Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:What? They will do it for you at check-in. You don't even have to ask. They have notice it already that your child is apart from you.

This was not my experience. Also, it was very difficult to get someone to switch with me. We ended up with me and my two younger kids (then 1 and 5) in the very last row, my spouse and my then 10 year old sitting alone (and not together). I paid a lot of money for drinks to get people to make these switches.

That's the American spirit I like to see! (Pun intended.)

Anonymous wrote:Okay, DCUM. Answer this question for me.

I would like to fly to Oregon to visit my family with my 5 year old child and my 45 year old husband. My mom lives in a town that is not served by Southwest but is served by other airlines (with a connection).

1) How far in advance should I book this vacation, in order to comply with DCUM's "far enough in advance" etiquette?
2) If I book on one of the 2 airlines that flies into the town where my mom lives and when booking, I am only given the option of paying $50-75 extra per seat per flight to sit together or selecting seats that are not close together, am I truly expected to pay $600-900 extra to upgrade our seats for this trip, or is it okay if I pick from the available seats and then try to change when I check in/at the gate/on the plane?

I've paid, but then I don't to be at the mercy of the airlines and grouchy strangers. Planes are full of kids in the summer time, you won't be the only family who has to address the issue. You can't expect the flight staff to rearrange the whole plane, especially in the days of "premium" seats for which people have paid exta.

I've paid extra to have seats next to my kids, and then have had flight attendants ask me if I'm willing to move for another family. Why they would ask someone sitting next to a five year old and not adults traveling alone is beyond me. In that situation, the answer was no. If I was traveling alone I would probably do it, but it's definitely fighting an uphill battle to try to get people to take middle seats.

Anonymous wrote:wow this has been entertaining reading. We have two kids and have traveled a lot across country due to family (they are now teens). I would NEVER have booked this flight. This is going to be a nightmare to try to change this many people. I have moved for other families but I would not give up my aisle seat for a 5 hour flight (and I am a nice person . I book early for a reason. And no, a month is not early nowadays with the flight cutbacks.

Me too. If I see just middle seats on a flight or seats not at least 2 together, I look for a different flight.

Anonymous wrote:What? They will do it for you at check-in. You don't even have to ask. They have notice it already that your child is apart from you.

This was not my experience. Also, it was very difficult to get someone to switch with me. We ended up with me and my two younger kids (then 1 and 5) in the very last row, my spouse and my then 10 year old sitting alone (and not together). I paid a lot of money for drinks to get people to make these switches.

That is not the case here. I'm not talking about changing of equipment. I'm talking purely about planning.

Anonymous wrote:No, not the airline's responsibility. Their responsibility is to get you there safely. If you couldn't all fit in a hotel room you'd switch hotels, or cities or dates. Same thing with the airline. If that flight comes up for my family of four then I'm looking into other times, days, airports. Sometimes the times are inconvenient for us or we drive to a further airport but it's my inconvenience, not someone else that I'm nagging until the change.

It is the airline's responsibility. They are getting away with it now because nothing tragic has happened. But children under a certain age and those with special needs should be sitting next to their parent. And you can do a ton of planning, get adjoining seats, then show up at the airport and they've changed equipment and scattered you.

No, not the airline's responsibility. Their responsibility is to get you there safely. If you couldn't all fit in a hotel room you'd switch hotels, or cities or dates. Same thing with the airline. If that flight comes up for my family of four then I'm looking into other times, days, airports. Sometimes the times are inconvenient for us or we drive to a further airport but it's my inconvenience, not someone else that I'm nagging until the change.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:OP,

So far, we've always had luck. People don't like seeing families separated and most people don't want to deal with a young child next to them on their own.

I think this is a further deterioration of airline service. Don't know what airline you're on, but for United, only by paying a few hundred more could you be guaranteed a seat next to your toddler or young child. Absolutely ridiculous.

DO you have difficulty reading? OP booked a month out, and there were only middle seats available. How on earth is this the airline's fault? The airline is supposed to hold rows open in case a family wants to book a last-minute vacation and needs to fly together? You're an idiot.

