Paying for seats on flights

[user1471508666]

We are flying to America in October and I assumed as a family of 6 would be seated together. Looking on their extras it says you can pay to reserve seats, does that mean even if we checked in together we wouldn’t be seated together?
Should I pay the extra to ensure we are together?

I paid to secure an aisle seat, no reason, just my preference. The middle seat was empty and there was a chap in the window seat.

I was asked to move to a middle seat on the row behindto accommodate a family, I said no, I'm happy here thank you.

A five year old boy was deposited into the middle seat beside me, with his dad in the middle seat behind.

Seat belt sign was on for the vast majority of our 4.45hr journey, so who do you think chatted, helped feed, entertained small child?

Yes, I didn't NEED to, but certainly felt obliged, poor little bugger - we held hands when turbulence was 'rather bouncy"

If you have children who might need some support, please just book seats.
I shouldn't have to babysit your child.

Those blaming airlines for charging clearly don't remember when everything was included in the price, and the cost was significantly more! I love low cost airlines as a solo, hand luggage only traveller. I've done my time!

From my experience of flying within Europe with EasyJet we (DH, me and DD) have always been sat together. I always make sure I check in online as soon as I can which gives you the best likelihood. I also keep an eye on seats available as if they start to fill up, I would pay. To date, we haven’t paid for seats.

For transatlantic or a big group though, I probably would pay for piece of mind.

I flew with whizz air recently. Didn't pay so we were all split up - but it didn't really matter as it was a fairly short flight.
The first few minutes of boarding there was a lot of people (in a good natured way) moving seats to sit near to their family - and the airline staff had to keep asking people to take their seats quickly and stop moving seats!

Some companies do charge and some do not. Depends on who you are flying with.

Which airlines don't charge for selecting seats@livelovelough24 ?

I remember years ago with BA etc you were just allocated on check in but with the rise of cheap airline competition plus bookings and check ins on the internet they started to as well

We don’t pay for seats in advance and have always managed to secure seats together when checking in online - just me and dh. This has been with jet2, klm and tui, I have heard that with Ryan air you are always split..but I refuse to fly Ryan air so don’t plan to find out.

@Flicitytricity If you have children who might need some support, please just book seats. I shouldn't have to babysit your child. Those blaming airlines for charging clearly don't remember when everything was included in the price, and the cost was significantly more!

^ This, basically

I always pay, we go on the Dreamliner and there are 2 seats together at the back on their own that I book, me and DH do not want to sit next to someone else😀

We never pay and just make a note to check in as soon as it's available on the app. With a group of 6 it may be trickier to keep everyone together but you could split into two groups of 3.

It's really interesting reading these threads to see people's varying acceptance of charges like this. Does anyone remember a few years ago when one of the low cost airlines (possibly Ryan Air) was talking about adding a charge for using toilets on flights (no doubt under the guise that it would reduce the overall cost of flights for everyone with strong bladders?)

We pay for long flights or flights on which we are likely to sleep but not on very short flights.

When we haven’t paid it’s 50/50 whether we sit next to each other or not.

Does anyone remember a few years ago when one of the low cost airlines (possibly Ryan Air) was talking about adding a charge for using toilets on flights (no doubt under the guise that it would reduce the overall cost of flights for everyone with strong bladders?)

That story resurfaces from time to time but I doubt it was ever seriously considered at any serious level, certainly not operationally .

I wouldn't mind betting one possibility it was a rumour started or encouraged by MOL himself to keep the company name in the headlines...

(c.f. other rumours such as condideration of standing room only flights/aircraft)

Quite! But the point is that while they spin a load of PR about this 'reducing the overall cost for the average passenger', their profits are being significantly boosted by these add ons. I also can't find any actual evidence that the cost of a basic seat is lower for passengers (only that the advertised price is initially lower). Once you actually get to booking it has doubled/trebled in price.

It’s a fascinating mathematical problem.

Families of 5 are a big problem - you can’t put them in seats A-E without leaving a single seat so they have to be spread over two rows. Even the “book your seats” doesn’t let you do that.

Personally I like the option. When Dh and I were just a couple we didn’t care so didn’t pay. Generally we were together but not always. We were always “near” though which was convenient.

