Helpppppp not sitting together? Sort of budget related

[Minniesgal]

Children should be automatically seated with their parents without parents having to pay for this. should be a basic service. It's a safety issue and also better for the comfort of other passengers as well

 

[punkin712]

Children should be automatically seated with their parents without parents having to pay for this. should be a basic service. It's a safety issue and also better for the comfort of other passengers as well

But where do you draw the line? Is it based on age, need, etc.? You could say "all children under age 6", but what about a 9-year old with anxiety issues? What about a 12-year old who is flying for the first time? What about a 17-year old with some other special need? Parents who feel they must sit with their children on a flight must take the steps necessary to do so. If DH and I book a flight that requires us to pay extra for the seats we want so we can avoid the last row, sit together, get an aisle seat, etc. we do it. If you choose not to and, instead, roll the dice on the kindness of strangers, that's on you. Don't expect me to bail you out. If I paid extra for the seat I'm in, I'm staying in it.

BTW - this doesn't just happen with parents and children. Recently, we had boarded a flight and noticed a bit of a tantrum going on 2 rows in front of us. Apparently, a 50-something year old couple realized when they got to their seats that C and D were actually across the aisle from each other and not next to each other. These two literally held up the entire boarding process until the flight attendant finally told them to take their assigned seats or be escorted from the plane. They complained so much and so loudly and made so many threats of writing letters and posting poor reviews that it was downright embarrassing. Of course, they made complete jerks of themselves and spent the entire flight making everyone around them miserable. Oh, and did I mention it was a 75-minute flight?

 

[crisi]

Children should be automatically seated with their parents without parents having to pay for this. should be a basic service. It's a safety issue and also better for the comfort of other passengers as well

Why? What makes a kid more special than all the other people who fly. Here is the issue. Specifying children in our society opens up a can of worms. Say you choose children younger than thirteen. But there is a special needs fourteen year old that should sit by mom - or a special needs adult. Or you are traveling with your aged mother? Or you are traveling with your spouse on a family vacation during leave - he's currently deployed in the Middle East? Or you are flying with someone fresh out of rehab (airports and airlines are the best place to fall off the wagon as soon as you leave rehab). There are lots of reasons people need to sit together. There are even more reasons people need aisle seats. Then there are the frequent flyers - those flyers are very important to the airlines to keep happy. A family might travel by air once a year - maybe once every five. Someone with Gold status is probably getting on a plane four times a month - and probably paying a premium for a lot of their tickets due to short notice. You want to keep that guy happy.

In my experience, flying alone as a women - that is in and of itself a safety issue. Guys can be handsy. Guys sitting in close quarters where they can make the excuse that leaning against your breast is simply a condition of flight, and the tray table down gives good cover for ************ - the first time that happened to me I was 21. You are stuck in your seat. There aren't extra seats. And the flight attendant won't do anything if there is plausible deniability (i.e. he keeps his pants zipped and she doesn't see it). Should airlines make sure women sitting alone are only seated with other women? (One of the reasons I like the aisle - in the middle, I double my chances of pervert. In the window, I'm trapped. On the aisle, I can at least leave for the bathroom easily and with frequency.)

There used to be airlines where almost everyone picked their seats (until the airline nears capacity). Those airlines have been more expensive and have been switching their model to allow for lower priced fares - which means nickle and diming the customer. If you can charge $25 for a checked bag and $25 to pick your seat, and offer meals for sale only - you can probably charge everyone $25 less (some people won't check bags) - then you show up on Expedia with a competitive price. And thats what consumers shop by - price, date and time of flight, number of stops. They don't care when they are picking a flight if the fare includes seat selection.

The way it works in our capitalist society is that if its important enough for you to pay for it, you pay for it. If it isn't important enough for you to pay for it - you don't. And we have a huge culture of caveat emptor - make sure you know what you are buying.

 

[maxiesmom]

Children should be automatically seated with their parents without parents having to pay for this. should be a basic service. It's a safety issue and also better for the comfort of other passengers as well

If it is a concern the parent should do what they need to to make sure their child is seated next to them.

 

[Funfire240]

Children should be automatically seated with their parents without parents having to pay for this. should be a basic service. It's a safety issue and also better for the comfort of other passengers as well

I know of children that fly by themselves so it's not unthinkable. We have young children - we pay extra to sit with them. We won't fly certain airlines because of the uncertainty of sitting next to them. As a parent, it is up to us. It's not fair to the people who do pay extra for the seat assignments to have someone who didn't whine and expect them to move. If you can't afford a little extra for assigned seats to be sure that you are next to your child, then look for other means of travel.
Now if the airline moved things around and moved our seats after we had them set up, then that would be different and I would expect them to accommodate us, but to pay less money to have seats randomly selected and then whine about the selection makes no sense to me. That to me seems like the ongoing "me me me" mentality where everyone thinks rules should be bent for them.

 

[crisi]

It is also impossible for a large family to sit together on most domestic flights. Seats usually go three across - so if a parent is flying alone with three young children - one will be sitting across the aisle with a stranger - and that's best case. Two parents means you can get two rows and split a family of four kids. But at five kids someone is in a completely different row.

