Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:It’s just part of the cost of flying if you don’t want a middle seat. If you are fine with a middle seat feel free not to pay. Don’t expect others to move so you can be with your family/friends.

+100
I'm still amazed that there are people who decide not to pay and then expect others to move for their convenience. Nope. I'm staying in my great, paid for seat.

I am amazed that people forget their manners and are not willing to be considerate or accommodating. The aggressive me first culture is atrocious

I have very good manners and I am generally nice and accommodating, but this is why I pay for a seat: I don't expect anyone to switch for me, and would hope anyone polite and considerate also purchased their own seat. I also would very much mind sitting next to a small child whose parent was too cheap to purchase seating together. I know I'd feel obligated to help out the child as it's not their fault their parent didn't care. It's unfair to hope strangers will babysit for you.

I don't get the "too cheap" argument because airline pricing is incredibly variable over time. It's entirely possible that the parent with the basic economy ticket paid more than you paid for the upgraded ticket with seat selection depending on when and how you bought your tickets. As someone who has occasionally bought tickets for my spouse and children to accompany me on business travel I am also very aware of how different prices can be depending on whether you book through corporate travel agencies or with miles or as a regular customer paying directly. The difference is sometimes in the thousands even for domestic travel.

So people who are calling parents "cheap" for not paying to select seats together: it's way more complicated than that. In many instances I would bet you that the families who fly rarely and buy basic economy and hope they will be seated together have paid among the highest per-seat prices for seats in the economy cabin even when you factor in upgrades for seat selection (and most people don't actually pay for that upgrade -- they get it as a result of status or it's paid for by and employer).

Like this is really an argument about classism and access and not about "cheapness".

No, you are making it more complicated than it is. The base price at the time of the ticket purchase doesn't matter at all. When the parent purchased the ticket, they had the opportunity to pay more to guarantee they would sit next to their kids. They chose not to, to save some money. That is the "cheap" part.

Wanting to save money isn't "cheap." Especially if the reason you are trying to save money is that you don't have a lot of money.

Look if you don't think middle or working class families should be allowed to fly just say that. Be direct. Don't huff and puff because some middle class family of 4 who saved for several years to take their kids to Disney booked economy tickets under the expectation that no one in their right mind would try to seat their 5 year old several rows away from them. Don't call someone like that "cheap" just because they aren't as wealthy as you or don't have as much experience flying.

This is an airline screw up. But many of you are a$$holes.

Are you not the business traveler? Yes, airlines should seat families together. If you need to pay to guarantee seating together, then you should pay. It does not add 100s of dollars to select a seat. I am a very frugal person, not rich, and it does bother me to have to do this. It IS the airlines' fault, 100%. I still do it. It is not okay at all to go "oh well, we'll just ask someone to switch!" It's putting the work on other passengers who might be poorer than you and did pay.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:It’s just part of the cost of flying if you don’t want a middle seat. If you are fine with a middle seat feel free not to pay. Don’t expect others to move so you can be with your family/friends.

+100
I'm still amazed that there are people who decide not to pay and then expect others to move for their convenience. Nope. I'm staying in my great, paid for seat.

I am amazed that people forget their manners and are not willing to be considerate or accommodating. The aggressive me first culture is atrocious

I have very good manners and I am generally nice and accommodating, but this is why I pay for a seat: I don't expect anyone to switch for me, and would hope anyone polite and considerate also purchased their own seat. I also would very much mind sitting next to a small child whose parent was too cheap to purchase seating together. I know I'd feel obligated to help out the child as it's not their fault their parent didn't care. It's unfair to hope strangers will babysit for you.

I don't get the "too cheap" argument because airline pricing is incredibly variable over time. It's entirely possible that the parent with the basic economy ticket paid more than you paid for the upgraded ticket with seat selection depending on when and how you bought your tickets. As someone who has occasionally bought tickets for my spouse and children to accompany me on business travel I am also very aware of how different prices can be depending on whether you book through corporate travel agencies or with miles or as a regular customer paying directly. The difference is sometimes in the thousands even for domestic travel.

