Airline "you get to sit with your kid fee"

[Anonymous]

This happened to us, twice. We were told on the phone they would change our seats to be together at the airport. Upon checking in at the airport they told us they could change us at the gate. At the gate they told us they could not change us to be together and WE would have to ask other passengers to move around so the three of us could be together.

LIARS!!

We did end up together due to the kindness of other passengers, but oh, the frustrations!!

The next time we flew we could not get seats together online. I called and calmly insisted that I am a very nervous flier (true) and I needed to be seated with my DH and 2 yr old son. We insisted on climbing the supervisor chain until someone changed our seats. This eventually DID happen. Don't take no for an answer on the phone, insist to speak to the supervisor. If they say no, ask for the next supervisor up.

[Anonymous]

Really, if anyone wants to sit next to my toddler as long as I can see him, please be my guest. Don't forget to feed him, help him go to the potty, comfort him when screaming and play with him the entire time in less he is sleeping.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Just tell whoever is seated near the child that your child gets severe motion sickness and will likely vomit. If they don't want to move, at least they have been warned.

But what I hate about this is that it is making the airline's idiotic policy (changing planes and then splitting up families) the problem of other passengers. And while I would be happy to move to accommodate a family that is split up, if that family booked seats together, they should be seated together. It should not even become my problem. The airlines just don't care, and they see it as one more way to charge an additional fee, and they really should be held accountable for this. If someone pays for a service, they should get that service. It should not become my 3 year old's problem that the airline decided to switch planes for our flight when we originally booked seats together. And it should not become YOUR problem that suddenly you are stuck next to my 3 year old.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Just tell whoever is seated near the child that your child gets severe motion sickness and will likely vomit. If they don't want to move, at least they have been warned.

But what I hate about this is that it is making the airline's idiotic policy (changing planes and then splitting up families) the problem of other passengers. And while I would be happy to move to accommodate a family that is split up, if that family booked seats together, they should be seated together. It should not even become my problem. The airlines just don't care, and they see it as one more way to charge an additional fee, and they really should be held accountable for this. If someone pays for a service, they should get that service. It should not become my 3 year old's problem that the airline decided to switch planes for our flight when we originally booked seats together. And it should not become YOUR problem that suddenly you are stuck next to my 3 year old.

If you don't want it your problem, you be decent and switch seats with the parents, just as you would want someone to do for you.

[Anonymous]

I would NEVER, NEVER, NEVER fly an airline that wanted to charge a fee for seating me and my preschooler together. That is the height of shameless exploitation, and I will boycott all airlines who try this bullshit.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Just tell whoever is seated near the child that your child gets severe motion sickness and will likely vomit. If they don't want to move, at least they have been warned.



But what I hate about this is that it is making the airline's idiotic policy (changing planes and then splitting up families) the problem of other passengers. And while I would be happy to move to accommodate a family that is split up, if that family booked seats together, they should be seated together. It should not even become my problem. The airlines just don't care, and they see it as one more way to charge an additional fee, and they really should be held accountable for this. If someone pays for a service, they should get that service. It should not become my 3 year old's problem that the airline decided to switch planes for our flight when we originally booked seats together. And it should not become YOUR problem that suddenly you are stuck next to my 3 year old.



If you don't want it your problem, you be decent and switch seats with the parents, just as you would want someone to do for you.

You apparently missed the whole point of the post you quoted.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:What do you think about this? It's happened to me before, reserve seats together and get to the airport and find you're twenty rows away and apart from whoever you're flying with...


http://redtape.nbcnews.com/_news/2012/09/18/13921681-airlines-playing-chicken-with-passengers-charging-you-get-to-sit-with-your-kid-fee?lite

This was a plane change and the only seats together were premium - not an upfront charge to get the same type of economy seat together.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Just tell whoever is seated near the child that your child gets severe motion sickness and will likely vomit. If they don't want to move, at least they have been warned.

But what I hate about this is that it is making the airline's idiotic policy (changing planes and then splitting up families) the problem of other passengers. And while I would be happy to move to accommodate a family that is split up, if that family booked seats together, they should be seated together. It should not even become my problem. The airlines just don't care, and they see it as one more way to charge an additional fee, and they really should be held accountable for this. If someone pays for a service, they should get that service. It should not become my 3 year old's problem that the airline decided to switch planes for our flight when we originally booked seats together. And it should not become YOUR problem that suddenly you are stuck next to my 3 year old.

Yes, this exactly. Also, someone who is nice enough to change seats is going to have their carry on bags in a completely different overhead compartment, making exiting the plane an additional pain in the ass. There is no way this should be the passengers' problem, or - I'll go a step further - the flight attendants' problem when they are nice enough to help facilitate seat changes. I'm speaking as someone who has had other passengers switch so I could sit next to my child. I'm very grateful to them, and I don't think this BS should be their problem. This should be solved much further upstream, or better yet, never become a problem in the first place.

[Anonymous]

Msnbc news has a story on this, and the expert they quoted recommends that parents don't pay the fee

[Anonymous]

14:30 again. My interpretation after my most recent obnoxious splitting up the family on the plane experience is that people with gobs of frequent flyer miles don't get split up. We fly often, but obviously not often enough to insure against this.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:What do you think about this? It's happened to me before, reserve seats together and get to the airport and find you're twenty rows away and apart from whoever you're flying with...


http://redtape.nbcnews.com/_news/2012/09/18/13921681-airlines-playing-chicken-with-passengers-charging-you-get-to-sit-with-your-kid-fee?lite

This was a plane change and the only seats together were premium - not an upfront charge to get the same type of economy seat together.

Reminder, though, it doesn't cost the airline one penny more to have people sit in a premium seat versus non-premium seat. They lose nothing by allowing folks to sit together with their kids, even if it does mean they get an extra 3 inches of legroom without having to pay for it.