Families booking middle seats and then expecting others to switch with them

[Anonymous]

Really???? Do you folks actually want to sit by my 2 and 4 year olds by yourself during a cross country flight?? Be my guest! Good luck with that!! That is essentially free babysitting for me!

I know people who work for airlines and have confirmed that they change the seats at the last minute. No investigation needed to figure that out, really. I have NEVER booked seats apart for my family. Why would I do that with 2 small children?

Many families do book only middle seats because on cheap fare deals these are the only seats that are left. When people miss their plane or a flight is cancelled rather than waiting for an even later flight they will jump on standby for middle seats only. These people expect that everyone will move for them. Why should my family get split up so the other family can save money!

Isn't your family already "split up" if you have someone else's kid sitting in the middle seat next to you?

No, my family with 2 kids under 6 is sitting together. We passed on a cheaper fare to book a flight where we could sit together. Its the other family in our section who admits to booking middle seats (because at the time this was all that was available for that particular flight) who are trying to get my six foot tall husband to separate away and sit in one of their middle seats so they can sit together. I'm not complaining about people who get screwed by the airline. I am complaining about entitled people who book middle seats anyway to get the cheap fare and then try to split other people up.

[ThatSmileyFaceGuy]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:The people who keep crowing that if you book early, you will avoid the problem, don't know jack shit about how airlines operate--airline change bookings all the time.

But, hey, if you want to sit next to my two preschoolers, so you can indignantly prove that you are somehow better prepared for life than me, you be my guest.

+1

Who flies with two preschoolers?

Parents of multiples

[Anonymous]

This could be solved if the airline did not allow passengers under age 5 to be booked in a middle seat alone. This would take care of the obnoxious cheap fare seekers who book cheaper seats and expect others to move.

[Anonymous]

I admit I don't check seating plans before buying my tickets-- it's too hard already to find schedules/fares that work. I don't think it make me entitled to think that a kid under 6 should be able to sit with a parent.

I think that's common sense and if the airline is going to charge me full fare for the ticket I think they have an obligation to make sure one parent can sit with that child, even if it means bumping someone else (although that someone else certainly may be entitled to a refund of seat charges, or a free drink or something).

[Anonymous]

We've been re-assigned to separated seats several times ... but every time started out with seats together

+1

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:The people who keep crowing that if you book early, you will avoid the problem, don't know jack shit about how airlines operate--airline change bookings all the time.

But, hey, if you want to sit next to my two preschoolers, so you can indignantly prove that you are somehow better prepared for life than me, you be my guest.

+1

Who flies with two preschoolers?

Ummmmmm, people whose lives don't end just because they have children?

[Anonymous]

In the good old days I used to book the aisle and window seats for myself and DW in the hopes that the middle seat would be unclaimed and we would have the whole row to ourselves. We did this successfully several times on overseas travel. If there happened to be someone in the middle they were happy to switch for an aisle seat.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

My experience is that we've not been able to book all the seats together. The aisle and window seats in all rows are the first to go and usually only the middle seats are left. When I have the option, I'll take a flight with better choices but I don't always have much of a choice. If the airlines would allow it, I'd let my little kids sit by themselves but, typically, the airlines won't allow it because the kids are capable of taking care of themselves in an emergency. The passengers on either side of them aren't likely to like it either because no one would be around to 'manage' my kid. I don't get irate when people don't want to change seats, I don't blame people but it's not my problem. It's the airline's problem to solve. Your anger is misdirected.

No you are exactly the type of person that is so obnoxious! When we search for flights, we too often see great fares and times but then see that there are only middle seats. We pass and end up on a more expensive flight or different time. I couldn't imagine being so obnoxious to actually book the middle seats anyway and then expect everyone else to move for me.

I have no problem switching seats if someone with small kids is separated because the airline screwed up and changed them. DH is over 6 feet so being in a middle seat for many hours is uncomfortable for him but he has switched with people.

From now on though I plan to ask the flight attendent why the family we are switching with is in middle seats. If its someone like you who intentionally booked the flight knowing you had only middle seats but really wanted to get that flight price or time then forget it.

