airplane -- seats not together with 5 year olds

[Anonymous]

Someone at the airline association needs to be forced to read every page of this crap (which admittedly I did not , but I've been here long enough to know the deal).

No one here is wrong. I am as understanding as they get as a fellow traveler. I don't have a strong window/aisle preference and have traded seats many times. And I'm a mom who would freak out if I was in ops shoes, but I would be fuming if I had to switch to a middle for a 6 hour flight. The whole industry is broken by greed and high demand that the way it works right now there's no right answer. I can't afford to pay extra for an window or aisle even for myself. What am I supposed to do for a family of four? Those extra few hundred dollars will likely make us not take the trip, even if it's for a wedding or something that isn't of our choosing.

[Anonymous]

I'm a mom to 2 young kids. I would not give up my aisle seat to California. Charlotte, maybe. But cross country, no way. If we can't at least get seats 2 & 2 for our family of four, we don't book. And we screen shot it in case the airline tries to pull a switcheroo at the airport. AND we get there early.

[Anonymous]

If we can't get all of us together, I will try to pick a random aisle or window seat anywhere, so at least I will have a "good" seat to trade to be next to my family. Chances are that the person in the window seat next to my small child would be happy with another window seat elsewhere.

And I'm a rare person who prefers middle to window-- I hate the window, makes me feel claustrauphobic.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:We booked our vacation flight to California about a month out -- but there were no seats available next to each other... and only middle seats available. Our twins are 5 yrs old. Have people generally had luck with people switching seats (even tho they have windows & aisles, probably don't want to sit next to needy, possibly crying 5 year olds??) or other options/suggestions for how to handle?

I would have had more sympathy for you - but you need to plan better. You are now asking people who have windows and aisle seats to accommodate you because you didn't get your act together or aren't willing to pay more.

No, no, no. It's no longer about planning. Things are a-changing. When I booked my last flight (well in advance), aisle and window seats were considered "premium seats" for which I had to pay extra to reserve; I could get those same seats for free only if they were available upon check-in.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:We booked our vacation flight to California about a month out -- but there were no seats available next to each other... and only middle seats available. Our twins are 5 yrs old. Have people generally had luck with people switching seats (even tho they have windows & aisles, probably don't want to sit next to needy, possibly crying 5 year olds??) or other options/suggestions for how to handle?

I would have had more sympathy for you - but you need to plan better. You are now asking people who have windows and aisle seats to accommodate you because you didn't get your act together or aren't willing to pay more.

No, no, no. It's no longer about planning. Things are a-changing. When I booked my last flight (well in advance), aisle and window seats were considered "premium seats" for which I had to pay extra to reserve; I could get those same seats for free only if they were available upon check-in.

If you look at airline prices over time, though, you'll see that the window and aisle seats cost about what they did previously. So, instead of being upset that you're asked to "pay extra" for those seats, recognize that you're essentially getting a discount for sitting in the middle between strangers.

And then understand that you can't really get upset that you used a discount for your child, in return for choosing a seat between strangers, and they asked him to sit between strangers.

[Anonymous]

OP here with an update. The 'soft block' myth turned out to be a real thing -- at least on Virgin America. They advise getting to the airport to be there when the gate check in opens (around 90 mins early) - and they arranged us all to be together on the soft block row. They give priority to the split up family on the flight with the youngest kids.

For those of you who want justice for us to be punished for life not allowing us to be able to book our vacation with more advanced notice - on the way back (when we had seats together) - we were seated in front of a family with a crying baby and two yippy dogs in travel carriers.

[Anonymous]

Ugh, yippy dogs. Will never understand why that is allowed. I don't think any pets should be allowed. Or else they should allow my old docile quiet lab.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Ugh, yippy dogs. Will never understand why that is allowed. I don't think any pets should be allowed. Or else they should allow my old docile quiet lab.

Whatever. My dog flies constantly. 99% of people on the plane have never seen him. He's only noticed when people realize it's a pet carrier bag. I pay $125 each way for the privilege too. So I'm helping to subsidize your ticket.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Ugh, yippy dogs. Will never understand why that is allowed. I don't think any pets should be allowed. Or else they should allow my old docile quiet lab.

Whatever. My dog flies constantly. 99% of people on the plane have never seen him. He's only noticed when people realize it's a pet carrier bag. I pay $125 each way for the privilege too. So I'm helping to subsidize your ticket.

So it's okay with you if I buy my 60 pound lab his own seat?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:
Me too - I gave up my aisle on a 10 hour transatlantic flight to let a husband and his nervous wife site together and accepted the crappy middle seat on the other side of the plane. Because it was the decent thing to do. Was I as relaxed or comfortable as I could have been? No. Would I do it again? Yes.

Wow, you're a total sucker. People lie about this all the time to get people to move to worse. Two adults don't need to sit together at all.

Let me know when you're in business class.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Ugh, yippy dogs. Will never understand why that is allowed. I don't think any pets should be allowed. Or else they should allow my old docile quiet lab.

Whatever. My dog flies constantly. 99% of people on the plane have never seen him. He's only noticed when people realize it's a pet carrier bag. I pay $125 each way for the privilege too. So I'm helping to subsidize your ticket.

You are also helping my allergic mom have trouble breathing on a long haul flight. Cheers to you.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Ugh, that's a pretty crummy situation. Not only are you all separate, but you don't have equal trade value (i.e. I'll trade my window seat in another row for your window seat next to my child).

On top of that, assuming you are leaving from DC, that is probably a 4-5+ hour flight, so switching someone out of their preferred aisle/window seat that they booked in advance isn't a small sacrifice. If it was a 1-2 hour flight, it's a little different.

This may seem a little harsh (and I'm saying this objectively, not as personal attack/judgment), but I think it would be pretty rude to displace someone from their chosen seat (especially on a longer flight) without having an equal trade seat--especially when you knew this while booking the flight.

If you don't get lucky with a cancellation etc., maybe a good compromise would be to take the middle seat behind your child, that way you are close enough if there is a meltdown.

Are you out of your ever loving mind? Would you leave YOUR 5 year old in a row alone with a stranger, rather than ask if someone would be willing to switch?

Different poster here: I would NOT leave my 5 year old with a stranger on a plane. Because of that, I would NOT book a flight that put me in that position.

It is not that simple. It's happened to me three times now that I've booked a flight well in advance and booked seats with my family, only to have the equipment change and our seats end up shuffled all over the plane. Same airline all three times. We avoid flying them as much as possible now (but it's hard sometimes).

This has happened to me. We book super-early, we choose seats that allow us to sit together, and then the airline reassigns us. They know that my kid is two years old, and they still assign us seats that aren't together.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I'm a mom to 2 young kids. I would not give up my aisle seat to California. Charlotte, maybe. But cross country, no way. If we can't at least get seats 2 & 2 for our family of four, we don't book. And we screen shot it in case the airline tries to pull a switcheroo at the airport. AND we get there early.

Which won't help you if they change equipment and the seat configuration is different. They have a plane full of people whose seats got switched. More than once, we've been reseated such that we aren't sitting together. Sometimes the gate agents were super helpful, but some airline staff are really unsympathetic, even though it's quite clear that no one will be happy if my toddler is sitting by herself--not me, not her, and not the passengers who have to listen to her scream and holler and wail.

[Anonymous]

"Excuse me, do you mind exchanging seats with me so that I can sit next to my kid(s). I want to be here to help him when he throws up, because he gets motion sickness when we fly. Thank you."

[Anonymous]

Can't you buy seats? Almost always there are seats available that are not middle you just have to pay more for them. Don't chew out on seats and then expect others to move.