Yes the airline should hold rows for this and other similar situations. Because sometimes you do have to travel at last minute with your kids. Things happen. Even when it's just a vacation - flights are expensive and schedules can be tough. Why is so much animosity directed towards OP and not where it belongs - at the airlines that have created these ridiculous situations. 10-15 years ago stuff like this didn't happen because a) airlines didn't charge extra for certain seats and b) they held rows for families and disabled travelers to seat those that needed it together. It's the new normal of charging for certain seats and the free for all attitude that have caused these problems. I actually get that airlines need to make money too and I respect that the rising prices of oil and other factors do make it difficult for them, but the general attitude airlines have towards their travelers (and their own gate and flight employees stuck dealing with these situations) is very much to blame for this situation. The real problem here is not OP - it is the travel environment created by the airlines.

wow this has been entertaining reading. We have two kids and have traveled a lot across country due to family (they are now teens). I would NEVER have booked this flight. This is going to be a nightmare to try to change this many people. I have moved for other families but I would not give up my aisle seat for a 5 hour flight (and I am a nice person . I book early for a reason. And no, a month is not early nowadays with the flight cutbacks.

If you are going to give me your "better" seat, I'd switch with you.

Anonymous wrote:Call the operating airline now, if that doesn't work;
call the operating airline 24 hours before the flight, if that doesn't work;
ask at check-in, if that doesn't work;
ask the gate agent, if that doesn't work;
either accept that you'll all be sitting separately or ask fellow passengers.

Call the airline today. If they can't assign you seats together today, tell them you are travelling with children under 6 years old. Ask them what they would suggest you do since they have to sit next to you.

Call again several days later and ask the same thing. See if you get more/different information when you talk to a different person.



If it comes to it, airlines usually block off the last 2 rows for families. WOrst case scenario is you will sit next to the toilet or can get some people to switch with you. But if you only have middle seats, NO WAY will someone give up their aisle for your middle.

Anonymous wrote:Another mom who got NO help from the airline. My kid was only 2 at the time. I actually paid for the premium aisle seat, hoping it would be easier to trade for the middle seat next to my child's window.. Then the person who had the middle/aisle next to my kid's window did NOT want to switch because they would have to split up and they were a lovey-dovey couple. I told him that I'd be three rows up, in the aisle seat and he could call me when she needed her diaper changed, and that, if her Elmo video ended, he could just hit replay and see if that kept her quiet. The woman in the couple insisted they split up so that we could switch, and the man gave me a lot of dirty looks.
This is why I like to fly Southwest. The assigned seating, where the airline carves out all these seats and there's nothing available together for love or money, is really difficult when flying with kids.
My suggestion is to beg or borrow ipads and let them play whatever videos they want, in case someone won't switch with you.

If you approached those passengers like your wrote this post, I wouldn't want to switch seats with you, or sit next to you either.

What irks me about this post is, at the root of it, you had an expectation that the person in your prospective seat, owed you that seat. When they balked at first, you negatively characterized them as a "lovey-dovey" couple and even said he could deal with your child because he chose not to move.

While you may not like it, that passenger is well within their rights to turn down a seat change. Chances are, there was another window passenger who would be willing to swap into your babies seat, and a middle passenger who was flying solo who would happily take your premium aisle seat. Instead of thinking outside the box, you approached that situation with a bad attitude.

Anonymous wrote:Another mom who got NO help from the airline. My kid was only 2 at the time. I actually paid for the premium aisle seat, hoping it would be easier to trade for the middle seat next to my child's window.. Then the person who had the middle/aisle next to my kid's window did NOT want to switch because they would have to split up and they were a lovey-dovey couple. I told him that I'd be three rows up, in the aisle seat and he could call me when she needed her diaper changed, and that, if her Elmo video ended, he could just hit replay and see if that kept her quiet. The woman in the couple insisted they split up so that we could switch, and the man gave me a lot of dirty looks.
This is why I like to fly Southwest. The assigned seating, where the airline carves out all these seats and there's nothing available together for love or money, is really difficult when flying with kids.
My suggestion is to beg or borrow ipads and let them play whatever videos they want, in case someone won't switch with you.

I have been hard on OP in this thread. But the flip side is that this guy is an incredible douchebag. Any adult who refuses to switch because he wants to sit next to his adult companion is a dick.

Another mom who got NO help from the airline. My kid was only 2 at the time. I actually paid for the premium aisle seat, hoping it would be easier to trade for the middle seat next to my child's window.. Then the person who had the middle/aisle next to my kid's window did NOT want to switch because they would have to split up and they were a lovey-dovey couple. I told him that I'd be three rows up, in the aisle seat and he could call me when she needed her diaper changed, and that, if her Elmo video ended, he could just hit replay and see if that kept her quiet. The woman in the couple insisted they split up so that we could switch, and the man gave me a lot of dirty looks.
This is why I like to fly Southwest. The assigned seating, where the airline carves out all these seats and there's nothing available together for love or money, is really difficult when flying with kids.
My suggestion is to beg or borrow ipads and let them play whatever videos they want, in case someone won't switch with you.