What makes you think the flight attendant will tell you (or even knows) why the family is assigned to all middle seats? Think she'd volunteer the info that the airline messed up the reservation?

[Anonymous]

I admit I don't check seating plans before buying my tickets-- it's too hard already to find schedules/fares that work. I don't think it make me entitled to think that a kid under 6 should be able to sit with a parent.

I think that's common sense and if the airline is going to charge me full fare for the ticket I think they have an obligation to make sure one parent can sit with that child, even if it means bumping someone else (although that someone else certainly may be entitled to a refund of seat charges, or a free drink or something).

I don't understand how you can think that someone who did take the time to look up the seating arrangement and book a flight to sit in a particular seat should give up their seat for you because you didn't want to bother to look up the seating arrangement.

We've given up our seats twice now on long flights for families who pulled the same crap that you do in not booking seats together. My assumption had been that the airlines did this but BOTH families openly shared that they had booked middle seats and we're relieved that people were willing to move around for them. These were not incidents where the airline had changed their reserved seats or overbooked. This makes me so mad because we would have liked to sit together as a family for 6 hours. We did forego a less expensive flight to be able to sit together but wrongly assumed that a poor family had just been separated by the airline so we gave up one of our seats.

Now that I know this is what people are doing I will not assume that it was an airline mistake and I'm not moving for you.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I admit I don't check seating plans before buying my tickets-- it's too hard already to find schedules/fares that work. I don't think it make me entitled to think that a kid under 6 should be able to sit with a parent.

I think that's common sense and if the airline is going to charge me full fare for the ticket I think they have an obligation to make sure one parent can sit with that child, even if it means bumping someone else (although that someone else certainly may be entitled to a refund of seat charges, or a free drink or something).

WOw, you win the self-obsessed, ultimate-entitled self-absorption crown for this thread!

Repeat after me: It's not all about you ....

[Anonymous]

Yeah, 15:04 is ridiculous. Why does having a child give you the right to trump everyone else? How is it common sense that you bringing a child with you makes you more important that someone else who paid more for their ticket than you did?

[Anonymous]

Wow. My DD and I were both assigned middle seats on a recent flight and I was thrilled that some very nice people offered to let us sit together. We were on our way to a FUNERAL and our non-stop flight (on which we had adjacent seats) was cancelled. And those people were nice enough to change seats with us without my having to share that we were going to a funeral. Sounds like half of you would rather have made me cry before offering to change seats with me.

When we travel, we do try to buy seats together (and I'm a type A planner who buys tix 6-9 months ahead). But there are times when we can't. Our trips are determined by school vacations and by family events (weddings, funerals, birthdays) and there isn't always an option of a different flight with more availability. In case you haven't noticed, airlines are running at full capacity, which means overbooking. I don't choose my destinations based on seat availability (or even airfare costs), but on where our family is. Some locations only have one flight per day.

Expand your horizons and don't assume the worst about people.

And if you paid more for an extra legroom seat, I don't think anyone is expecting you to move to the row in front of the exit row that has very little legroom and no reclining seats.

sheesh.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Yeah, 15:04 is ridiculous. Why does having a child give you the right to trump everyone else? How is it common sense that you bringing a child with you makes you more important that someone else who paid more for their ticket than you did?

Presumably because once upon a time people in this country were compassionate and civil and it was generally understood that the needs and comfort of a very young child trumped other things such as who paid more for a seat.

[Anonymous]

Everyone, you know this OP. This is the person who doesn't give up his seat on the Metro for the elderly, pregnant, or moms of very young children because *he got there first.*

[Anonymous]

I am really really hoping and praying that this thread is just one or two incredibly evil nasty human being repeating themselves over and over. I am going to continue to believe that we live in a loving compassionate world where people are happy to move to ensure that families can sit together on a plane.

I would happily move. I would NEVER inquire about why I needed to move. The answer is simple: the family isn't sitting together and needs to be.

Do you people also leave your sick mothers to find their own way home from the hospital because they didn't plan their own rides? You seem like you have no souls whatsoever. Who is really like this?????