Should I pay to sit with my 4 year old

leylandsunaddict

zagfles wrote: »

Indeed. Interesting table at the bottom of the article showing the different airlines' attitudes to this - it seems Easyjet and Thomas Cook guarantee to sit children and parents together without a fee, and Thomson/First Choice practically guarantee it.

It is interesting considering the number of people complaining that they've been separated from their kids when flying TC and Thomsons. I know Jet2 don't because a friend and partner with 2 kids were separated.

zagfles

leylandsunaddict wrote: »

It is interesting considering the number of people complaining that they've been separated from their kids when flying TC and Thomsons.

How many? And recently? Presumably MSE haven't just invented the facts for their table.

Or maybe the airlines have changed their policy, it's the first I'd heard of Easyjet guarantee. We went on a couple of flights with them earlier this month and were all seated together without paying. There again, in 16 years of travelling with kids we've never beed seated apart and never paid to select seats.

Even on Jet2, as I remember there were 5 of us, 3 in one row and 2 the row behind which was as good as you can get when travelling with 5 - better than being 5 in a row.

leylandsunaddict

zagfles wrote: »

How many? And recently? Presumably MSE haven't just invented the facts for their table.

Or maybe the airlines have changed their policy, it's the first I'd heard of Easyjet guarantee. We went on a couple of flights with them earlier this month and were all seated together without paying. There again, in 16 years of travelling with kids we've never beed seated apart and never paid to select seats.

Even on Jet2, as I remember there were 5 of us, 3 in one row and 2 the row behind which was as good as you can get when travelling with 5 - better than being 5 in a row.

Last summer, and quite a few. A couple of weeks ago someone was complaining that their seats were one behind the other, so 3 aisle seats (which are classed as sitting togther). They weren't happy a 5 year old was sat like that! Thomsons said there was nothing they could do because there weren't actually any adjacent seats. Maybe they have changed their policy, but if so you'd think they would make a feature of it, or at least mention it on their website like Virgin do. They'd get more families to book if they knew one adult would be seated together with one child under a certain age (5?) without having to pay. It's not fair that everyone else should pay more though to subsidise families being seated together. It's far better to have al a carte pricing and just let people factor the cost of any extras they want into the overall cost.

nodiscount

I don't understand why this had to be turned into a war between those with kids and those without.
This dubious charge airlines impose hurts all of us.

Last week we had the misfortune of being placed in between a family of 6: 2 adults with 4 kids. Dad and 2 kids in front of us and mum and 2 kids behind. We volunteered to swap but I think they didn't want to impose.
We endured a 5 hour flight of hell with each child taking a turn to SCREAM and us stuck in the middle.
There was no reason to separate the family and I doubt they could have forked out an extra £90 to choose their seats.

Everyone suffers because of this silly moneymaking practice.

zagfles

leylandsunaddict wrote: »

Last summer, and quite a few. A couple of weeks ago someone was complaining that their seats were one behind the other, so 3 aisle seats (which are classed as sitting togther).

Sounds OK to me. Can't really see why anyone would have a problem with that.

They weren't happy a 5 year old was sat like that!

Some people are just far too fussy, I'm sure the vast majority would be happy with that. Easy enough to help in an emergency, check seat belt etc.

And that's just about the worst that would happen with a young child, in reality, as above, 99% of the time you'll be sat right next to them if you check in early.

Thomsons said there was nothing they could do because there weren't actually any adjacent seats. Maybe they have changed their policy, but if so you'd think they would make a feature of it, or at least mention it on their website like Virgin do. They'd get more families to book if they knew one adult would be seated together with one child under a certain age (5?) without having to pay.

Not if they wantto frighten parents into paying extra.

It's not fair that everyone else should pay more though to subsidise families being seated together. It's far better to have al a carte pricing and just let people factor the cost of any extras they want into the overall cost.

Basic safety is free. If you want to choose your seats, have a charge by all means. But don't frighten people into thinking they need to pay for basic safety. They don't. We never have and never will.

zagfles

nodiscount wrote: »

I don't understand why this had to be turned into a war between those with kids and those without.
This dubious charge airlines impose hurts all of us.

Last week we had the misfortune of being placed in between a family of 6: 2 adults with 4 kids. Dad and 2 kids in front of us and mum and 2 kids behind. We volunteered to swap but I think they didn't want to impose.
We endured a 5 hour flight of hell with each child taking a turn to SCREAM and us stuck in the middle.
There was no reason to separate the family and I doubt they could have forked out an extra £90 to choose their seats.

Everyone suffers because of this silly moneymaking practice.

Try getting stuck in the middle of a group on a stag do. Far worse than any kids I've known on flights!

leylandsunaddict

zagfles wrote: »

Not if they wantto frighten parents into paying extra. Basic safety is free. If you want to choose your seats, have a charge by all means. But don't frighten people into thinking they need to pay for basic safety. They don't. We never have and never will.

They were paying to sit one behind each other, as those were the only seats on the flight together. Paying didn't get them any better seats than that. The only other ones left were rows apart.

There's a debate on TA about this topic.
http://www.tripadvisor.co.uk/ShowTopic-g1-i10702-k8412805-Pick_your_own_seats-Air_Travel.html

zagfles

leylandsunaddict wrote: »

They were paying to sit one behind each other, as those were the only seats on the flight together. Paying didn't get them any better seats than that. The only other ones left were rows apart.

What??? They paid to select seats then complained about getting the seats they'd selected :rotfl:

They should have not selected and let the airline sort it out, particularly if it's one that guarantees parents sit with children. As in the example above they do sometimes move other people from pre-selected seats even if they've paid! Safety comes first. All the airlines' T&C will state they can move people from pre-selected seats.

There's a debate on TA about this topic.
http://www.tripadvisor.co.uk/ShowTopic-g1-i10702-k8412805-Pick_your_own_seats-Air_Travel.html

I'm not reading another multi-page debate. Everything that needs saying has been said here. More than once!

primavera

Entirely agree - just joined this forum purely to vent my anger at South African Airlines who adopt the same policy for both parts of a 12 hr long haul flight back to London ! My 9yo son was distraught when hearing staff in Durban tell me he would have to sit 4/5 rows away - we had no such issue on a (full) outbound flight. Not being a regular flyer (with or without children), I hadn't even realised it was a possibility they might want to split parent and child up ! The proof is that when I created a fuss at check-in pointing out I had paid over £2k for the flights well in advance and wanted to speak to management, the problem quickly dissolved before my eyes !!!


This is typical of why I really dislike flying these days - you are routinely treated like a herded convict, and have to be an armchair lawyer and fight like a demon for basic civilised courtesies !

ferf1223

Poppy9 wrote: »

On the outward journey, on a Virgin plane, it's £25 each. While we do prefer to sit together as it's a long flight we are not prepared to pay £75 so will have to wait for online check in 24hrs prior to flight for seat selection.

According to Virgin's website, Flying Club Red members can pick seats for free 72 hours before. It's free to join and red is the entry-level status for the programme.

http://www.virgin-atlantic.com/gb/en/flying-club/membership-benefits/red-benefits.html