So people who are calling parents "cheap" for not paying to select seats together: it's way more complicated than that. In many instances I would bet you that the families who fly rarely and buy basic economy and hope they will be seated together have paid among the highest per-seat prices for seats in the economy cabin even when you factor in upgrades for seat selection (and most people don't actually pay for that upgrade -- they get it as a result of status or it's paid for by and employer).

Like this is really an argument about classism and access and not about "cheapness".

No, you are making it more complicated than it is. The base price at the time of the ticket purchase doesn't matter at all. When the parent purchased the ticket, they had the opportunity to pay more to guarantee they would sit next to their kids. They chose not to, to save some money. That is the "cheap" part.

Wanting to save money isn't "cheap." Especially if the reason you are trying to save money is that you don't have a lot of money.

Look if you don't think middle or working class families should be allowed to fly just say that. Be direct. Don't huff and puff because some middle class family of 4 who saved for several years to take their kids to Disney booked economy tickets under the expectation that no one in their right mind would try to seat their 5 year old several rows away from them. Don't call someone like that "cheap" just because they aren't as wealthy as you or don't have as much experience flying.

This is an airline screw up. But many of you are a$$holes.

Nice straw man. If that's what you have to resort to to make your point, you have to realize that you don't have any compelling arguments.

Everyone booking a flight pays to select their seats. That includes parents, married couples, and even working class families traveling to Disney. When you book a ticket on the airline website, you are either given an opportunity to select your seats, or are informed that if you don't, they will try, but not guarantee, to seat your group together. Same if you book through priceline, expedia, or some other aggregator. If you are trying to save money, you are going to give up some amenities - seat selection, carry-on bags, meals, etc. This is not rocket science. And if people don't know this, it's because they didn't pay attention, not because anyone concealed it from them.

You can dress it up however you want, but you want families to be relieved of some of the fees that other airline passengers are charged - to get services for free that others have to pay for. It doesn't make you a bad person, but not everyone is going to agree with you. (Actually, it does make you a bad person if you try to vilify those who disagree with you as "anti-family" or "you don't think working class people should be allowed to fly." But that's just you, and not the majority of people, who are rational enough to admit that there are several reasonable positions on this issue.)

Some airlines allow seat selection for free. Even on basic fares. AA does.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:It’s just part of the cost of flying if you don’t want a middle seat. If you are fine with a middle seat feel free not to pay. Don’t expect others to move so you can be with your family/friends.

+100
I'm still amazed that there are people who decide not to pay and then expect others to move for their convenience. Nope. I'm staying in my great, paid for seat.

I am amazed that people forget their manners and are not willing to be considerate or accommodating. The aggressive me first culture is atrocious

I have very good manners and I am generally nice and accommodating, but this is why I pay for a seat: I don't expect anyone to switch for me, and would hope anyone polite and considerate also purchased their own seat. I also would very much mind sitting next to a small child whose parent was too cheap to purchase seating together. I know I'd feel obligated to help out the child as it's not their fault their parent didn't care. It's unfair to hope strangers will babysit for you.

I don't get the "too cheap" argument because airline pricing is incredibly variable over time. It's entirely possible that the parent with the basic economy ticket paid more than you paid for the upgraded ticket with seat selection depending on when and how you bought your tickets. As someone who has occasionally bought tickets for my spouse and children to accompany me on business travel I am also very aware of how different prices can be depending on whether you book through corporate travel agencies or with miles or as a regular customer paying directly. The difference is sometimes in the thousands even for domestic travel.

So people who are calling parents "cheap" for not paying to select seats together: it's way more complicated than that. In many instances I would bet you that the families who fly rarely and buy basic economy and hope they will be seated together have paid among the highest per-seat prices for seats in the economy cabin even when you factor in upgrades for seat selection (and most people don't actually pay for that upgrade -- they get it as a result of status or it's paid for by and employer).

Like this is really an argument about classism and access and not about "cheapness".

No, you are making it more complicated than it is. The base price at the time of the ticket purchase doesn't matter at all. When the parent purchased the ticket, they had the opportunity to pay more to guarantee they would sit next to their kids. They chose not to, to save some money. That is the "cheap" part.

Wanting to save money isn't "cheap." Especially if the reason you are trying to save money is that you don't have a lot of money.

