Has anyone not been able to sit with their young kids on a flight?

[Anonymous]

http://moneyland.time.com/2012/05/31/hey-airlines-do-you-really-want-to-split-families-up-on-planes-really/?hpt=hp_t2

We fly a couple times a year as a family of 4. I never pay extra to choose my seats and we have always been given seats together. While I understand its a possibility, I cant fathom a situation in which a 3 y.o. would be 5 rows away from a parent, next to strangers. Has this ever happened to anyone or is it one of those hypothetical arguments?

[Anonymous]

I fly Southwest and it happens all the time -- people will NOT give up their window or aisle seats, so you end up plunking your kid in a middle seat.

Always amazes me when I see it happen. I would give up my seat in a minute, but I always end up in the middle, too.

Once a woman with 3 little ones and a baby got on late because their prior flight was late, and her kids ended up scattered throughout the plane -- literally one in Row and one in the very last row. She was beside herself.

[Anonymous]

My 4 year old was assigned a seat several rows away from me on a recent flight. It was a full flight.


I asked the gate agent to help me get next to her. The gate agent called by name the people seated next to her and I to the gate desk and asked if anyone would be willing to trade seats to allow us to be together. The lady who was seated next to my daughter agreed to trade seats with me.

During the flight, my daughter colored a picture in her coloring book and wrote "thank you" on the top and gave it to the woman who traded seats with me.

[Anonymous]

I have been on plenty of flights where people have been asked to move, but those were mostly southwest where there is no assigned seating (though some were assigned, it just didn't work out for the family when they booked). For example, two kids seated together but away from parents, or one parent away from the remaining family when there was more than one young child.

I was also thinking that you could have the same issue when flying with:
- the elderly
- mentally disabled/special needs
- a friend or relative who needs mental/emotional support while flying due to a phobia

So it would be really, really difficult to set a standard that is fair for everyone, since there are so many reasons why you could justify seating people together.

[Anonymous]

We have been fortunate that people have switched seats with us. However, even though we choose our seats at the time of booking, more often than not, we are scattered throughout the plane (children are 2 and 4). It doesn't help that my last name is different than the kids'.

[Anonymous]

We had to try 3 different flights over the holidays to find one where we could sit together (me, my husband, and our 2 year old). Twice we got all the way through the on line booking process and then had to start over when we realized there were no seats together, only middle seats left, unless we wanted to pay extra. Flights are really full now and it's gotten so inconvenient with so many extra fees that we've decided to burn the extra vacation time and drive back to the midwest to see family twice a year instead of flying. It's more time, but it's so much cheaper that it's worth it to us. I guess if enough people start doing that things might change, but I doubt it since airlines make much more money from frequent business fliers than my family's 2-4 flights a year.

Sucks for us though.

[Anonymous]

I remember as a kid getting separated from my parents on a flight. We were a family of 5 scattered all around the plane. My younger brother was about 6 and the lady sitting next to him got REALLY drunk and was making inappropriate sexual comments to him.

Now as a family with kids of my own, we don't fly too much. I was once separated from my then 5 year old son, because we missed our connecting flight, but a man sitting next to me was kind enough to switch.

[Anonymous]

We have had this happen all the time especially when my kids were only 2-3 years old. The gate agents always refused to make changes. In fact it was during check-in that they somehow messed up our seat assignments that I had previously made to ensure we sit together. I always had to ask the people sitting next to us, and only once did someone refuse to give up her seat. My kids have autism, so we simply would have had to leave the plane if not at least one of us adults could have sat with them.

[Anonymous]

I was once assigned a seat separate from my two year old. They had changed the kind of plane they were using, so our original seats were not available. The gate agent applied pressure on people to switch seats. It's not like anyone would want to sit next to a scared and crying two year old (and if there is, they can have him -- I'll enjoy sitting by myself.)

This has actually happened several times (we fly too much!) but it's always worked out by the time thhe plane takes off.

[Anonymous]

Now that my kids are a little older, we am routinely seperated. I think it began when my oldest was 6 (now 10). He is very social and mature so he usually ends up chatting with the person next to him. My eight year old is more timid and has sat alone twice. I'm usually a row behind him. He is fine and quietly sits throw the flight without more than a yes or no answer.

We have never had any issues and I'm sure people would move if I asked, but at this point it is giving them a little independence.

[Anonymous]

we am? We are routinely...

I stopped mid-post to take a phone call.

[Anonymous]

We just flew to Europe and had to take a flight to Boston first and then hop across. We could not reserve our seats online for the Jet Blue DC-BOS leg, I think due to the fact we had an infant. I was unconcerned but when we checked in they had the six of us in the same general area but in five separate rows. Our kids are 8,4,4 and 1. Thankfully the guys around us were all very nice and without us even asking they saw the situation and made sure we were all together by the time the flight took off. For the International flights, we were able to get our seats prior to the day of travelling, so that was fine.

[Anonymous]

Happened to me when is was travelling alone with 3 kids. Fortunately I had a seat with my 2 year old and the 4 & 7 year old were together a few rows back. It was a long red eye so I figured it would be fine.

Guess what... my oldest who never gets motion sick started to puke on the initial decent. Of course the plane did not have motion sickness bags. I got a tap on the shoulder from the person behind me along with "mom?" I gave my toddler to the guy sitting next to me, then grabbed the 4 year old and handed him off as well. (He didn't have kids but was a rock star trying to keep them seated & buckled during landing) My stuff with plastic baggies was under the 2 year olds seat, so it was back and forth to get that, wipes, etc. The flight attendant finally came by with a garbage bag and soda water, but by then everyone in our section must have been wishing someone had switched seats so we could have been together. I laugh about it now, but boy was I annoyed then!

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I fly Southwest and it happens all the time -- people will NOT give up their window or aisle seats, so you end up plunking your kid in a middle seat.

Always amazes me when I see it happen. I would give up my seat in a minute, but I always end up in the middle, too.

You wonder why people won't give up aisle/window seats? Because either a) they paid extra for these seats or b) they chose their seating in advance.

[Anonymous]

If you have 3-5 children, how can you expect to sit all together? My heart breaks for people traveling with 1-2 kids, but c'mon!