Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:OP what airline was this?

And did you directly ask the 6 people sitting in those seats to switch with you?

With the six people I would have started out being sweet and polite and if that didn't work I would turn up the "force field" and if that embarrassed them in front of the other passengers so be it.

And I would have put on my headphones and ignored you.

Airlines need to fix this issue. There needs to be some way to attach two reservations to each other, so they can't be separated. I've had two friends who are large enough that they buy two tickets, and have had the airline split the two seats into different rows. I had a friend flying with a blind, nonverbal, unable to sit up 5 year old, whose window seat that was next to mom and could accommodate his special needs carseat, was changed for a middle seat with no seat for mom and no carseat allowed. In both of those cases, the airline expected the impacted person to "fix" the problem themselves.

The airline should be able to link 2 or 3 seats. They could charge a fee for it, and offer a fee waiver when it's an issue covered by the Air Carrier Access Act. If the issue is that too many people would request it, they could limit it to people with disability related needs, and children 5 and under, like they do pre-boarding, and ask parents to provide proof of a child's age.

OP, I don't know what I'd do. I have only ever flown Southwest with my child, and their boarding procedures pretty much solve this issue. The one time it didn't solve it, the airline was proactive. My 5 year and I were on a flight that was significantly delayed. They asked me if we had a connection, called ahead, and a flight attendant had saved 2 seats together when we boarded, and was telling people "these two seats are for a mother and child who are arriving late" when we boarded.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:This exact scenario has happened to me three times on international flights, including in business class where there isn’t even a middle seat. And I have 2 kids, and they split us all up at the gate. We already had seat assignment so but then try to board at the gate and surprise you’ve got new seats and none are together. None.

At first no one wants to move, but it isn’t my fault. So I just saw good luck sitting next to my kid for 8 hours, hope he/she doesn’t cry. Every time it’s been 20 something year old males who aren’t even in the rows in question who volunteer to help. I don’t get it. I would never want to sit next to someone else’s kid.

This has been on delta/Air France BTW

Are your kids 3?

At the time it happened, 2 and 4, then 3 and 5 (two times at that age). Happy now?

Anonymous wrote:This exact scenario has happened to me three times on international flights, including in business class where there isn’t even a middle seat. And I have 2 kids, and they split us all up at the gate. We already had seat assignment so but then try to board at the gate and surprise you’ve got new seats and none are together. None.

At first no one wants to move, but it isn’t my fault. So I just saw good luck sitting next to my kid for 8 hours, hope he/she doesn’t cry. Every time it’s been 20 something year old males who aren’t even in the rows in question who volunteer to help. I don’t get it. I would never want to sit next to someone else’s kid.

This has been on delta/Air France BTW

Are your kids 3?

This exact scenario has happened to me three times on international flights, including in business class where there isn’t even a middle seat. And I have 2 kids, and they split us all up at the gate. We already had seat assignment so but then try to board at the gate and surprise you’ve got new seats and none are together. None.

At first no one wants to move, but it isn’t my fault. So I just saw good luck sitting next to my kid for 8 hours, hope he/she doesn’t cry. Every time it’s been 20 something year old males who aren’t even in the rows in question who volunteer to help. I don’t get it. I would never want to sit next to someone else’s kid.

This has been on delta/Air France BTW

I empathize OP with your situation, but am a little surprised that neither you, your DH or the airlines put a stop to it. Your child was fine.... but it should NEVER been allowed in the first place.

My oldest gets motion sick, especially during landings and even with Dramamine. I would definitely have pointed that out to the person who refused to switch and handed them a barf bag.

I would not have boarded without a seat. I would she stood at the gate agent and strongly asked for seat assignments. And on the other side I would switch in a minute so that a parent could sit next to a child.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Six people were assholes - the two people on either side of the three middle seats. Frankly, I find it hard to believe that when asked not one of the six was willing to move. Anyone who had ever been a parent would have understood your dilemma. Something just doesn't ring true here.

Really? You’ve read this thread with the people saying they’d never switch, and saying that a 3 year old should be able to handle it just fine, and you still don’t believe it? It hasn’t happened to me personally but unfortunately I do believe it.

Maybe I fly with a better class of people than you do!

Unless you have a PP you don’t get to pick the class of people you got with.

I don’t understand how everyone else on the plane had assigned seats except for you 3. You said the plane changed, but that doesn’t explain how they had assigned seats and you didn’t.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Six people were assholes - the two people on either side of the three middle seats. Frankly, I find it hard to believe that when asked not one of the six was willing to move. Anyone who had ever been a parent would have understood your dilemma. Something just doesn't ring true here.

Really? You’ve read this thread with the people saying they’d never switch, and saying that a 3 year old should be able to handle it just fine, and you still don’t believe it? It hasn’t happened to me personally but unfortunately I do believe it.

Maybe I fly with a better class of people than you do!

Anonymous wrote:OP what airline was this?

And did you directly ask the 6 people sitting in those seats to switch with you?

With the six people I would have started out being sweet and polite and if that didn't work I would turn up the "force field" and if that embarrassed them in front of the other passengers so be it.

There has to be more to this story. As crappy as airlines service can be, I really don’t see an airline allowing an unattended 3 year to sit by themselves. The unaccompanied minor rules are so strict and you have to be 5 to even qualify for unaccompanied minor status.

And if it truly is true and you had proof it would have been all over CNN for the past 48 hours.

Something is missing from your explanation.

OP what airline was this?

And did you directly ask the 6 people sitting in those seats to switch with you?

Anonymous wrote:All the flight safety arguments are one in 50 million situation. I wouldn't be worried too much about lack of someone who would help a kid put on a oxygen mask. But this was far from ideal and you should get some kind of compensation.

Well then you're not very smart. That absolutely should be something you're thinking about, as a parent