First family holiday (Tui) - is it worth paying to select seats?

elsien

Does acquiring advantage points and also O2 rewards count in mitigation at all, your honour?

eskbanker

elsien said:

Does acquiring advantage points and also O2 rewards count in mitigation at all, your honour?

Only if you redeem them on things that you need and would have been buying anyway!

Bicycleman22

You can take empty water bottles through security and fill them up at water fountains air side.....these filled with water can be taken on the plane. Taking sandwiches and snacks and the empty water bottles from home on top of not paying for seats will probably save you close on £200. The children will also have access to a drink without having to buy one on the plane. ..................I would check in at the exact time online check in opens for the free seats you might get lucky  and sit together anyway. . 

Ayr_Rage

As it's only a 2 hour flight, eat before flying, food always tastes better on the ground.

Why food and drinks taste different in the air. The combination of dry nasal passages and mouth means your sense of taste is diminished by up to 30%. Sweet and salty flavors are particularly affected, making meals seem bland and less enjoyable.

ChasingtheWelshdream

Thank you both for the tips. That is great about the empty water bottles!!  I did see people taking bottles last year but forgot to ask about it. 

I can’t speak for the kids, but I couldn’t eat that early. Coffee yea. Food no! Tbh, as teenagers who tend to inhale food I’m not sure they will worry that much. 

My alarm is set for when checkout opens 🙂

Shylock_249

Selecting seats on TUI was widely covered on Trip Advisor. I personally hate TUI.

Unless it's changed in recent times selecting seats with TUI doesn't mean you will sit together.  Apparently they allocate something like 80% of seats for those who select and pay for their seats and the remaining 20% are NOT allocated allowing TUI to have some wriggle room.

Additionally, again unless it's changed, you have to pay to select your seats before you get to see which seats are selectable, so it could turn out that a family of 4 book and pay, then when they go to select the seats there are only 6 seats left in the whole aircraft and none of them are together.  

In my last year of travel before my wife had a stroke we went to Mexico three times and Goa Twice.  The first time we paid for the seats but were unable to sit next to each other, talk about a waste of money.  Thereafter we turned up a Manchester Airport in good time and asked which seats were available on the Dreamliner, we, where we could, would request to have two seats one behind the other in an aisle of the middle seating plan in the belief that those sat next to us would most likely be a couple and would exit their seats from their side.  Additionally the wife would sit in the seat in front of me knowing that I wouldn't be nudging the back of the seat for the whole journey.

The joys of long haul travel.

elsien

I don’t think turning up at the airport to get seats is a goer any more because everyone checks in online beforehand. By the time you get to the airport, it’s far too late and all the seats have been allocated.

bagand96

Voyager2002 said:

ChasingtheWelshdream said:

The will likely be plugged in to some electrical device I imagine and won’t be bothered. It is a feeling of mum guilt rather than any real distress on their part I guess. 

Remember they are not allowed to use electronics during take-off and landing. Make sure they know this, and know about seat-belts. 

That's quite outdated advice, on most airlines handheld electronic devices including headphones are now permitted gate to gate. Can't remember the last time I was on a flight where it wasn't allowed. 

Laptops, and maybe larger tablets, still aren't permitted on takeoff and landing (tray tables must be stowed - and having them on a lap could be a safety issue in an emergency) 

Voyager2002

bagand96 said:

Voyager2002 said:

ChasingtheWelshdream said:

The will likely be plugged in to some electrical device I imagine and won’t be bothered. It is a feeling of mum guilt rather than any real distress on their part I guess. 

Remember they are not allowed to use electronics during take-off and landing. Make sure they know this, and know about seat-belts. 

That's quite outdated advice, on most airlines handheld electronic devices including headphones are now permitted gate to gate. Can't remember the last time I was on a flight where it wasn't allowed. 

Laptops, and maybe larger tablets, still aren't permitted on takeoff and landing (tray tables must be stowed - and having them on a lap could be a safety issue in an emergency) 

I was told off for using an e-book reader within the last two years! I would imagine that this varies between different airlines, and also with the degree of training for cabin crew.

TheShape

Voyager2002 said:

bagand96 said:

Voyager2002 said:

ChasingtheWelshdream said:

The will likely be plugged in to some electrical device I imagine and won’t be bothered. It is a feeling of mum guilt rather than any real distress on their part I guess. 

Remember they are not allowed to use electronics during take-off and landing. Make sure they know this, and know about seat-belts. 

That's quite outdated advice, on most airlines handheld electronic devices including headphones are now permitted gate to gate. Can't remember the last time I was on a flight where it wasn't allowed. 

Laptops, and maybe larger tablets, still aren't permitted on takeoff and landing (tray tables must be stowed - and having them on a lap could be a safety issue in an emergency) 

I was told off for using an e-book reader within the last two years! I would imagine that this varies between different airlines, and also with the degree of training for cabin crew.

Out of interest, what airine (if you remember)?

I've not had an issue using an e-reader during take-off and landing on the better part of 100 flights.