Flame away—not paying for seats when airplane is 2 and 2?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Ugh. We've been switched even when we picked seats ahead of time. Sometimes, you can get an agent on the phone ahead of time to link a ticketed kid with you so you won't be separated. We've done this after purchasing online to avoid over the phone ticketing fees.

OP, don't count on people switching to get away from the baby. We've been separated from a kid, and last summer our friends flying out west we're separated from their 3yo. In our case, my kid was a row (or two?) ahead on the opposite aisle.

Omg. What did your friend do? I would totally give someone that did this a copy of “green eggs and ham” and a bag of Cheerios and pull out my book.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:How do you save a bunch of money? Isn't paying for a seat like max $40? So let's round up... you save $200?

If $200 makes a difference in your budget you can't afford to be vacationing in the first place.

Are you aware that sometimes poor people are able to save up for a discount flight for a once in a lifetime trip and yes, $200 can break the budget or at least be an extremely noticeable expense. Guess we should just stay home.

Yes I'm aware. And if they haven't saved up enough yet where $200 isn't an issue, they can't afford the trip yet.

+1

Totally agree. Your problem is not anyone else's problem, OP.

Of course its not other passengers' problem. As is evidenced on this thread, many passengers with small children DO NOT pay for this gimmicky upcharge by the airlines. The airline either takes care of it or ultimately, I suppose, the child/parent would take a different flight. Anecdotally, this doesn't seem common. No one is forcing you to give up your paid seats. The fact that everyone is concerned about it is BIZARRE to me.

[Anonymous]

So takeaway...if you don’t pay the charge, there is a chance you could get free babysitting for the entire flight.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Go ahead and roll the dice, just don’t pitch a sanctimonious fit when your seats are scattered throughout the plane and no one will move for you.

Yes I hate when parents don't pre pay for seats and then try to make those of us who DID pre pay move.

Wow, this is a rude comment. Paying for seats on the plane is a scam! And people are flaming the OP bc she didn't fall for it. Just wow.

You mean when everyone else paid for them you want to get away with not paying for them and inconvenience everyone else who reserved seats? At the last minute? You are an entitled scam artist.

NEWS FLASH!!! "Everyone" does not pay for seats, especially not on budget airlines. Airlines are outsourcing to passengers this responsibility that they took on before (placing small children with a parent.) Also, since most people are NOT paying to select a seat, I'm not scamming anybody. It's common sense that a 2 year old paying full price sits with his parent. What is this??

You have a limited grasp of economics. Airlines have discovered that they can lower overall ticket prices and make it up by charging those who assign a value to having an assigned seat or seats. There are some people who don't care about being in a middle seat, or are traveling alone, who don't wish to pay. The airlines I've flown on lately also offer additional leg room for a fee, which some are willing to pay for (and some not). However, there are those -- for example -- parents traveling with small children-- for whom having two assigned seats together is extremely valuable. If you don't value the service, don't pay for it. But you should also not expect to get the service for free. It's one thing, when, like the previous long thread on this topic, the parent had assigned seats and the airline switched aircraft and mixed the seats up. I'm with the pp who said they would offer to sell their assigned seat to you for the price they paid for it. If I paid for an assigned seat up front because I had a tight connection and now I need to get off the plane quickly, I might not trade at all.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:How do you save a bunch of money? Isn't paying for a seat like max $40? So let's round up... you save $200?

If $200 makes a difference in your budget you can't afford to be vacationing in the first place.

Are you aware that sometimes poor people are able to save up for a discount flight for a once in a lifetime trip and yes, $200 can break the budget or at least be an extremely noticeable expense. Guess we should just stay home.

Yes I'm aware. And if they haven't saved up enough yet where $200 isn't an issue, they can't afford the trip yet.

+1

Totally agree. Your problem is not anyone else's problem, OP.

Of course its not other passengers' problem. As is evidenced on this thread, many passengers with small children DO NOT pay for this gimmicky upcharge by the airlines. The airline either takes care of it or ultimately, I suppose, the child/parent would take a different flight. Anecdotally, this doesn't seem common. No one is forcing you to give up your paid seats. The fact that everyone is concerned about it is BIZARRE to me.

