Advice needed on plane seating with children for last minute holiday

[Lilo22]

I have been looking at last minute half term holidays for us and our two children (10 and 8), lots of whole countries with no availability as it’s such short notice.
After much looking we found a trip to Menorca from 27-31st May that looked perfect. The holiday is with Jet2 and we booked it last night, 10 days before departure.
I didn’t even give the seating on the flight a second thought, we usually book our holidays ages ahead and choose seats.
As the holiday is only 10 days away we went straight to online check in, looked at the available seats and realised our error. On the flight there we can kind of get seats near each other, e.g me one seat in front of the 8 year old and hubby 2 seats ahead of 10 year old.
However it’s the flight home that is the real problem, when we went to choose the seats the only available ones on the whole plane were single ones, one in row 14, one row 20, one row 24 and one row 33. We had no choice but to choose them.
I cannot sit that far away from 8 year old (he is autistic) 10 year old would be fine I think. Does anyone have any experience of this? I hate the idea of causing fuss on the plane, had a sleepless night last night and almost wishing I hadn’t booked now. Is there anything I can do in advance or just try and speak to staff on the day?

I think this is a reasonable expectation. Once our youngest was ok with the idea of sitting alone we stopped paying to book seats together and took a gamble. We have almost always been put together anyway. A couple of years ago our adult son got "bumped" at the gate, literally given a new boarding pass for a seat on his own. The staff were very apologetic (though we were all absolutely fine with it) and explained there was a family with younger kids who needed to sit together so they had shuffled round some seats where people hadnt prepaid the extra fee. So this may well be what happens.

We've also been "shuffled" actually on the plane when the staff realised our kids couldn't sit in the exit row we'd been randomly allocated.

Contact them as soon as possible. Good luck!

Ok, could well be to keep them out if the selection process to allow for reshuffle, or just possibly if it was a Longhaul flight they could be cabin crew rest seats if TUI crew have that facility in their agreements...we used to keep a small block free on some of our aircraft on some flights for that reason.

What I'm probably driving at is I can't see TUI or anyone actually blocking available seats from actual sale just to facilitate reshuffles - and I know you may not have been suggesting that.

We had exactly the same thing booking last minute with Jet2 a couple of years ago. New boarding passes were issued at luggage drop so we were sat with the kids.

It’s so difficult, I would contact jet 2 and hope they can at least offer you or your husband to sit with the 8 year old.

Its difficult my older daughter is autistic and 23 years old - for her to go on holiday she books the seat, investigates the plane (how often it’s on time etc) the research for her is a part of her traits. Her biggest anxiety is that she will be asked to move as she could be seen as an easy ask young person with her boyfriend & shes a people pleaser.

It would be massively triggering for her or her partner to move seats away from the plan, so please what may be a why can’t someone just move for MY family be aware of others.

Thanks for your responses everyone.
On the way back they had 9 seats in the middle of the plane that had extra legroom that you could book, they were the only other seats available than the ones we got, only we couldn’t book them as they were exit seats and you had to be over 14. I’m hoping that if they are still available then someone who didn’t pay could be moved to them and would be happy as extra legroom.
I am a natural worrier, so hoping I can not spend the next 9 days fretting over this

They have to have people sitting in the exit seats.

If you're content with being one in any direction then don't worry about it and they'll move you about.

They are more than likely to arrange this for you when you get to the airport. I’d even enquire about it when you check-in on the way out, see if they can shuffle you already then.

Please don’t worry about “causing a fuss” - if you have to, you have to. You are unlikely to see any of the people on the plane ever again, so it’s totally okay to slightly inconvenience someone, if needs must. It is not a crime to book a holiday last-minute.

Can you go back and actually change your and your husband’s seats to two together in the emergency row, or would this be pricier? I ask because this way you have a pair of seats to offer that are together. If I were travelling with my partner or a friend, in “normal” seats, I would totally swap with you for extra-legroom ones, so you could be in a normal row and next to your youngest.

I got moved to an exit seat in the exact situation last week, someone needed to be near a child so when I boarded I was given a new boarding pass and moved to the exit isle with extra leg room, which I guess was nice but I was split up from my DH, but then I didn’t pay for a seat next to him so I guess I couldn’t moan, it’s was only from Palma so a couple of hours.

Try not to worry. We've been on many Jet2 holidays and never been separated, we also don't ever pay for seats in advance. They will sort it and re-allocate at checking-in. You might get 2 and 2 though.
My children are now 15 and 11 and would be confident enough to sit by themselves, so if needed I would offer move for an 8yr old to sit with a parent.

Start prepping them though, the more confident your children are about travel the less this will be and issue. As they get older there's less chance of being sat together, unless you pay (I know paying wasn't an option this time).

No, someone on the plane should do as the crew and captain request and not be rude to them while they are doing their job. Ultimately it is for the safety of everyone that a parent is close to their child as in a real emergency instinct can kick in and being separated could cause unnecessary additional panic in an exit situation.

It is extremely annoying to be asked to move in these situations. You book and pay for a specific seat and are then are asked to move because someone else hasn’t got their act together beforehand. Personally I would try (as the person being moved) not to be too arsey about it but I can understand why some might get irritated. I hope you can manage it without too much inconvenience for other people.

they will sort it at the airport.
im a huge advocate for paying for seats but when you book late and the online check in has already opened there isn't much you can do.

Contact Jet 2 now and ask to add special assistance for your autistic child. I would expect that the person you speak to about this would have the power to ensure you have seats together for at least your 8 year old plus a carer.

If you book special assistance they normally book your seats together, call them and ask to have it added on.

Our DC are older now so we no longer pay to sit together. Often we are seated together automatically, which is a bonus.

I very much doubt we’re alone in this, so I assume we’d be the first in line to be moved rather than people who have paid for their seats. We definitely wouldn’t fuss if we were moved for a family.

I wouldn’t worry too much about it. As others have said, contact customer services, let them know that you’re happy to pay for different seats and let them sort it out.

I have just paid £180 to get my family seated together this summer.
I can promise I don't move for a last minute booking.
We travel with an young with autism one albeit +12 and you wouldn't know that as they are fine travelling this way.
People have all sorts of reasons not to to move.