Look if you don't think middle or working class families should be allowed to fly just say that. Be direct. Don't huff and puff because some middle class family of 4 who saved for several years to take their kids to Disney booked economy tickets under the expectation that no one in their right mind would try to seat their 5 year old several rows away from them. Don't call someone like that "cheap" just because they aren't as wealthy as you or don't have as much experience flying.

This is an airline screw up. But many of you are a$$holes.

Nice straw man. If that's what you have to resort to to make your point, you have to realize that you don't have any compelling arguments.

Everyone booking a flight pays to select their seats. That includes parents, married couples, and even working class families traveling to Disney. When you book a ticket on the airline website, you are either given an opportunity to select your seats, or are informed that if you don't, they will try, but not guarantee, to seat your group together. Same if you book through priceline, expedia, or some other aggregator. If you are trying to save money, you are going to give up some amenities - seat selection, carry-on bags, meals, etc. This is not rocket science. And if people don't know this, it's because they didn't pay attention, not because anyone concealed it from them.

You can dress it up however you want, but you want families to be relieved of some of the fees that other airline passengers are charged - to get services for free that others have to pay for. It doesn't make you a bad person, but not everyone is going to agree with you. (Actually, it does make you a bad person if you try to vilify those who disagree with you as "anti-family" or "you don't think working class people should be allowed to fly." But that's just you, and not the majority of people, who are rational enough to admit that there are several reasonable positions on this issue.)

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I’ve flown a lot with little kids over the past ten several years. There have been many changes and some airlines do their seating and ticketing differently than others. It can be tricky to keep up with. Now with the ticket classes of basic economy etc, it can be confusing to people, understandably. I would never ask someone to change seats to sit by another adult, but there have been multiple situations where I was separated from my children, including as young as two, and I think it is a terrible policy to not automatically seat families with young kids together. Before someone says well I should have paid in advance, my experiences included times where I didn’t purchase seats together fast enough, and when I traveled last minute for a funeral and there were not seats available. It is depressing to require families with young kids that may be stretching to pay for flights to shell out more than the ticket to sit together. It is obviously the right thing for families and the airlines and everyone should understand this.

Anyway, now it seems the airlines have figured it out to save the last rows for families and will seat you together without an extra cost. This seems to be the best way they can handle it. I just booked flights for two of my kids and myself on United and we were able to buy basic economy and sit together in the very last row. I’m fine with this, as it is better than paying an extra $600 (four legs) to sit by my four and six year olds.

A sane post.

Wanting to sit next to your small child on an airplane is functionally different from wanting a seat by a window or on an aisle or near the front of the plane or in an exit row or bulkhead. A seat next to a small child is not a desirable thing of high value to the average airline customer. It is a *necessary* thing that is of value only to the parent of the child (and the child). Treating these as equal is a strange sort of mental gymnastics that ignores very basic things about society (like the fact that small children are in greater need of supervision and help than other people). To me it is like telling someone who is helping a person with a physical or mental disability that they can not be accommodated with seating next to the person they are caring for (which would violate ADA rules). It is a callous and anti-social position.

Asking families to pay extra to sit next to young children as though sitting next your young child so that you may care for and help them is a privilege for which a person should have to pay is similarly callous and bizarre.

This was a problem created by airlines that the airlines are now resolving but it has been very eye-opening to see how many people quickly seized on the attitude that parents are "entitled" or "cheap" for expecting that they will be seated next to minor children on a plane. It's crazy how quickly many people acclimated to the idea that sitting next to your own child so that you can feed and entertain and reassure them is a commodity that it is reasonable for an airline to charge people for. Dystopian.

I don't agree with the bolded - you're looking at it from the wrong direction. There's not an upcharge for parents to sit next to their kids. Rather, the airlines have decided that all passengers need to pay (either in upcharges or through a higher seat class) if they want to choose their seats or be guaranteed to sit next to their traveling companions. Parents, however, feel that they should be exempt from those charges - everyone else can pay, but they shouldn't have too. I simply don't agree that families should be given preferential rates.

