Booking flight seats

[Nannianni]

More and more I’m hearing of passengers bei g asked to move seats , even if paid for seat . My friend booked 3 seats together , asked to move for famiky of 7 , so young children could sit together. Flight attendant said flight could not leave unless children with parents!
speaking to
Others this seems to be happening more and more . Harassed/guilt trip by other passengers and cabin crew.😡😡😡😡

But this system isn't working well by the sound of it given that the passengers paying more to choose a seat aren't then guaranteed that seat.

I'm firmly in favour of charging more and either allocating people seats together from the get go, with the option of changing your allocation on check in depending on availability. That's how many airlines used to work and some still do. It takes away that lowest cost option of course but it seems quite rare that people don't end up piling on the extras. I'd also just include a baggage allowance. There's nothing more annoying than spending ages trying to cost up a flight for my family, trying various departure and arrival airports and times/dates etc, and then finding that the ones I've landed on are actually totally unaffordable once I add some of the basic options on.

The solution is to allocate seats when they take the booking and include the fee in the ticket price. If you want to buy a ticket and there are no seats left together you're not allowed to buy a child's ticket.

Definitely. It is actually a safety issue for other passengers, since in the event of an emergency landing, parents seated away from their kids would try and get them. It would be more sensible if airlines pointed out to people that part of keeping everyone as safe as possible on planes involves parents and children sitting together, and it's a collective expense you don't get to opt out of. And also fairer than picking on people who may have paid for a particular seat for a reason.

This is a problem that the airlines have created due to their greed.

I think Ryanair are the only ones I know of that let 1 adult sit with children for free. Although only on certain rows so once full you need to pay a little to sit together.

It happened to me and DH years ago pre children when we were asked to move. Although it was a mum with a newborn baby and her husband. They wanted us to move to their regular seats and they would take the seats we paid for at exit with extra legroom. I felt awful for saying no. For 1 it was a long haul flight and we had paid about £100 each extra for those seats. The staff mentioned nothing of getting a refund or anything. They were fine with us saying no. My DH is 6ft 4 his legs don’t fit in normal seats comfortably.

The lady did take the one spare seat and sat beside us with the baby. Then proceeded to use the bassinet which meant we couldn’t get out of our seats to access toilet or anything as baby was sleeping. Felt bad enough having to say no to then ask her to wake her baby to let us get the toilet. Baby did wake closer to the end of the flight thankfully and we did get to the toilet.

The only time I've not paid to sit with my child was a last minute booking where we got the last three seats on the plane, all aisle seats. Fortunately someone in a middle seat was kind enough to swap for one of the aisle ones to put me with the two year old. I would never ask someone to swap for a worse seat though or unless I had no other choice.

In that case, the party of 7 should be the ones offloaded (if it gets to that point) as their lack of planning has caused the issue?

I was once asked. I said no. I book my seat for my convenience - I am disabled, although that doesn't really matter in the grand scheme. I paid to get the seat I wanted, and if a family wnat the seats they want, they know what to do - book it.

We went away in may. It was VERY last minute. Booked Saturday, flew Friday. No seats available together, travel agent phoned jet2, told to check in on day. At check in they said children must be sat with an adult. So we were two children each.

having read about this on here, I felt awful, but could do nothing about it.

in that case, she said they don’t allow the door seats to be pre booked, and use them to move people to. Children cannot be in a door seats, and the seats have the extra leg room so those being moved get them.

What the airlines should do is allocate seating for bookings with young children. They should stipulate the age too and state it doesn’t guarantee that all the family will be sat together, only for example a child under the age of 8 will be sat on the same row as one of its parents. They should also state that to get this privilege, you have to book the flight at least 12 weeks in advance.
Other then this, no don’t move seats unless the airline offer a full refund plus something else, for example a free snack and drink.

Logistically, that just wouldn’t be practical for the airline.

If people want to sit together, they have to cough up to do so.