When we had little kids it was very important to us to be together so we booked and that took a lot of the stress out of it.

I remember as a child it being quite stressful hoping you got seats together. It was fine on the way there as we just got there early. But on the way back it was a package holiday so we were stuck with when the coach arrived. In those days there was an added problem in that smoking was allowed on aeroplanes so if you were late and towards the back then you could smell smoke the whole time.

@mewkins

their profits are being significantly boosted by these add ons.

The problem here (again) is the idea the "add ons" are pure profit...they are not.

FY 23/24 the FR group made an average of about €10 profit after tax per passenger...not much of a margin..

If you magically stopped "add ons" (seat choice, checked bags, etc etc ) and tried to retain the current level of basic fares the airline would go bust if it didn't up basic fares.

It's really quite simple, the add ons allow the companies (Ryanair , Easy etc) to offer lower tham cost to carry basic fares and then they hopefully climb back into some profit due the extras that some passengers are willing to pay for.

In those days there was an added problem in that smoking was allowed on aeroplanes so if you were late and towards the back then you could smell smoke the whole time.

Ah, the "golden age of air travel". On Alitalia and JAT it was even worse, because the smoking section was the entire right-hand side of the cabin, so if you were in seat C you were 50cm from the cigarette of the person in seat D. But at least you got a free inedible meal.

I'm sorry if someone has mentioned this already, not got time to read the full thread, but I travelled Virgin last week and didn't pay to select a seat. Admittedly I was travelling alone but my seat wasn't allocated until boarding at the gate. My boarding card didn't have a seat number, so those saying you can choose a seat when you do check-in online, that isn't always the case. And I got a great seat!

That probably means the flight was overbooked and you got the seat of a no show.

Pay
pay for your seats
pay
pay

10000 times pay

I am happy to have the current set up where there is a basic seat price and then add ons. Why should I pay more to subsidise people with additional luggage, or who want to sit together?

If I want those services then I will happily pay for them, if I don't, I'd rather have a cheaper seat.

Just as I would rather have a cheaper seat and bring my own food, rather than.pay extra for food I might not want, but get served anyway.

Except, before the introduction of 'no frills' airlines, where everything was stripped away and no-one booked their seats beforehand, everyone got to sit with their family anyway, because the staff at check in booked people into seats in a logical manner, as they arrived. No-one arrived to find random seats booked all over the plane.

Now that was rational and sensible.
If you were particular, then you made sure you got to the airport early enough to check in first.

And some people prefer to.pay to book seats rather than turn up early.

That seems fair enough to me.

That can include the row in front or behind.

We're doing our first long haul flight with our children in May (8.5 hours) and I was certain I'd pre-book seats - we always do on easyJet/Ryanair and it's usually about £6-8 per seat per way, depending what we choose and if we bundle with bugger cabin bags. I was absolutely horrified when I saw to choose seats for this BA flight was a minimum of £40 per seat, per way, so for our family of four would add nearly £400!! DH said there's absolutely no way we're paying that on top of the cost of a £5k holiday. Apparently we get to choose from what's left when check in opens 24 hours beforehand. I'm pretty apprehensive about it (daytime flight out, overnight return) but £400 seems a massive amount. I keep checking what seats have already been booked and doesn't look like that many, still lots of full rows etc. Anyone have any recent experience with BA and how much choice there typically is when check in opens? It's a Carribbean flight and we're going midweek both ways.

I think people forget or are unaware of life before budget airlines. The whole point of stripping everything down, is that you pay for the services that you want, so if you want to sit together then you pay for that. If you aren't bothered, then you can save money.

You should definitely book. Don't be one of those people who don't and then expect someone who has paid for their seat, to move for you.

BA sit families together for feee, and Norse do if you contact CS.

When I look at flights and the options I do a full booking with the luggage I need, the seats I need and the meals I need and jot down the price. I do the same with all airlines that I’m considering and then choose based on price (I will have already filtered on airport and flight time).

DH and I are flying Ryanair for a wedding and we are happy to sit apart for a short flight so haven’t paid for seating. If I’m flying with my child I want to be sat next to them.