MSE News: 'Family tax': Dad's outrage as Ryanair tries to seat 3yo away from family

novelty-socks

Spike44 wrote: »

On a recent trip to Atlanta my wife and I were allocated seats rows apart. The select your seat 24 hours before was a joke, there were no pairs of seats available.

This happened to us flying back from Singapore near Christmas last year. Flight was stuffed completely full - being a tightwad I'm not willing to pay to reserve seats in advance. To be fair, BA's ground staff were incredibly helpful.

We asked nicely at the baggage drop if we could move to two seats together and at the gate we found we had been allocated a pair. Always pays to ask - staff for (non no-frills) airlines can be very accommodating.

NFH

novelty-socks wrote: »

This happened to us flying back from Singapore near Christmas last year. Flight was stuffed completely full - being a tightwad I'm not willing to pay to reserve seats in advance. To be fair, BA's ground staff were incredibly helpful.

Everyone can choose their seats on British Airways via online check-in 24 hours before departure. You don't need to wait until you arrive at the airport when the choice will have become more limited.

BA lets families with infants choose their seats for free at the time of booking, and those with 2-11yo children 3 days before departure.

BA's policy seems reasonable. It recognises that children should not should be separated from their parents. Seat selection doesn't cost the airlines anything. Therefore why can't Ryanair and Thomson Airways operate a similarly reasonable seating policy with respect to children? Because they put the generation of additional revenue ahead of the safety and welfare of children. That is disgraceful.

steve1500

All these airlines are doing is for want of a better word ignoring CAA safety guidelines.

When, something goes wrong, and it will, such as a parent pushing past other passengers to get to their child in an emergency and then there is chaos etc

You will here the outcry why didn't you sit the family together.You put profit before safety


You cannot assume a family can afford the extra £20 plus per passenger per leg, especially since accompanied children usually means school holidays when the airlines really up the cost of flights

Or perhaps the parents that can afford to pay to sit next to their children, take their children on holiday during term time - but that is another matter

jpsartre

steve1500 wrote: »

You cannot assume a family can afford the extra £20 plus per passenger per leg

If the health and safety of childen is at stake then these families clearly shouldn't be flying with an airline that requires payment for prebooking seats as doing otherwise would be grossly irresponsibly parenting! It's not a human right to be able to fly to Spain on holiday. If you can't afford to preselect seats for a fee then adding the fee to the ticket cost isn't going to help.

NFH

jpsartre wrote: »

If the health and safety of childen is at stake then these families clearly shouldn't be flying with an airline that requires payment for prebooking seats as doing otherwise would be grossly irresponsibly parenting!

Nobody should be surcharged because of a characteristic outside their control. It's not children's fault that they need to be seated with a responsible adult. Similarly disabled people have specific seating needs, which is not their fault. Neither group should be surcharged because of their seating needs. These passengers are not refusing to pay the surcharge because they can't pay but because they won't pay the surcharge out of principle. Are you suggesting that disabled people should be surcharged too? If not, why should children be surcharged?

wolvoman

Pollycat wrote: »

I agree.

Why does MSE insist in calling it a 'family tax'?

It's nothing of the sort.

It's a chargeable optional extra that anybody - whether they have children or not - can choose or not choose to pay.

At least they've toned it down a bit since starting this thread:
http://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/showthread.php?t=5228452

In that thread, they were 'demanding' now they are 'renewing calls'.

I could choose to sit with my wife or not on a flight. If we were sat apart for a couple of hours we'll be just fine. So yes we have a choice of whether to sit together or apart.

Now take the situation where I travel with my son who has just turned 2. Again I have a choice whether to pay a fee to sit next to him. But why should I be faced with that choice?

Let's say I decide not to pay, and we are seated far apart. What is Ryanair's duty of care to him? What if he came to harm because Ryanair chose to seat him apart from me?

I travelled hundreds of times as a child on flights. I went unaccompanied several times as a young teenager. I also sat well away from my parents as a 9/10 year old.

But a 2 year old? Are you serious?

Pollycat

wolvoman wrote: »

I could choose to sit with my wife or not on a flight. If we were sat apart for a couple of hours we'll be just fine. So yes we have a choice of whether to sit together or apart.

Now take the situation where I travel with my son who has just turned 2. Again I have a choice whether to pay a fee to sit next to him. But why should I be faced with that choice?

Let's say I decide not to pay, and we are seated far apart. What is Ryanair's duty of care to him? What if he came to harm because Ryanair chose to seat him apart from me?

I travelled hundreds of times as a child on flights. I went unaccompanied several times as a young teenager. I also sat well away from my parents as a 9/10 year old.

But a 2 year old? Are you serious?

Am I serious?

You're asking the wrong person.
You need to address your question about 'duty of care' to whichever airline you and your child are flying with.
It is they who have implemented the charges.

As for the post of mine that you've quoted:
It is not a family tax
Of course, that is my opinion, you are free to disagree.

tomtontom

wolvoman wrote: »

I could choose to sit with my wife or not on a flight. If we were sat apart for a couple of hours we'll be just fine. So yes we have a choice of whether to sit together or apart.

Now take the situation where I travel with my son who has just turned 2. Again I have a choice whether to pay a fee to sit next to him. But why should I be faced with that choice?

Let's say I decide not to pay, and we are seated far apart. What is Ryanair's duty of care to him? What if he came to harm because Ryanair chose to seat him apart from me?

I travelled hundreds of times as a child on flights. I went unaccompanied several times as a young teenager. I also sat well away from my parents as a 9/10 year old.

But a 2 year old? Are you serious?

Any reason why you chose to rehash this already done to death thread after two months?