Should I pay to sit with my 4 year old

shoe*diva79

barbie_babe wrote: »

They are not allowed to take off if children are not sitting with there named adult. One year we where late taking off due to my children not beiing able to sit next to me. Everyone had to move as cabin crew said they couldnt fly without them being with me.

A flight we took last year to Egypt with First Choice was delayed for almost 2 hours whilst the cabin crew went around trying to persuade people to move to smaller children were seated with their parent. The crew were saying the same - cannot fly if the children are not with their parent.

TopQuark

I'm an ex-pat and a frequent flyer, both back to the UK to see my family, France to see OH's family and for business. I've moved seats to accommodate people in the past and generally have no problem doing it if it's of no real inconvenience. Last year however, OH and I were on honeymoon and had paid 200 GBP (50 quid pp each way) to be seated together on Iberia to/from Rio/Guayaquil. A family of four got on (kids about 5 and 8 I would guess) on the outward leg and had not pre-booked their seats. They made a song and dance about not being seated together and the cabin crew asked us if we would move. The alternative seats offered were inferior for us and we declined. The father then started to complain that we were splitting his family up. I explained we were on honeymoon and had paid 100 GBP for these seats, but he wasn't interested. The cabin crew told us not to worry, we were not going to be moved and apologised for disturbing us. It turns out that no-one else was willing to move for them either and they had to sit apart. Nobody was forced to move seats, nobody was kicked off the plane and nobody except them was inconvenienced. C'est la vie

leylandsunaddict

barbie_babe wrote: »

They are not allowed to take off if children are not sitting with there named adult. One year we where late taking off due to my children not beiing able to sit next to me. Everyone had to move as cabin crew said they couldnt fly without them being with me.

They are. It may be have crew/airline policy on that flight, but it certainly doesn't apply to all airlines. There are plenty of moans on travel forums about the kids having to sit on their own, because the parents couldn't be bothered to ensure they were sat with them.

I'd consider swapping, but only for like for like seats, and I'd insist the family reimbursed the money I'd paid before I would move. I'm not prepared to pay for other people to sit together, when they're not prepared to.

Marker_2

I don't believe in this paying to sit together nonsence, and for all those with the 'just pay up' attitude - right there lies the problem.

When I book a holiday I book it as a whole. I book x amount of seats in one transaction, not two or three separate transactions, I book it as one. So why on earth would my ONE transaction later be split up.

Well we all know why, it's a papermoney gathering exercise.

But it is flawed beyond belief. Theres health and saftey (would a stranger put an oxygen mask on your child, they would have no legal requirement to do so), then theres CRB clearances etc etc.

Murphy_The_Cat

Marker wrote: »

When I book a holiday I book it as a whole. I book x amount of seats in one transaction, not two or three separate transactions, I book it as one. .

Exactly - you book and pay for 3 seats on the plane.
This costs you 3 x Y. and you will be sited anywhere on the plane, within the pricing category that you've selected.

If you want to book 3 seats together on the plane (on some airlines), then that will cost 3 x Y, plus3 x Z, with Z being the additional charge to book your seats together.

Which is a different transaction altogether.

mgdavid

Marker wrote: »

I don't believe in this paying to sit together nonsence, and for all those with the 'just pay up' attitude - right there lies the problem.

When I book a holiday I book it as a whole. I book x amount of seats in one transaction, not two or three separate transactions, I book it as one. So why on earth would my ONE transaction later be split up.

Well we all know why, it's a papermoney gathering exercise.

But it is flawed beyond belief. Theres health and saftey (would a stranger put an oxygen mask on your child, they would have no legal requirement to do so), then theres CRB clearances etc etc.

Do you actually have children of your own?

zagfles

Murphy_The_Cat wrote: »

Exactly - you book and pay for 3 seats on the plane.
This costs you 3 x Y. and you will be sited anywhere on the plane, within the pricing category that you've selected.

If you want to book 3 seats together on the plane (on some airlines), then that will cost 3 x Y, plus3 x Z, with Z being the additional charge to book your seats together.

Which is a different transaction altogether.

I've just checked in for a couple of Easyjet flights next month, 4 of us travelling together. Refused to pay to select seats. Was waiting with baited breath to see what seats I'd get allocated...

The results from the Easyjet jury were:

Seats 19A, 19B, 19C, 19D on the way out, and 17C, 17D, 17E, 17F on the way back

Now that's pretty impressive for "anywhere"! I'm going to buy a lottery ticket this weekend

Rolandtheroadie

zagfles wrote: »

I've just checked in for a couple of Easyjet flights next month, 4 of us travelling together. Refused to pay to select seats. Was waiting with baited breath to see what seats I'd get allocated...

The results from the Easyjet jury were:

Seats 19A, 19B, 19C, 19D on the way out, and 17C, 17D, 17E, 17F on the way back

Now that's pretty impressive for "anywhere"! I'm going to buy a lottery ticket this weekend

Couldn't book in for our Ryanair flight until 7 days before. Checked 8 days before and only 45 seats pre booked.

Checked in yesterday, 19A, 19B, 19C, 19D and 19E.

Cant check in for the return until the day we fly out, confident we'll be together then too (only 37 booked for our return flight to date).

That'll be £110 in the squander fund.

Murphy_The_Cat

zagfles wrote: »

I've just checked in for a couple of Easyjet flights next month, 4 of us travelling together. Refused to pay to select seats. Was waiting with baited breath to see what seats I'd get allocated...

The results from the Easyjet jury were:

Seats 19A, 19B, 19C, 19D on the way out, and 17C, 17D, 17E, 17F on the way back

Now that's pretty impressive for "anywhere"! I'm going to buy a lottery ticket this weekend

scotsman4th wrote: »

Couldn't book in for our Ryanair flight until 7 days before. Checked 8 days before and only 45 seats pre booked.

Checked in yesterday, 19A, 19B, 19C, 19D and 19E.

Cant check in for the return until the day we fly out, confident we'll be together then too (only 37 booked for our return flight to date).

That'll be £110 in the squander fund.

Happy times, both :beer:

Marker_2

mgdavid wrote: »

Do you actually have children of your own?

Yes I do. But it is irrelevant.

If you book something in one transaction, then that transaction should stay together and not be split up.

You book a restaurant table of 4 (doesn't matter whether its adults or children) you don't expect random seating throughout the restaurant. You expect a table together!