TUI- allocated seats, 7 year old seated on his own

paul2louise

I havent paid for allocated seats on a tui holiday to portugal. Going out is fine, a row together
But coming home we have 26D, 25D and 22C.
I dont know where tui stands with seating a child away from parents. Can anyone help
Thanks

martindow

I think 26D and 25D are considered adjacent seats as far as the rules around young children sitting with an adult is concerned, so one adult and the child sit there and the other adult goes to 22C. In practice you can probably swap seats with someone else.

Pollycat

martindow wrote: »

I think 26D and 25D are considered adjacent seats as far as the rules around young children sitting with an adult is concerned, so one adult and the child sit there and the other adult goes to 22C. In practice you can probably swap seats with someone else.

Yes they are, as is across the aisle.

There are no laws about seating children with their parents.
CAA have guidelines that say:

Families, children and infants

The seating of children close by their parents or guardians should be the aim of airline seat allocation procedures for family groups and large parties of children.
Young children and infants who are accompanied by adults should ideally be seated in the same seat row as the adult. 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.
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.

So they say 'ideally' and 'should' rather than 'must'.

I think as you've opted not to pay for seats together, the airline would say that they've met CAA guidelines by separating your child by no more than one row.

eDicky

Pollycat wrote: »

Yes they are, as is across the aisle.

Not across the aisle, 26D and 25D are one behind the other on the aisle.

You may well find that the person in 25E or 26E are willing to swap for your aisle seat if they're on their own.

Pollycat

eDicky wrote: »

Not across the aisle, 26D and 25D are one behind the other on the aisle.

You may well find that the person in 25E or 26E are willing to swap for your aisle seat if they're on their own.

You've either misunderstood my post or I've not been clear.
I agreed that - as far as most airlines go - seats behind are classed as 'sat together'.
As is across the aisle.
i.e. across the aisle e.g. 26C and 26D are also classed as 'sat together'.
25D and 26D are in the same position but one row behind the other.

Pollycat wrote: »

Yes they are, as is across the aisle.

jackieblack

paul2louise wrote: »

I havent paid for allocated seats on a tui holiday to portugal. Going out is fine, a row together
But coming home we have 26D, 25D and 22C.
I dont know where tui stands with seating a child away from parents. Can anyone help
Thanks

If you put the child in 25D with one parent just behind them in 26D, they won't be 'away'.

eDicky

Pollycat wrote: »

You've either misunderstood my post or I've not been clear.
I agreed that - as far as most airlines go - seats behind are classed as 'sat together'.
As is across the aisle.
i.e. across the aisle e.g. 26C and 26D are also classed as 'sat together'.
25D and 26D are in the same position but one row behind the other.

Yes, I misunderstood your 'as is'.

At the same time, I didn't think you would make such a mistake.

Pollycat

eDicky wrote: »

Yes, I misunderstood your 'as is'.

At the same time, I didn't think you would make such a mistake.

On long haul flights with a 3-3-3 configuration, OH and I actively choose seats in the centre section 1 behind the other e.g. 25D and 26D.
Reasoning is that we usually are next to a couple who get out to the loo on their side (F) which means we're not disturbed but can get out whenever we want without disturbing anyone else.
And I can recline my seat knowing the chap behind isn't going to throw a strop (because he's my OH and can't sleep on flights).

Lordy!
The number of check-in staff who want to change our specifically chosen seats so we can sit next to each other.
And the number of passengers who want to swap with us 'so we can sit next to each other'.

blues

If you want to sit with your child, you should pay to choose your seats. In my view, it isn't fair on the person stuck next to your child. You should be sat with them in case they get scared/sick etc.

z1a

blues wrote: »

If you want to sit with your child, you should pay to choose your seats. In my view, it isn't fair on the person stuck next to your child. You should be sat with them in case they get scared/sick etc.

Entirely agree.

zagfles

paul2louise wrote: »

I havent paid for allocated seats on a tui holiday to portugal. Going out is fine, a row together
But coming home we have 26D, 25D and 22C.
I dont know where tui stands with seating a child away from parents. Can anyone help
Thanks

That's not "away", you can be directly behind (or in front of) your child. I'd suggest whoever is the most nervous about the situation sits behind. That's usually the parent