Wasn’t it Ryanair who brought this on? They sold ‘low cost flights.’ Lots of say, single people travelling want to travel as cheaply as possible so they don’t care where they sit. They also started charging to check a case onto the flight and allowed you to take a 10kg bag onto the cabin with you at no extra cost. Once the majority of travellers started just taking hand luggage, they changed the rules. Now you have to pay to take the baggage which was once free.

So you were a party of two adults and four very young kids who couldn't sit a row apart? And then made people move? That does seem unreasonable. That a pretty big booking to not check in advance that there were actually seats available.

“Children must be sat with an adult” means the same row or the row in front or the row behind.

Back in the day when I first travelled you automatically say together. Nobody paid for it. You were allocated seats on arrival at the check in desk. First come first served. No picking and choosing. This worked well. Again it was the budget airlines who brought this in to make more money.

It’s illegal for minors or reduced mobility people to be placed in the emergency exit aisle. The bassinet is normally a bulkhead row not an exit.

They can ask, doesn't mean anyone has to say yes.

Ive been asked a couple of times in the last 18 months, I've said both yes and no, if I've paid for a seat, like fuck am I saying yes, not a chance. If I did random seat allocation then there's a 50/50 chance ill say yes and its generally dependent on how pleasantly I'm asked...last month I got asked to swap from my randomly allocated 8A seat to 27E for an entitled fucker who wanted to sit with her 12 year old on a 1.5h flight and lost her shit at myself and the other person they'd asked to move who'd also said no.
I stuck my headphones in whilst her very embarrassed 12 year old melted into their seat and let her carry on.

If you book flights and have children it should force you to book seats at the same time, I mean logic would say to do it but sadly logic seems to be missing these days it is like having a child seems to throw any logical thinking out the window

Yes you’re right, that’s what it’s called, I hadn’t given it the correct term. It wasn’t at the side with the exit door but was the front row where the exit is.

I got on a flight back from Geneva to UK. I’d been working for a few days and I always booked a seat. Got to my reserved seat only to find a woman and her two children already installed in that row. In asking the cabin crew if I could have my seat that I’d paid for, I was made out to be the arsehole.

@PhilippaGeorgiou. If you speak to the disablement team when you book your flight/ holiday they can book you a suitable seat for your needs free of charge . Tell them which seat you need , usually near the front , near toilet etc . I do this and am allocated both my seat and my carers seat together free of charge . My daughter sits with me and she pays for adjacent seats for her DD and DH .
when speaking to the team you can also request a wheelchair help through the airport with an assistant to take you to the front of all the queues , ie check in , security, passport control etc .

I only found on my recent holiday to Greece that as I can’t manage the steep stairs on the transfer bus that I and my carer are entitled to free private transfer (taxi)!
it all makes disabled travelling much more pleasant and comfortable.

Thank you - I am aware of all that but useful to know anyway. Not all airlines book all seats for free though, and I choose to upgrade to premium or extra leg room - I am cursed with very bad arthritis in the back, hips and legs/ankles, and always been tall with long legs. Sitting with my knees up to my chin doesn't do anything for me! I got a lot worse last year and they did book me a taxi transfer as I can no longer get up the steps of those humongous transfer buses!

If you are looking for a Greek holiday in future, can I say that Kos has the best disabled support team in the world! Honestly - nowhere are they better.

They ask because it’s polite in the first instance. But as l’ve mentioned up thread they can insist for “operational reasons” as part of the conditions of carriage. If you are moved you are entitled to a refund on the seat booking.

I’m cabin crew and I will not facilitate such nonsense. Anyone that wants to guarantee their seats should organise appropriately. I will not ask anyone to move for others

They can't physically move you. Well, they can if they call security but they are not going to do that are they. Just say no, ask someone else. Maybe someone who didn't actually select and pay for a specific seat.

That’s good to hear, but there are many of is who have done things as part of our jobs that we did not particularly wish for, or agree with.

But overall they aren't really making more money...they are giving some people the choice of traveling for not a lot, indeed probably/possibly traveling for less than it costs the airline to carry them, then the airline recoup the loss by charging for the extras other people want or are willing to pay for.

It might be worth being aware that overall last year Ryanair made £8 profit per passenger.....