But it absolutely is an upcharge for parents to sit next to their kids because parents are saying that they are fine getting a less desirable seat (middle seat or last row or right next to the bathroom) in order to sit next to their child. But the people paying to select their seats care very much where their seat is and are doing so in order to select a window or aisle or bulkhead or exit row or closer to the front or over the wing or whatever. Consistently when you ask people if they pay to to select a seat they will say they do so in order to get a better seat but they don't care about sitting next to a travel companion UNLESS that travel companion is a child.

So yes this is absolutely a burden on families with young kids who have to pay an extra charge not to get a better seat (by nature of how airline seating works at least some of the seats selected will be inferior middle seats that normally no one would ever choose to pay extra for) but just to sit next to a kid who will need assistance during the flight.

And this is also why airlines can easily resolve this issue by setting aside undesirable seats like those at the back of the plane or in larger planes center middle seats for families and only releasing these seats for pre-selection once the plane is fully booked and they know how many minor children they will need to accommodate. This impacts you not at all as I guarantee you are not paying extra to get a middle seat in the last row of the airplane.

It's really not. Everyone has to pay to select their seats. The reasons for that are irrelevant - it can because you want a window, or an aisle, or want to sit next to your traveling companion. What you're saying is that parents shouldn't charged to select their seats, while everyone else is - including the couple who wants to sit together. I simply don't agree.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:It’s just part of the cost of flying if you don’t want a middle seat. If you are fine with a middle seat feel free not to pay. Don’t expect others to move so you can be with your family/friends.

+100
I'm still amazed that there are people who decide not to pay and then expect others to move for their convenience. Nope. I'm staying in my great, paid for seat.

I am amazed that people forget their manners and are not willing to be considerate or accommodating. The aggressive me first culture is atrocious

I have very good manners and I am generally nice and accommodating, but this is why I pay for a seat: I don't expect anyone to switch for me, and would hope anyone polite and considerate also purchased their own seat. I also would very much mind sitting next to a small child whose parent was too cheap to purchase seating together. I know I'd feel obligated to help out the child as it's not their fault their parent didn't care. It's unfair to hope strangers will babysit for you.

I don't get the "too cheap" argument because airline pricing is incredibly variable over time. It's entirely possible that the parent with the basic economy ticket paid more than you paid for the upgraded ticket with seat selection depending on when and how you bought your tickets. As someone who has occasionally bought tickets for my spouse and children to accompany me on business travel I am also very aware of how different prices can be depending on whether you book through corporate travel agencies or with miles or as a regular customer paying directly. The difference is sometimes in the thousands even for domestic travel.

So people who are calling parents "cheap" for not paying to select seats together: it's way more complicated than that. In many instances I would bet you that the families who fly rarely and buy basic economy and hope they will be seated together have paid among the highest per-seat prices for seats in the economy cabin even when you factor in upgrades for seat selection (and most people don't actually pay for that upgrade -- they get it as a result of status or it's paid for by and employer).

Like this is really an argument about classism and access and not about "cheapness".

No, you are making it more complicated than it is. The base price at the time of the ticket purchase doesn't matter at all. When the parent purchased the ticket, they had the opportunity to pay more to guarantee they would sit next to their kids. They chose not to, to save some money. That is the "cheap" part.

Wanting to save money isn't "cheap." Especially if the reason you are trying to save money is that you don't have a lot of money.

Look if you don't think middle or working class families should be allowed to fly just say that. Be direct. Don't huff and puff because some middle class family of 4 who saved for several years to take their kids to Disney booked economy tickets under the expectation that no one in their right mind would try to seat their 5 year old several rows away from them. Don't call someone like that "cheap" just because they aren't as wealthy as you or don't have as much experience flying.

This is an airline screw up. But many of you are a$$holes.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I’ve flown a lot with little kids over the past ten several years. There have been many changes and some airlines do their seating and ticketing differently than others. It can be tricky to keep up with. Now with the ticket classes of basic economy etc, it can be confusing to people, understandably. I would never ask someone to change seats to sit by another adult, but there have been multiple situations where I was separated from my children, including as young as two, and I think it is a terrible policy to not automatically seat families with young kids together. Before someone says well I should have paid in advance, my experiences included times where I didn’t purchase seats together fast enough, and when I traveled last minute for a funeral and there were not seats available. It is depressing to require families with young kids that may be stretching to pay for flights to shell out more than the ticket to sit together. It is obviously the right thing for families and the airlines and everyone should understand this.