You must not travel much. Happens all the time.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Ugh. We've been switched even when we picked seats ahead of time. Sometimes, you can get an agent on the phone ahead of time to link a ticketed kid with you so you won't be separated. We've done this after purchasing online to avoid over the phone ticketing fees.

OP, don't count on people switching to get away from the baby. We've been separated from a kid, and last summer our friends flying out west we're separated from their 3yo. In our case, my kid was a row (or two?) ahead on the opposite aisle.

Omg. What did your friend do? I would totally give someone that did this a copy of “green eggs and ham” and a bag of Cheerios and pull out my book.

NP. I would not be able to take them, because my hands would already be taken up with my own book. I also wouldn't hear you because of my earplugs.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Ugh. We've been switched even when we picked seats ahead of time. Sometimes, you can get an agent on the phone ahead of time to link a ticketed kid with you so you won't be separated. We've done this after purchasing online to avoid over the phone ticketing fees.

OP, don't count on people switching to get away from the baby. We've been separated from a kid, and last summer our friends flying out west we're separated from their 3yo. In our case, my kid was a row (or two?) ahead on the opposite aisle.

Omg. What did your friend do? I would totally give someone that did this a copy of “green eggs and ham” and a bag of Cheerios and pull out my book.

They flew separated. The kid was fine, but my friends were a bit on edge praying the kid behaved.

[Anonymous]

Just check in right at the 24 hour mark and save your money. I’m certainly not judging.

[Anonymous]

I read the first page. This is not a problem if you have an airline like southwest where you will have some level of priority boarding so you should be fine. What a lot of fuss over nothing.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Go ahead and roll the dice, just don’t pitch a sanctimonious fit when your seats are scattered throughout the plane and no one will move for you.

Yes I hate when parents don't pre pay for seats and then try to make those of us who DID pre pay move.

Wow, this is a rude comment. Paying for seats on the plane is a scam! And people are flaming the OP bc she didn't fall for it. Just wow.

You mean when everyone else paid for them you want to get away with not paying for them and inconvenience everyone else who reserved seats? At the last minute? You are an entitled scam artist.

NEWS FLASH!!! "Everyone" does not pay for seats, especially not on budget airlines. Airlines are outsourcing to passengers this responsibility that they took on before (placing small children with a parent.) Also, since most people are NOT paying to select a seat, I'm not scamming anybody. It's common sense that a 2 year old paying full price sits with his parent. What is this??

You have a limited grasp of economics. Airlines have discovered that they can lower overall ticket prices and make it up by charging those who assign a value to having an assigned seat or seats. There are some people who don't care about being in a middle seat, or are traveling alone, who don't wish to pay. The airlines I've flown on lately also offer additional leg room for a fee, which some are willing to pay for (and some not). However, there are those -- for example -- parents traveling with small children-- for whom having two assigned seats together is extremely valuable. If you don't value the service, don't pay for it. But you should also not expect to get the service for free. It's one thing, when, like the previous long thread on this topic, the parent had assigned seats and the airline switched aircraft and mixed the seats up. I'm with the pp who said they would offer to sell their assigned seat to you for the price they paid for it. If I paid for an assigned seat up front because I had a tight connection and now I need to get off the plane quickly, I might not trade at all.

Actually, what happens is the airlines know that parents want to sit next to their children, so when you ho to book seats, there are none available together no matter how far in advance you book or that the flight ends up being half empty. You cannot even get seats together smack next to the bathroom. It is because the airline knows you need to sit next to your kids and is trying to make you pay for it. I think the whole situation is the greedy airline’s fault to begin with!

[Anonymous]

I'm usually someone who will switch seats but why do parents seem to think if I do end up sitting next to your kid (either because I couldn't/wouldn't switch or any other reason) that I'm going to be in the slightest bit willing to tend to your kid in any way? You really think I'm going to read to your kid, ask your kid if s/he has to go potty, dole out the Cheerios? Sure, I'll make sure the seatbelts good but otherwise, I have my book and headphones. You'll have to figure it out.

