Should I pay to sit with my 4 year old

zagfles

steve1500 wrote: »

I always carry a copy of the CAA guidance when checking in.

I never pay to reserve seats. Always been sat together.

Common sense says you cannot sit a young child with someone who is not their parent / guardian

Same here (except I don't carry the CAA guidelines with me!).

Reserved seats are never guaranteed anyway - read the T&C's of any airlines seating policy. Even if you reserve you can be moved, whether you like it or not. See http://www.tripadvisor.co.uk/ShowTopic-g1-i10702-k5820751-Jet_2_Ejected_from_a_pre_booked_seat-Air_Travel.html

Many years ago I was on a flight where the steward was trying to move people around to accomodate a family, the flight was pretty packed. He asked one bloke to move but got an aggressive rant off him that's he'd reserved early, why should he havt to move etc etc.

He then asked another bloke a bit further back, he agreed. While they were walking past the aggressive bloke steward said "we're upgrading you to business class as a thank-you"! Look on the aggressive bloke's face was priceless :rotfl:

Voyager2002

holidaysforme wrote: »

I flew with Easyjet over the February half term. A family with a six or seven year old were not seated together
In fact all three of them were separated by a row between them. The cabin crew asked three people if they would move. None of them agreed!
They should have paid if they wanted to ensure that they were all sat together.
Their sense of entitlement didn't go down very well with the other passengers:D (the parents that is) Hopefuly they've learned their lesson;)

I disagree...

People pay extra in order to request a specific seat.

A family group who do not mind where they sit should not be expected to pay... seating a child beside a parent or guardian is a matter of safety, not something for which an additional fee is appropriate. In your example, the parents were indeed entitled, in precisely the same way that all passengers were entitled to a seat belt without a supplementary charge.

Voyager2002

zagfles wrote: »

Same here (except I don't carry the CAA guidelines with me!).

Reserved seats are never guaranteed anyway - read the T&C's of any airlines seating policy. Even if you reserve you can be moved, whether you like it or not. See http://www.tripadvisor.co.uk/ShowTopic-g1-i10702-k5820751-Jet_2_Ejected_from_a_pre_booked_seat-Air_Travel.html

Many years ago I was on a flight where the steward was trying to move people around to accomodate a family, the flight was pretty packed. He asked one bloke to move but got an aggressive rant off him that's he'd reserved early, why should he havt to move etc etc.

He then asked another bloke a bit further back, he agreed. While they were walking past the aggressive bloke steward said "we're upgrading you to business class as a thank-you"! Look on the aggressive bloke's face was priceless :rotfl:

Yes, that is how proper airlines behave.

Would you care to name the airline in this example?

Murphy_The_Cat

steve1500 wrote: »

I always carry a copy of the CAA guidance when checking in.

I never pay to reserve seats. Always been sat together. Children 12 & 8

Common sense says you cannot sit a young child with someone who is not their parent / guardian. All it would take is for the child to make an allegation!!


https://www.caa.co.uk/default.aspx?catid=2207&pageid=12706

Maybe you've just been fortunate.
I've just had a shuftie at the link.

"The seating of children close by their parents or guardians should be the aim of airline seat allocation procedures"
Not the same as making sure that families are all being sat together


"Whenever a number of infants and children are travelling together the airline should make every effort to ensure that they can be readily supervised by the responsible accompanying adults"
Not the same as all being sat together.


"Young children and infants who are accompanied by adults, should ideally be seated in the same seat row as the adult. Children and accompanying adults should not be separated by more than one aisle. Where this is not possible, children should be separated by no more than one seat row from accompanying adults."
That quite clearly says what the airlines obligation is - which most definitely isn't that airlines MUST seat families together.


If you want to increase your chances of being sat together,shell out.


If you want to leave it to chance, keep your hand in your pocket. But don't complain when you get split up on the flight.

peachyprice

There, added the word you chose to omit.

I certainly wouldn't move because of cheapskate parents who didn't want to stump up to sit with their child.

richardw

peachyprice wrote: »

.... cheapskate parents....

But they aren't.

It's an essential requirement for a parent to sit with a child for safety's sake and a charge should not be made for it.

The problem is unreasonable additional revenue hungry airlines.

callum9999

peachyprice wrote: »

There, added the word you chose to omit.

I certainly wouldn't move because of cheapskate parents who didn't want to stump up to sit with their child.

Then I would hope they would have the guts to kick you off the plane for refusing to follow lawful orders from the cabin crew.

zagfles

Voyager2002 wrote: »

Yes, that is how proper airlines behave.

Would you care to name the airline in this example?

It was BA, on a flight to the US.

Murphy_The_Cat

richardw wrote: »

But they aren't.

It's an essential requirement for a parent to sit with a child for safety's sake and a charge should not be made for it.

The problem is unreasonable additional revenue hungry airlines.

I disagree

It may make mummy & daddy happy to be with Griselda and or Sebastian, but the safety aspect (as defined by the CAA) is " Where this is not possible, children should be separated by no more than one seat row from accompanying adults. This is because the speed of an emergency evacuation may be affected by adults trying to reach their children."

Once again, if people want to increase the chance of sitting together, then pay up.
If you're not prepared to pay up, then
a) decide where your priorities as a parnet lie and / or
b) don't complain when the airline doesn't pander to your misplaced expectation of entitlement.

Poppy9

I've never paid to prebook seats. Many years when in-flight meals became optional a friend in travel industry told me if you booked a meal you were allocated seating as they like to have all the foodies together on the plane as it made it easier to serve meals. Never let us down and saved us double paying.

We went Thomas Cook last year and the 3 of us didn't prebook seats. We were 2 together and 1 two rows away which was fine. Coming back we were all together. As our DD now an adult no need for us to pay for allocating seating, so we spent the money on something else. If it was a long haul flight though I would pay to sit together. I wouldn't be happy, if I had paid or not for my seat, to be sat next to an unsupervised child.