Paying extra for seats together on plane?

Becles

It depends on if you want to be certain to sit next to each other or not.

I went to Barbados on honeymoon with my ex. There was a problem with a bus breaking down, so we were picked up late from the hotel and arrived at the airport just before the flight closed. There was us and a couple with a small child. There were only individual seats left. It was in the days of compartments, so I flew back in non-smoking and my ex was in smoking! It was a long flight with no company as the couple next to me were not very chatty. I also felt sorry for the little boy sitting on his own.

Coming back from Mexico last year we had paid for prebooked seats, but when we arrived at the airport, we had been missed off the list. Again we were offered odd individual seats but I didn't want my children split up and sitting on their own. As I had paid for the sitting together, they had to move people round on the plane to accomodate us

If you are making your own way to the airport, then you can get there really early to get seats together. If you are relying on the tour operators transfers or don't want to spend ages at the airport, I would pay for the service.

divadee

well i have just posted a thread here

i am hoping that getting to the airport early will result in a least me and little miss divadee together. if not the 3 of us.


I didnt think airlines split children up from there parents. Who would want a stranger sitting next to there child?

budgetflyer

I dont like paying for any of these "extras" normally.
HOWEVER,
Im sure this is quite an expensive holiday,it is also very special holiday .
Why spoil it and the run up to the wedding with uncertainty. So just pay for it !
You could always, if you can squeeze a bit more, put the money towards upgraded seats, just to make it extra special.

taytay_2

Went to Cuba in June and they were going to split myself and the other half up on the way there but she managed to get the last seats together for us.

On the way back i definately saw couples and families that were sat apart from each other (and hoardes of phsyco geordies, but that is another story)

Doonhamer

Agree, it is a con but the only way to be certain is to pay the money. I've usually got seats together but one time we were split up. Checking in early does not always work either, some flights the seats are all allocated before check in opens, or so they told me!

poppy_f1

i should be booking a holiday at the end of the month for october for me and my mate and i aint paying the extra to have us sitting together, i'll take me chances thank you
however i do understand people paying for them but for us its not important for us to sit together if the worse came to the worse

candygirl

I always pay the extra as I couldn't stand sitting next to someone I didn't know.Last time I paid for the premiar upgrade as the flight to Goa is sooo long , and it was worth every penny, with extra leg room, drinks etc etc.A couple near me however were each sitting at the end of an aisle so were technically near each other with the aisle seperating them.God did they kick up a fuss :eek: :eek: :eek:

mum2one

Its all since 9/11,the extra security costs etc, that the airlines are charging for every extra that they use to give for free, sitting together, ( if your on hol 2gether it stands to sense you want to be together), meals, and they have taken off the extras offthe flight such as blankets and pillows.

I found that as a single traveller, and that Im on crutches, I always check in early to get a good seat (ie an aisle seat), it does not always work asthe travel company have prebooked the seats, so from future travelling, I plan to ring the airline direct and have to book prebooked seats!

alanjuk

The airlines have to try and sit families together it’s not a legal requirement but a code that I think most of them have to follow. The reason is that should an emergency occur the last thing they would want is people trying to find other members of their family at the other end of the plane instead of trying to evacuate the plane, in other words it’s a safety issue.

pattycake

I have never paid the extra on long haul, checked in early and had no problem sitting next to my companion.

However, this year on a flight to the Dominican Republic with Thomas Cook, we sat next to a young man who was separated from his girlfriend. Her mother was also miles away from her partner. The irony was, they HAD paid extra for sitting together. They were travelling some distance from the airport on the outbound flight and got lost so were late checking in. They were keeping their boarding cards showing the seat numbers (on our advice) so that could reclaim the money on returning home.

We met the same charming young man on the way home and this time they had all got the seats together as they wanted.

The moral of the story - you decide.