Pre Booking Flight Seats

whatmichaelsays

I don't necessarily buy the "its a deliberate ploy" line.

The reality is that many people fly as couples, which isn't really compatible with the 3x3 seating plan on most aircraft. There are always going to be "odd" seats and, well, somebody has to sit in them.

pingu

mcc100 wrote: »

I'm sure that it is a deliberate ploy by airlines to split up families who have not prebooked, ensuring that on their next holiday they will pay the extra to prebook.

i agree and to the poster above in holiday season you will find its usually families travel together

sal-ad_daze

We've pre-booked our seats with First Choice (flying with Thomson) and you can't book until 90-odd days before your return flight and seats are booked for both flights.
We couldn't book online we had to ring as we needed medical 'extra room' seats for my husband. It took a while to make sense of their wierd booking procedure, there are 6 of us and they wanted to initially put my husband and I either side of an aisle and the others split behind us then she decided we could sit 3 in one row then 3 behind. On the return flight she couldn't do that as they have to keep the right hand row free in case there are medical needs on the return flight and the row behind the left hand seats had already been booked so we're on the left hand medical row and the rest of the family are on the row behind on the right hand side, we may be able to swap over at booking in if the seats hadn't been allocated (still with me?). It took over half an hour to sort out the seat allocation!!!!
Incidentally we do tend to book in advance if we all six are travelling because the little one tends to want to speak to others and it's no fun going back and forth up and down the aisle every 5 minutes or so!!!

stephb34

I'm a little confused, but basically with the medical seats you generally only get the 1 medical seat for the person that requires it and for 1 other person next to them, you can't really expect all 6 people to sit in the medical seats. Also if there's a lot of people requiring medical seats they get allocated on who most needs them, not sure who decides who is the most needy!!

SHEILA54

Hi
Has anyone flown with BA to Europe? There are 6 of us flying, 2 grandparents (1 disabled), 2 parents and 2 kids. I cannot prebook seats unless I pay for all 6 so I phoned and was told that we would be allocated seats together 5 days before we fly. The 2 grandparents really need aisle seats so do you think that they will honour what they said?

Thanks

mynameistallulah

SHEILA54 wrote: »

Hi
Has anyone flown with BA to Europe? There are 6 of us flying, 2 grandparents (1 disabled), 2 parents and 2 kids. I cannot prebook seats unless I pay for all 6 so I phoned and was told that we would be allocated seats together 5 days before we fly. The 2 grandparents really need aisle seats so do you think that they will honour what they said?

Thanks

They will allocate suitable seating for the disabled person and their carer. They will decide what is suitable. Unless the flight is very busy, they tend to be pretty accommodating.

sal-ad_daze

stephb34 wrote: »

I'm a little confused, but basically with the medical seats you generally only get the 1 medical seat for the person that requires it and for 1 other person next to them, you can't really expect all 6 people to sit in the medical seats. Also if there's a lot of people requiring medical seats they get allocated on who most needs them, not sure who decides who is the most needy!!

Initially it was just two seats either side of the aisle, then she said we could have 3 together with 3 'ordinary' seats behind. I didn't ask for all 6 people to be allocated medical seats I asked on my husbands behalf with the hope that at least we could sit together and the rest of the family close by. She asked why the request and I told her my oh's medical conditions - that's all the information she needed whether she'd need further clarification from others I don't know.

julie_cowley_2

Does anyone know if first choice allow seats to be pre-booked in resort for return flight? It's £50 to book for both ways which is a rip off in my opinion. I would pay the £25 for return but it is not possible to pre-book one way - you have to do both.

:j

jhe

julie_cowley wrote: »

Does anyone know if first choice allow seats to be pre-booked in resort for return flight? It's £50 to book for both ways which is a rip off in my opinion. I would pay the £25 for return but it is not possible to pre-book one way - you have to do both.

:j

not sure where you are flying to, but i have booked a holiday with first choice to dominican republic its £30 each for outward bound and return. should be even cheaper if you are going shorthaul

interstellaflyer

julie_cowley wrote: »

Does anyone know if first choice allow seats to be pre-booked in resort for return flight? It's £50 to book for both ways which is a rip off in my opinion. I would pay the £25 for return but it is not possible to pre-book one way - you have to do both.

:j

Don't know where you're going or how big your party is but we're going to Spain with First Choice/Thomson, and it's £6 each way per adult and £3.50 each way for a child, £31 in total for us. Whether you think it's a rip off or not depends on your needs, we prefer to sit somewhere in the first few rows ie in front of the wing so for us it's worth it. Usually what you book in resort for the return flight is seats together, no choice in where you sit and you could be separated by the aisle, this often costs the same as pre-booking and choosing the seats you want before you go so bear that in mind.