If the plane is one that is three and two or two and two - seating a family with a lot of kids together gets even harder. I've even been on a puddle jumper that was two and one.

So what people are asking for isn't even possible if you have more than two kids per adult

 

[Riles_and_Gabe]

This was such an interesting topic for me because I just booked my 18 year old son's ticket home from college for Thanksgiving this morning. In order to save money we booked through Expedia and actually booked the mystery flight deal which saved us $20 but we didn't know the airline or the flight times until after we paid. We found out after we paid that he would be flying on Delta.

My son prefers to fly aisle but could deal with any seat he was given. I had assumed that we may not get to pick the flights. Once I got the email with his flight confirmation number, I went online to Delta and was able to pick aisle seats for each of his flights. They had certain seats (the ones with more room I think) that would have cost more to pick but they were a different color so easy to identify.

I bring this up because the OP mentioned they may have bought it on Expedia (just like I did). I wonder if they bought the seats either really close to the actual flight time or they hadn't bothered to check earlier to see if they could pick seats. If they hadn't picked them the airline may have eventually assigned them to the leftover seats which at this point are just middles.

Hopefully it works out for the OP. It would stress me out if my three year old was not next to me. I would be worried the entire flight they were annoying the other passengers.

 

[kymom99]

I'm hoping OP lets us know after her trip how it went.

 

[JillianMarie]

The way it works in our capitalist society is that if its important enough for you to pay for it, you pay for it. If it isn't important enough for you to pay for it - you don't. And we have a huge culture of caveat emptor - make sure you know what you are buying.

That's the part that blows me away. You can either A) pay $79 per way to fly without any extras and pay fees for what you want or B) pay more money to fly with assigned seats and drinks and a normal sized carry on. You cannot do both. As a culture, we have demanded dirt cheap flight options and the market has responded by offering them with certain concessions. People complain about how difficult flying has become and how they're being 'nickel and dimed' - but still refuse to buy a ticket on a legacy carrier because it's "too expensive". It's not rocket science how we got here.

 

[crisi]

That's the part that blows me away. You can either A) pay $79 per way to fly without any extras and pay fees for what you want or B) pay more money to fly with assigned seats and drinks and a normal sized carry on. You cannot do both. As a culture, we have demanded dirt cheap flight options and the market has responded by offering them with certain concessions. People complain about how difficult flying has become and how they're being 'nickel and dimed' - but still refuse to buy a ticket on a legacy carrier because it's "too expensive". It's not rocket science how we got here.

In this case, the ticket was bought on the legacy carrier, but that legacy carrier has moved to multiple fare classes in order to compete with no-frills airlines - pay the lowest fare class, and you'll get few frills (though Delta will still serve you a soda and some pretzels, even at their lowest fare class).

 

[BLAZEY]

There was a similar story here in Canada not too long ago where a 3yr old was not seated by her parents and they were not going to pay extra to have her do so, because the parents said it was stupid to have to pay to be seated next to your own child on a flight. They said there should be a law against separating children from their parents.http://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/british-columbia/air-canada-child-seat-fares-1.3560027 Low and behold the Canadian Transportation Agency already had a mandate that the airlines had been breaking by not automatically seating children under 12 without an extra fee. I think it's a safety issue for the airlines. In an emergency who is responsible for the young child seat 3 row away from Mum or Dad? Who is going to make sure the child has their seat belt on during the flight in case of turbulence, put the oxygen mask on the child should the drop?
I flew after this came about and all 4 times DD was seated next to me automatically. Were they the best seats, no I didn't expect that, we were toward the back of the plane in a middle and window seat.

 

[Minniesgal]

There was a similar story here in Canada not too long ago where a 3yr old was not seated by her parents and they were not going to pay extra to have her do so, because the parents said it was stupid to have to pay to be seated next to your own child on a flight. They said there should be a law against separating children from their parents.http://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/british-columbia/air-canada-child-seat-fares-1.3560027 Low and behold the Canadian Transportation Agency already had a mandate that the airlines had been breaking by not automatically seating children under 12 without an extra fee. I think it's a safety issue for the airlines. In an emergency who is responsible for the young child seat 3 row away from Mum or Dad? Who is going to make sure the child has their seat belt on during the flight in case of turbulence, put the oxygen mask on the child should the drop?
I flew after this came about and all 4 times DD was seated next to me automatically. Were they the best seats, no I didn't expect that, we were toward the back of the plane in a middle and window seat.

This!

This is exactly how it works in the UK, families are automatically seated together as long as they are on one ticket and young children must by law be seated next to a parent. I don't under stand why it isn't the law everywhere. The airlines don't need the distraction of a child separated from parents in an emergency situation. What is it on a crash landing you have 90 seconds to empty the plane. In that scenario those toddlers need to be with parents.

To me an airline sitting young children away from parents or charging parents to sit beside their young child is nothing short of irresponsible. Sam applies to the handicapped sitting next to carers.