The entitlement is staggering and - by the way - makes those of us who would generally be helpful decide not to be. And also because a lot of parents these days are nutty and insanely overprotective - some lady gave me the stink eye the other day when I smiled at her kid ahead of me in the check-out line, I'm a 55 year old woman BTW - so to protect my own thing best to not have much to do with your kids.

[Anonymous]

Can't you just log into the airline and choose your seats for free? We're platinum flyers but I think this is an option for everyone.

Our worst experience is when dh got bumped to first class and it left dd in a middle seat at 2 years old. It was a mess because they wouldn't let us bump the person next to dd to first class. They finally got it sorted after a bit of yelling.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:
I'm usually someone who will switch seats but why do parents seem to think if I do end up sitting next to your kid (either because I couldn't/wouldn't switch or any other reason) that I'm going to be in the slightest bit willing to tend to your kid in any way? You really think I'm going to read to your kid, ask your kid if s/he has to go potty, dole out the Cheerios? Sure, I'll make sure the seatbelts good but otherwise, I have my book and headphones. You'll have to figure it out.

The entitlement is staggering and - by the way - makes those of us who would generally be helpful decide not to be. And also because a lot of parents these days are nutty and insanely overprotective - some lady gave me the stink eye the other day when I smiled at her kid ahead of me in the check-out line, I'm a 55 year old woman BTW - so to protect my own thing best to not have much to do with your kids.

I was joking when I said that, but two year olds have a way of forcing you to tend to their needs. I don’t expect anyone to do anything but listen to the child cry, get spilled on or get peed on, and I will deal with it at the end of the flight.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:It's so hard for me to believe that anyone cares about what seat they're in on a 2x2 airplane. As long as you get to keep window or aisle, and you get to be further forward in the plane, why would you care about moving?

Presumably OP would do whatever switch got her with her kid. So, aisle for aisle or window for window, forward or back. There will be plenty of single travelers who did not pay for a particular seat who will not care, OP. I don't get the craziness on this board.

What if they get 4 window seats, or some other unfavorable combination? Then they’re really in a pickle. It’s not cool to rely on the kindness of strangers when sitting with your kids is completely within your control. Traveling is stressful enough without making your problem everyone else’s problem.

This will not happen. You must be an aisle seat person. There are just as many window seat people who don't like to have to move when someone wants to go to the bathroom, like to lean on the window, etc..

I fly constantly. They will not be the only people who haven't preselected.

I am mostly flabbergasted at those of you who think it's incumbent on them to pay for seats so that you don't have to care for their children while you're in the seat you paid for. Too bad. Airlines suck. The rules are designed to maximize their profit, not your comfort. You get your seat, but absolutely zero say in who gets the one next to you.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:
I'm usually someone who will switch seats but why do parents seem to think if I do end up sitting next to your kid (either because I couldn't/wouldn't switch or any other reason) that I'm going to be in the slightest bit willing to tend to your kid in any way? You really think I'm going to read to your kid, ask your kid if s/he has to go potty, dole out the Cheerios? Sure, I'll make sure the seatbelts good but otherwise, I have my book and headphones. You'll have to figure it out.

The entitlement is staggering and - by the way - makes those of us who would generally be helpful decide not to be. And also because a lot of parents these days are nutty and insanely overprotective - some lady gave me the stink eye the other day when I smiled at her kid ahead of me in the check-out line, I'm a 55 year old woman BTW - so to protect my own thing best to not have much to do with your kids.

I was joking when I said that, but two year olds have a way of forcing you to tend to their needs. I don’t expect anyone to do anything but listen to the child cry, get spilled on or get peed on, and I will deal with it at the end of the flight.

+1. This is what I don't understand about the people not willing to switch. When the 2 yr old next to you starts having a crying, screaming tantrum, sure you can just sit there. But is that what you really want to listen to? Sitting next to a tantruming toddler is worth not giving up your aisle seat?