Airplane seating situation
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Anonymous
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I need opinions on what you all would have done in this situation. My family, DH, me and DD (3) we’re flying out of Florida yesterday back to DCA. We had reserved seats all together. Well due to the whether or maintenance (never got the true story) our plane got switched and it was a different size. We find out at checkin when we aren’t assigned seats. The lady at the counter said they gate agent would settle it for us. We make it to the gate and the gate agent tells us she will make an announcement since there are a lot of people with unassigned seats.
We sit down and wait. Well the next thing we know they are boarding. So we go back and ask for seat assignments. They had forgotten us. (Although I never heard any other names and we were sitting right there.) They get us seats but they are all over the plane. I don’t need 3 together. I would prefer one of us though with my 3 year old. The gate agent said there was nothing she could do since 75% of the plane was boarded. We were all 4 rows apart in middle seats so nothing even good to trade. The flight attendants on board were sympathetic, but all they could do was ask people to move from an aisle or window to a middle. I have changed seats multiple times for people and when the flight attendants asked we got blank stares. So my 3 year old sat alone for take off then switched off sitting on my and my Dh’s lap until landing where she sat alone. Would you have just not gotten on the flight? I thought about it, but I had to be at work today (work weekends). |
Anonymous
| ^^^ sorry for the embarrassing typos. I’m ashamed. |
Anonymous
| Did you ask anyone to switch with you? I would have switched so a 3YO did not have to sit alone. That’s ridiculous. Assuming one of you had an aisle seat, that should be one that you could have swapped n |
Anonymous
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That’s HORRIBLE. I’m sorry for you and your child! I’m not a letter writer, but I would absolutely write to the airline.
Whether I would get off the plane or not depends on the child. For my oldest, possibly no. For my youngest, very likely yes. I also cannot believe no one moved for you. What complete a$$es. |
Anonymous
We had three middle seats so nothing anyone wanted. And yes I asked. So did the flight attendant. One even joked about drink tickets for the one who moved. Nothing. Although I’m not super pushy. |
Anonymous
Guessing OP's family all got stuck in middle seats, which is why no one wanted to switch. But I'm honestly shocked that this happened. Aside from, wow, how big of a$$h0l3s can people be? Who wants to sit by a solo 3 y.o.? |
Anonymous
| It’s crazy that no one would switch with you. No one wants middle but to make a three year old sit alone is awful. But it’s really the airline’s fault for not handling it. I think you handled it the best you could. Not a huge deal in the end. I wouldn’t have skipped the flight. |
Anonymous
They all had middles. I would have stood next to the gate agent until I got my seat assignments. And would have made it clear that on adult needed to be next to the three year old. If 75% of the plane was unassigned, they could have fixed this easily but they clearly lost sight of the circumstances. |
Anonymous
I wouldn't want to give up my seat just because the airline screwed up. They need better incentives to induce people to give up their seats. Be real people. |
Anonymous
Isn't a middle seat better than sitting next to someone's unaccompanied 3 year old on a plane? People are crazy if they'd rather sit in a window or aisle seat next to a 3 year old without a parent to take care of them than a middle seat for 2.5 hours. |
Anonymous
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This is on you, OP. I've gone on countless flights with my kids, and the situation you want to avoid is asking people yourself on the plane. So here's what you should have done - 1. You should have insisted to get seat assignments upon check-in. 2. If unsuccessful, you should have insisted at the gate, and gone back to ask repeatedly. The squeaky wheel gets the grease. 3. If unsuccessful, tell the flight attendant that your child cannot sit by herself (don't ask, tell), and say that you will be asking other passengers to switch. And proceed to do so. Only one of you needs to be seated with your child. No passenger has ever refused to switch with me in the past, when it's been a question of being seated next to my young child. Stick with the least desirable seat that you've been assigned and ask the person next to it to move to the more desirable one. |
Anonymous
| OP back. My DD is pretty quiet and laid back so I handed her the iPad and she was fine until we could move around and I went to check on her. That’s when she came back to sit on my lap. The flight attendants apologized, but I get why no one wants a middle. |
Anonymous
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The selfish people about ahead because they got an empty seat next to them after the 3 yo went to sit on parents lap.
The flight attendants needed to force someone to offer. |
Anonymous
The incentive (in addition to being a decent human being) would have been to not be stuck next to an unaccompanied 3 year old. I am surprised neither of the people flanking the 3 year old switched. Especially since this was a flight to Florida -- so 2-3 hours -- I am surprised no one took a middle. Having said that, it would have made sense for the airline to offer something to try to sweeten the pot a bit, and that may have made a difference. |
Anonymous
| That sucks, OP. I would have made a huge stink and someone would have switched. There are times when you cannot be nice. |