Should I pay to sit with my 4 year old

blindman

Murphy_The_Cat wrote: »

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

As a FF MTC I'm disappointed at you stance on this.

One child should be sat next to at least one Adult.

As Voyager has said as a matter of safety
-Imagine the scenario when after a crash landing you all have to leave pronto.

All passengers are heading towards an exit.
Mum\Dad are going the opposite way to get to child-Chaos


Airlines that insist on you having to pay for this privilege are just ripping you off.

All of you that have paid.....

Dr._Shoe

I think it's absolutely disgusting that a four year old would be expected to sit on his own on an airliner full of strangers. I really cannot believe what I'm reading here, especially posts from people who say "you should have paid extra"! These people should be ashamed of themselves.

Of course at least one parent should sit right next to their four year old. Any airline who makes people pay for this apparent "priviledge" should be boycotted forthwith!

I accept that there may be situations where it isn't possible to sit the entire family together (though I even consider this to be an alien concept).

At the end of the day though, an airline seat is an airline seat. Unless a passenger paid for a seat with extra legroom or requested a seat nearer the loos owing to a medical problem then I don't think seats should be allocated in this way.

stephb34

How do we know you weren't the very last people to be checked in and they were the only 3 seats left on a full flight so had to be seated in what was left, then the cabin crew deal with it by the only option there is by asking volunteers to move. Why didn't you check in on line between 24-48hrs before departure for free where you are allocated seats together. I can never understand why people penny pinch when spending hundreds or thousands of pounds on a lovely holiday, we always pay for 20kg luggage, seats together and the meals because I can't be arsed with worrying whether my case is overweight or i'm sat next to some fat boring smelly person who needs to share half of my seat, worth every penny.

peachyprice

callum9999 wrote: »

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.

It isn't 'lawful orders' though. It's nothing more than a recommendation.

richardw

Murphy_The_Cat wrote: »

... 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."... .

IMHO the CAA's recommendation is not safe enough.
I've seen a full aircraft cabin become very unsettled and agitated before take off because a child was not seated alongside its mother. This is unecesary and is not in the interests of all passengers.

So I disagree with the CAA on this and other EC261/2004 related matters. The sooner government sorts out the CAA the better.

richardw

peachyprice wrote: »

It isn't 'lawful orders' though. It's nothing more than a recommendation.

The point was that you have to do what you are told by the cabin crew, if you don't they'll just get the captain and you'd be forced off the craft.

Alias_Omega

I would not pay...


Not my problem. The airline should highlight that there is a 4 year old flying, and allocate a seat automatically next to a parent. They hold everything about the person, so why not do it.

If they did split us all, the person next to them becomes the responsible adult, and who is going to calm them during the take-off roll?

Airlines fault..

shaun_from_Africa

peachyprice wrote: »

It isn't 'lawful orders' though. It's nothing more than a recommendation.

What the CAA state may only be a recommendation but the crew asking you to move are lawful orders as they are acting on behalf of the aircraft captain.

richardw wrote: »

The point was that you have to do what you are told by the cabin crew, if you don't they'll just get the captain and you'd be forced off the craft.

And possibly face the prospect of being arrested once off the aircraft. I know this is unlikely to happen simply for refusing to move, but if the aircrew or other passengers were abused or felt threatened, then it could well happen.

MasterPoo

Dr._Shoe wrote: »

I think it's absolutely disgusting that a four year old would be expected to sit on his own on an airliner full of strangers. I really cannot believe what I'm reading here, especially posts from people who say "you should have paid extra"! These people should be ashamed of themselves.

Of course at least one parent should sit right next to their four year old. Any airline who makes people pay for this apparent "priviledge" should be boycotted forthwith!

I accept that there may be situations where it isn't possible to sit the entire family together (though I even consider this to be an alien concept).

At the end of the day though, an airline seat is an airline seat. Unless a passenger paid for a seat with extra legroom or requested a seat nearer the loos owing to a medical problem then I don't think seats should be allocated in this way.

We should be ashamed of ourselves.......as a parent it is YOUR responsibility to ensure the safety of your child. Do not be selfish by 1. inconveniencing other travellers because the airline makes you pay and 2. potentially delaying the flight because you/OP refuse to pay. Take the fight up with the airline, do not be selfish in causing unnecessary drama for others because of your issue with the airline.

callum9999

peachyprice wrote: »

It isn't 'lawful orders' though. It's nothing more than a recommendation.

You're misunderstanding what a lawful order is. If the cabin crew tell you to move seat, which they are fully entitled to do so by law, and you repeatedly refuse, then you are effectively breaking the law (the cabin crew are representatives of the captain, and what the captain says goes) and can be prosecuted (though they obviously wouldn't bother unless you were being particularly aggressive etc.).

I used the phrase lawful order because obviously it doesn't count if the crew are giving you an unlawful order, like stab the person next to you!