Anyway, now it seems the airlines have figured it out to save the last rows for families and will seat you together without an extra cost. This seems to be the best way they can handle it. I just booked flights for two of my kids and myself on United and we were able to buy basic economy and sit together in the very last row. I’m fine with this, as it is better than paying an extra $600 (four legs) to sit by my four and six year olds.

A sane post.

Wanting to sit next to your small child on an airplane is functionally different from wanting a seat by a window or on an aisle or near the front of the plane or in an exit row or bulkhead. A seat next to a small child is not a desirable thing of high value to the average airline customer. It is a *necessary* thing that is of value only to the parent of the child (and the child). Treating these as equal is a strange sort of mental gymnastics that ignores very basic things about society (like the fact that small children are in greater need of supervision and help than other people). To me it is like telling someone who is helping a person with a physical or mental disability that they can not be accommodated with seating next to the person they are caring for (which would violate ADA rules). It is a callous and anti-social position.

Asking families to pay extra to sit next to young children as though sitting next your young child so that you may care for and help them is a privilege for which a person should have to pay is similarly callous and bizarre.

This was a problem created by airlines that the airlines are now resolving but it has been very eye-opening to see how many people quickly seized on the attitude that parents are "entitled" or "cheap" for expecting that they will be seated next to minor children on a plane. It's crazy how quickly many people acclimated to the idea that sitting next to your own child so that you can feed and entertain and reassure them is a commodity that it is reasonable for an airline to charge people for. Dystopian.

I don't agree with the bolded - you're looking at it from the wrong direction. There's not an upcharge for parents to sit next to their kids. Rather, the airlines have decided that all passengers need to pay (either in upcharges or through a higher seat class) if they want to choose their seats or be guaranteed to sit next to their traveling companions. Parents, however, feel that they should be exempt from those charges - everyone else can pay, but they shouldn't have too. I simply don't agree that families should be given preferential rates.

But it absolutely is an upcharge for parents to sit next to their kids because parents are saying that they are fine getting a less desirable seat (middle seat or last row or right next to the bathroom) in order to sit next to their child. But the people paying to select their seats care very much where their seat is and are doing so in order to select a window or aisle or bulkhead or exit row or closer to the front or over the wing or whatever. Consistently when you ask people if they pay to to select a seat they will say they do so in order to get a better seat but they don't care about sitting next to a travel companion UNLESS that travel companion is a child.

So yes this is absolutely a burden on families with young kids who have to pay an extra charge not to get a better seat (by nature of how airline seating works at least some of the seats selected will be inferior middle seats that normally no one would ever choose to pay extra for) but just to sit next to a kid who will need assistance during the flight.

And this is also why airlines can easily resolve this issue by setting aside undesirable seats like those at the back of the plane or in larger planes center middle seats for families and only releasing these seats for pre-selection once the plane is fully booked and they know how many minor children they will need to accommodate. This impacts you not at all as I guarantee you are not paying extra to get a middle seat in the last row of the airplane.

Yes, we pay to choose seats because young children are traveling with us. Not leaving it to chance that my anxious little one may not have a seat by me. I just pay the upcharge and then don’t have to fret about it for either the outgoing or incoming flights.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:It’s just part of the cost of flying if you don’t want a middle seat. If you are fine with a middle seat feel free not to pay. Don’t expect others to move so you can be with your family/friends.

+100
I'm still amazed that there are people who decide not to pay and then expect others to move for their convenience. Nope. I'm staying in my great, paid for seat.

I am amazed that people forget their manners and are not willing to be considerate or accommodating. The aggressive me first culture is atrocious

I have very good manners and I am generally nice and accommodating, but this is why I pay for a seat: I don't expect anyone to switch for me, and would hope anyone polite and considerate also purchased their own seat. I also would very much mind sitting next to a small child whose parent was too cheap to purchase seating together. I know I'd feel obligated to help out the child as it's not their fault their parent didn't care. It's unfair to hope strangers will babysit for you.

