Airlines seating children with parents and whether paid seats are necessary

[aster10]

Prompted by the investigation into Ryanair. I mainly fly Wizzair who say upfront that children up to 12 are seated with parents for free and parents don’t need to pay for their seat. I remember seeing on Easyjet’s website once that they do their best to sit children with parents but it’s not guaranteed. So I paid for seats that one time we flew with Easyjet, as kids were really young then, and it wasn’t that massively expensive compared to even WizzAir if you want to pay for seats. And also we’re flying to Cyprus with WizzAir, but back with LOT and I paid for seats together on LOT. But I saw references recently to some international aviation rules that require children to be seated with parents, and I wonder if I shouldn’t have paid for LOT and Easyjet seats and if Easyjet shouldn’t have phrased this as a best endeavours obligation only. What is your experience? (Soon, soon I will not care that kiddos are sat separately, but not yet 😃) Thank you!

but the point is, you PAY. Which is fine.

You don't expect other people to move from the seats they've paid for.
And you are right to refuse to move. I refuse too!

Doesn't bother me what you do, I gave up flying years ago 😂

We don't all have the time to not fly to go somewhere! And I take planes over boats any day

Fly, don't fly, take a rocket to the moon if you want! Really doesn't trouble me, I just find it interesting how het up people get over plane seating.

airlines have to seat you next to your child. However as mentioned that can be across the aisle or in the row behind/infront. This wouldn’t have worked for us therefore we always paid to sit together.

only those who don't pay and expect everyone to move 😂

Everyone else is sitting where they should be and get on with their movie/ snacks

They don’t , personal experience if you look at my comment on this post, they may try to and they usually do, but deffo don’t have to

Flew domestically with DS9 with BA and didn't pay separately for seat allocation. We were seated together (on the same row) but allocated shitty seats right at the back of the plane.

A holiday is a luxury, not an essential. Travel insurance is an unavoidable cost, and so are seating costs if you are flying with young children. Go for a cheaper hotel or a few fewer drinks so that you can afford it.

Yep.

It's necessary for everyone's safety for parents and carers to be sitting next to their charges, as it would make things even more dangerous in the event of an emergency. Because it is a safety measure for everyone, airlines shouldn't be able to charge for it and it ought to be incorporated into the ticket price.

By the same logic, would airlines charge a disabled person for help getting on and off the plane? Also, if children are travelling not for a holiday, but are moving house or are going to a funeral, will the fees then be waived? Or would it depend on how close the children were to the dead relative?

The back of the plane is great with kids, you get off quickly with less time cooped up on the plane!

I’ve never paid with easyJet but keep an eye on the seating plan and check in 30 days before. We’ve always been allocated together

Tickets cost a set amount. You then purchase add ons as needed. Preferred seats, food, extra leg room, extra luggage. Up to you if you think sitting with your kids is worth the money.

We have had ours not sitting with us in business class. They just get their “pod”. Not when they are under 7 but at 8 onwards they did. DDs also flew unaccompanied quite a few times. No parent on the flight at all. They were fine but 12-13 by then mostly although DD2 went to a friend in France at age 11 without us. No problems. However would not use Ryanair!

We fly multiple times a year and have only paid for seats on the odd occasion. Always been seated together - always checked in the moment it opened. That changed when dd1 turned 12. Suddenly we weren’t seated together anymore so have started paying for seats although on some airlines even after you’ve been given seats apart from each other you’re then given the option to pay for seats together. Obviously at check-in stage it’s dependent on what’s left.

My kids are 10 and 12 and we fly twice a year to see family ever since they were born. Never paid for seats and always sat together. We always check in online the day before or as early as we can. I think this might help.

I just pay to secure the seats I want with my family and no we would not move for any reason as everyone had the same chance to purchase seats together when booking.

That’s if you fly a low-cost airline who uses both doors for boarding and disembarking. BA tends to use the jet bridges, unless parking at a remote stand.

I am a frequent flier OP, including on multiple low-cost airlines (although the majority of my travel is with flag carriers).

EasyJet will seat a booking party together, IF there are seats together available when you check in. My advice: do it the day it opens (30 days before the flight), and check the seat map first to see what’s available. If the second half of the plane still shows rows of empty seats (from the emergency exits in the middle, towards the back), you will 99% be allocated seats next to each other.

I actually keep an eye on the seat map well before the 30 day mark, because you can see in real time how fast seats are being booked or not. Then you have the option to pay for them if they’re really filling up fast.

LOT is a flag carrier and I would be very surprised if they sat you all spread out through the plane. Flag carriers rarely split up booking parties unless again, there aren’t enough seats together left by the time a late check-in is performed.

Yes, there are many stories of people being split up on BA, Virgin, you name it. Most of those stories are from people flying in an extremely small cabin (such as Premium Economy), and/or checking in very late, or at the airport. In the vast majority of cases, airlines do not split you up from young children if you just follow the usual process of issuing a boarding pass as soon as it’s available.

I’ve been on many, many BA flights that use the rear doors.

Agree.

Just like I said, they use the rear doors when not disembarking directly at the gate. You would’ve had to get on a bus afterwards (or walk to the terminal if not at LHR, possibly).

Im very rare instances, they’ll let some passengers get off from the back and rejoin the terminal via the jet bridge staircase. Not very common.

There is a world outside Heathrow you know.

I do know, I have BA status so fly with them quite a bit. I stand by my statements - not very common for them to use the rear doors unless it’s a remote disembarking position.

How many BA, non-Heathrow flights do you take each year?