipperbang i don’t think that’s true. Mainly because I have just booked with Ryanair and their booking process for parents/ children meant that we selected our seats at the time of booking (several months in advance) for free. Lots of £0 seats to choose from to ensure parents could sit with their children. There were also (presumably more desirable) seats for £7-15 or something if you wants to pay extra for that.

We always book seats. £80 is nothing for peace of mind

This topic comes up every single year without fail. You pays your money and you takes your chance.

It is the luck of the draw, and if your flight is full of small children, your chances of getting together will be diminished if you choose not to pay.

The question is, whether the OP is prepared to manage any consequences of her actions.

I wouldn't mind moving if it was exactly the same seat, but not everyone would so it's a big risk. I wouldn't move if the seat was worse or if it meant I wasn't seated with whoever I was travelling with

The cost of a flight where you care where you sit or who with, and have choice and control over it is £20pp more than the cost of a flight where you don't care where you sit or who with (and can so be slotted in anywhere to fill in the gaps, thus being more convenient abd cheaper to serve for the airline). Paying only the cheaper price for option (b) but expecting to be just given the more expensive option (a) service is a dick move. Don't start your holiday with being a dick. By all means go for the cheaper service if you are ok with then just accepting what you end up with and not asking for any swaps (this could include your child being "next to" you in the row in front or behind, so within reach to pass them a sweet or a tissue, but not next to you hip to hip). Moaning about whatever you are allocated until someone who paid is guilt-tripped into swapping is ethically as bad as theft.