I don't get the "too cheap" argument because airline pricing is incredibly variable over time. It's entirely possible that the parent with the basic economy ticket paid more than you paid for the upgraded ticket with seat selection depending on when and how you bought your tickets. As someone who has occasionally bought tickets for my spouse and children to accompany me on business travel I am also very aware of how different prices can be depending on whether you book through corporate travel agencies or with miles or as a regular customer paying directly. The difference is sometimes in the thousands even for domestic travel.

So people who are calling parents "cheap" for not paying to select seats together: it's way more complicated than that. In many instances I would bet you that the families who fly rarely and buy basic economy and hope they will be seated together have paid among the highest per-seat prices for seats in the economy cabin even when you factor in upgrades for seat selection (and most people don't actually pay for that upgrade -- they get it as a result of status or it's paid for by and employer).

Like this is really an argument about classism and access and not about "cheapness".

No, you are making it more complicated than it is. The base price at the time of the ticket purchase doesn't matter at all. When the parent purchased the ticket, they had the opportunity to pay more to guarantee they would sit next to their kids. They chose not to, to save some money. That is the "cheap" part.

Anonymous wrote:Wondering what age people think the free seating with a parent should end? 6 ? 12? 15?

To be clear it is not "free seating" -- it is seating parents and young children together without an extra charge. Everyone involved has paid for a seat. And try to remember that it's actually a very recent development that airlines have started charging for the right to select your seat in advance (which is the only way to ensure parents are seated next to children if the airline doesn't do it's job to make this happen anyway). Airlines created this problem by changing how they price and assign seating to customers. But no one is getting a free seat.

Anyway to answer your question I think it should be tied to the rules for unaccompanied minors. In the US most airlines will designate a child under age 12 as an "unaccompanied minor" in need of a special ticket if they fly alone. If an airline is saying that a child this age needs a special ticket (and special procedures) to fly without a parent then the airline should be able to guarantee that an "accompanied" minor is seated next to their parent or guardian.

This makes sense because unaccompanied minors require special attention and services from boarding and flight crew due to their age (thus the need for the special ticket). This is an obvious acknowledgment that an accompanied minor is gettinght that special attention and service from their parent or guardian. So airlines should of course enable parents to perform those services by ensuring that they are seated next to the child in question.

This is just common sense.

Also I personally would not have an issue either paying extra for a kid 12+ in order to sit together or just letting the kid sit alone -- most kids that age would be fine. When you try to apply that logic to a younger child it really falls apart though. Obviously an 8 year old is more okay than an infant but it's a matter of degrees.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I’ve flown a lot with little kids over the past ten several years. There have been many changes and some airlines do their seating and ticketing differently than others. It can be tricky to keep up with. Now with the ticket classes of basic economy etc, it can be confusing to people, understandably. I would never ask someone to change seats to sit by another adult, but there have been multiple situations where I was separated from my children, including as young as two, and I think it is a terrible policy to not automatically seat families with young kids together. Before someone says well I should have paid in advance, my experiences included times where I didn’t purchase seats together fast enough, and when I traveled last minute for a funeral and there were not seats available. It is depressing to require families with young kids that may be stretching to pay for flights to shell out more than the ticket to sit together. It is obviously the right thing for families and the airlines and everyone should understand this.

Anyway, now it seems the airlines have figured it out to save the last rows for families and will seat you together without an extra cost. This seems to be the best way they can handle it. I just booked flights for two of my kids and myself on United and we were able to buy basic economy and sit together in the very last row. I’m fine with this, as it is better than paying an extra $600 (four legs) to sit by my four and six year olds.

A sane post.

Wanting to sit next to your small child on an airplane is functionally different from wanting a seat by a window or on an aisle or near the front of the plane or in an exit row or bulkhead. A seat next to a small child is not a desirable thing of high value to the average airline customer. It is a *necessary* thing that is of value only to the parent of the child (and the child). Treating these as equal is a strange sort of mental gymnastics that ignores very basic things about society (like the fact that small children are in greater need of supervision and help than other people). To me it is like telling someone who is helping a person with a physical or mental disability that they can not be accommodated with seating next to the person they are caring for (which would violate ADA rules). It is a callous and anti-social position.