 

[Minniesgal]

Why? What makes a kid more special than all the other people who fly. Here is the issue. Specifying children in our society opens up a can of worms. Say you choose children younger than thirteen. But there is a special needs fourteen year old that should sit by mom - or a special needs adult. Or you are traveling with your aged mother? Or you are traveling with your spouse on a family vacation during leave - he's currently deployed in the Middle East? Or you are flying with someone fresh out of rehab (airports and airlines are the best place to fall off the wagon as soon as you leave rehab). There are lots of reasons people need to sit together. There are even more reasons people need aisle seats. Then there are the frequent flyers - those flyers are very important to the airlines to keep happy. A family might travel by air once a year - maybe once every five. Someone with Gold status is probably getting on a plane four times a month - and probably paying a premium for a lot of their tickets due to short notice. You want to keep that guy happy.

In my experience, flying alone as a women - that is in and of itself a safety issue. Guys can be handsy. Guys sitting in close quarters where they can make the excuse that leaning against your breast is simply a condition of flight, and the tray table down gives good cover for ************ - the first time that happened to me I was 21. You are stuck in your seat. There aren't extra seats. And the flight attendant won't do anything if there is plausible deniability (i.e. he keeps his pants zipped and she doesn't see it). Should airlines make sure women sitting alone are only seated with other women? (One of the reasons I like the aisle - in the middle, I double my chances of pervert. In the window, I'm trapped. On the aisle, I can at least leave for the bathroom easily and with frequency.)

There used to be airlines where almost everyone picked their seats (until the airline nears capacity). Those airlines have been more expensive and have been switching their model to allow for lower priced fares - which means nickle and diming the customer. If you can charge $25 for a checked bag and $25 to pick your seat, and offer meals for sale only - you can probably charge everyone $25 less (some people won't check bags) - then you show up on Expedia with a competitive price. And thats what consumers shop by - price, date and time of flight, number of stops. They don't care when they are picking a flight if the fare includes seat selection.

The way it works in our capitalist society is that if its important enough for you to pay for it, you pay for it. If it isn't important enough for you to pay for it - you don't. And we have a huge culture of caveat emptor - make sure you know what you are buying.

I was more thinking toddlers and children of pre school age. However yes special needs should be taken into account as well as handicaps. Needs trump wants

 

[megster1123]

I was more thinking toddlers and children of pre school age. However yes special needs should be taken into account as well as handicaps. Needs trump wants

But where do you draw the line?

 

[BLAZEY]

This!

This is exactly how it works in the UK, families are automatically seated together as long as they are on one ticket and young children must by law be seated next to a parent. I don't under stand why it isn't the law everywhere. The airlines don't need the distraction of a child separated from parents in an emergency situation. What is it on a crash landing you have 90 seconds to empty the plane. In that scenario those toddlers need to be with parents.

To me an airline sitting young children away from parents or charging parents to sit beside their young child is nothing short of irresponsible. Sam applies to the handicapped sitting next to carers.

Disabled person needing a caregiver are automatically seat with their companion in Canada part of the disability access laws and such, so that they assist during the flight, no extra fee incurred. Yet parents are charged a fee (up until this happened) to sit next to children who were expected by the airline to be responsible for themselves. We did fly before the automatic seating and I sat with DD because I phoned the airline and had them put at least one of of with her because it was a code share flight that had changed equipment and now we were scattered across the plane after doing online check in. DH was 2 rows away but I got to sit with DD.

 

[Minniesgal]

But where do you draw the line?

At what age would parents not be considered irresponsible for leaving kids home alone for short periods. For us here that age is 12.

Whatever that age is locally that is where i would draw the line

 

[megster1123]

At what age would parents not be considered irresponsible for leaving kids home alone for short periods. For us here that age is 12.

Whatever that age is locally that is where i would draw the line

In order to be fair and consistent, you have to have black and white rules that take all factors into consideration. Determining whether or not a child needs to be automatically seated by their parent is not a matter of only age, but rather a compilation of age, ability, special need...the list is extensive. Personally I don't think making a blanket statement based solely on the age of the child is fair.

What happens in your scenerio when a mother with a 10 year old wants to fly, but the flight does not have seating available them to sit together? Are they prohibited from purchasing seats on that flight?
Or what about a father flying with a special needs child that is 13? He is not eligible for the automatic parent-child seating because the child is over 12?

 

[JillianMarie]

And see this is a perfect example of why the airline can't be responsible for kids sitting with parents. If there needs to be a quadratic equation of age, need, special status, etc. it's completely unreasonable to expect an airline to manage that. So, then who should be responsible for making sure they sit next to their kid? The parent. Either buy a ticket where you can pick your seat ahead of time, pay the fee to sit next to your child, or accept that he/she might be sitting next to an ax murderer or in the middle of an aisle during a plane crash.

 

[piccolopat]

Perhaps airlines should not sell tickets to children under a certain age if seat choice isn't include. This might mean they can't buy the cheapest fare class.

 

[Gracie09]

I was more thinking toddlers and children of pre school age. However yes special needs should be taken into account as well as handicaps. Needs trump wants

But what if there are two needs?