Asking families to pay extra to sit next to young children as though sitting next your young child so that you may care for and help them is a privilege for which a person should have to pay is similarly callous and bizarre.

This was a problem created by airlines that the airlines are now resolving but it has been very eye-opening to see how many people quickly seized on the attitude that parents are "entitled" or "cheap" for expecting that they will be seated next to minor children on a plane. It's crazy how quickly many people acclimated to the idea that sitting next to your own child so that you can feed and entertain and reassure them is a commodity that it is reasonable for an airline to charge people for. Dystopian.

I don't agree with the bolded - you're looking at it from the wrong direction. There's not an upcharge for parents to sit next to their kids. Rather, the airlines have decided that all passengers need to pay (either in upcharges or through a higher seat class) if they want to choose their seats or be guaranteed to sit next to their traveling companions. Parents, however, feel that they should be exempt from those charges - everyone else can pay, but they shouldn't have too. I simply don't agree that families should be given preferential rates.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I do. And no I will it switch with you because you’re cheap.

Yup, and if you're flying with kiss this needs to be part of your planning. Don't expect others to give up the seat they paid for.

Fine with me. Hopefully you end up next to one of my kids, then. In advance, I apologize that one of them has sensory issues with headphones, so they will probably keep unplugging them and listening to their tablet using the speakers. He's very friendly, though, but doesn't really have an understanding of personal space yet.

If he sits next to me, he will have a firm grasp of this concept by the end of the flight.

I would try having the flight attendant interrupt mommy dearest, first. Or putting the kid's tablet on mute. Don't want me touching it? Make sure you can supervise your own little gremlin even if it costs you money.

Anonymous wrote:I love that we all direct our ire at fellow passengers, when we should be all pissed at the airlines, not watching game of thrones next to a 5 yr old bc the airline f’d up.

Why assume the airline is at fault? It's just as likely, if not more so, than the parent didn't want to pay for the seat assignment.

Anonymous wrote:We don’t like it but would always pay in order to sit together with our kids. I really don’t like that people ask to switch seats in order to sit with their kids because they don’t want to pay the extra, and once I was pregnant was supposed to sit next to DH with seats assigned in advance at an international flight, had to sit separately and in middle seats, because a mom wanted to sit with her 2 toddlers at our 2 seats and we couldn’t say no.

[headdesk]

Of course yo could have.

Wondering what age people think the free seating with a parent should end? 6 ? 12? 15?

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:It’s just part of the cost of flying if you don’t want a middle seat. If you are fine with a middle seat feel free not to pay. Don’t expect others to move so you can be with your family/friends.

+100
I'm still amazed that there are people who decide not to pay and then expect others to move for their convenience. Nope. I'm staying in my great, paid for seat.

I am amazed that people forget their manners and are not willing to be considerate or accommodating. The aggressive me first culture is atrocious

I have very good manners and I am generally nice and accommodating, but this is why I pay for a seat: I don't expect anyone to switch for me, and would hope anyone polite and considerate also purchased their own seat. I also would very much mind sitting next to a small child whose parent was too cheap to purchase seating together. I know I'd feel obligated to help out the child as it's not their fault their parent didn't care. It's unfair to hope strangers will babysit for you.

I don't get the "too cheap" argument because airline pricing is incredibly variable over time. It's entirely possible that the parent with the basic economy ticket paid more than you paid for the upgraded ticket with seat selection depending on when and how you bought your tickets. As someone who has occasionally bought tickets for my spouse and children to accompany me on business travel I am also very aware of how different prices can be depending on whether you book through corporate travel agencies or with miles or as a regular customer paying directly. The difference is sometimes in the thousands even for domestic travel.

So people who are calling parents "cheap" for not paying to select seats together: it's way more complicated than that. In many instances I would bet you that the families who fly rarely and buy basic economy and hope they will be seated together have paid among the highest per-seat prices for seats in the economy cabin even when you factor in upgrades for seat selection (and most people don't actually pay for that upgrade -- they get it as a result of status or it's paid for by and employer).

Like this is really an argument about classism and access and not about "cheapness".

No, your post makes no sense. It's not ever going to cost thousands for economy flights within the US. If someone is paying that much, they are rich. I've never flown business in my life, always economy, most often with kids.