Anonymous wrote:If this happens to me in the future, I'll go ahead and strap my 3 year old or my 1 year old into the middle seat they've been assigned and walk to wherever my middle seat is.

I'm guessing that whoever is sitting next to my child will ask ME to switch seats. Problem solved.

Lol! +100
I'm right there with you. I have never seen so many ridiculous, self centered, out of touch with reality people in my life.
I can't believe soooooo many people think that families actually do this on purpose and fail to even consider that airlines change things and make mistakes often.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I've never had a problem with the airlines changing our seats, even when we were traveling on award tickets. DH and I do fly for business, although I don't have any special status (he does). Is there any rhyme or reason as to why seats get changed? Or do I have this to look forward to on a future flight?

I don't know, but I've noticed this trend increase within the last year -- it has happened at least once to every single person I know who has flown during the last year, no matter the airline, domestic and international.

Usually its because they changed planes, and the new plane has a different layout.

Anonymous wrote:This thread makes me sad.

There is no universe in which it is okay to separate a young child from his or her parent and even booking early and trying to choose a relatively empty flight is no guarantee of anything, since flights frequently get cancelled, planes change, passengers rebooked, etc. This should go without saying, but a small child like my two year old CANNOT sit alone. A two year old cannot navigate the bathroom alone, cannot obtain and eat a meal without at least a little help (yes he can feed himself, but I still have to give him the food), and if god forbid there is an emergency, a two year old is not going to be able to put on an oxygen mask, know how to sit in the brace position, or evacuate an aircraft alone. Yes it should be on the airlines to ensure children are seated with their parents, but are you really going to be the asshole who refuses to switch your seat and puts a small child in danger when the airline fails? For what it's worth, I would get off an airplane before I allowed my two year old to sit alone (although given that virtually every flight goes sold out these days, it's not clear that will do much good), but even if I did sit separately from him, he'd FREAK out and scream for me, so are you really going to be the asshole who subjects the entire airplane to my screaming child because he's alone and scared?

I agree it is frustrating when you pay for a premium seat choice to be asked to move but doing the right thing and taking it up with the airline is more likely to result in an industry change, rather than taking out your misplaced anger on a poor parent who is just as frustrated as you are.

And for what it's worth, I've been flying since I was six years old (and flying frequently in the last ten years) and can't remember a time before this year where I booked seats in advance only to have them change when I checked in (except when they were upgraded) but it has happened to me THREE times in the last four months (all on United, post-merger. United post-merger is the worst airline in the world, but that is a complaint for another thread.). All three flights were booked well in advance (one more than six months in advance) and on all three, I was initially able to choose three seats in a row. In fact, there is another thread on this board by someone who paid extra to choose seats together in economy plus and not only got separated but also got downgraded to economy. Just because it hasn't happened to you as yet doesn't mean it doesn't happen and it doesn't make it the family's fault.

Yes! Totally agree with this.

If this happens to me in the future, I'll go ahead and strap my 3 year old or my 1 year old into the middle seat they've been assigned and walk to wherever my middle seat is.

I'm guessing that whoever is sitting next to my child will ask ME to switch seats. Problem solved.

This thread makes me sad.

There is no universe in which it is okay to separate a young child from his or her parent and even booking early and trying to choose a relatively empty flight is no guarantee of anything, since flights frequently get cancelled, planes change, passengers rebooked, etc. This should go without saying, but a small child like my two year old CANNOT sit alone. A two year old cannot navigate the bathroom alone, cannot obtain and eat a meal without at least a little help (yes he can feed himself, but I still have to give him the food), and if god forbid there is an emergency, a two year old is not going to be able to put on an oxygen mask, know how to sit in the brace position, or evacuate an aircraft alone. Yes it should be on the airlines to ensure children are seated with their parents, but are you really going to be the asshole who refuses to switch your seat and puts a small child in danger when the airline fails? For what it's worth, I would get off an airplane before I allowed my two year old to sit alone (although given that virtually every flight goes sold out these days, it's not clear that will do much good), but even if I did sit separately from him, he'd FREAK out and scream for me, so are you really going to be the asshole who subjects the entire airplane to my screaming child because he's alone and scared?

I agree it is frustrating when you pay for a premium seat choice to be asked to move but doing the right thing and taking it up with the airline is more likely to result in an industry change, rather than taking out your misplaced anger on a poor parent who is just as frustrated as you are.

And for what it's worth, I've been flying since I was six years old (and flying frequently in the last ten years) and can't remember a time before this year where I booked seats in advance only to have them change when I checked in (except when they were upgraded) but it has happened to me THREE times in the last four months (all on United, post-merger. United post-merger is the worst airline in the world, but that is a complaint for another thread.). All three flights were booked well in advance (one more than six months in advance) and on all three, I was initially able to choose three seats in a row. In fact, there is another thread on this board by someone who paid extra to choose seats together in economy plus and not only got separated but also got downgraded to economy. Just because it hasn't happened to you as yet doesn't mean it doesn't happen and it doesn't make it the family's fault.

Anonymous wrote:I've never had a problem with the airlines changing our seats, even when we were traveling on award tickets. DH and I do fly for business, although I don't have any special status (he does). Is there any rhyme or reason as to why seats get changed? Or do I have this to look forward to on a future flight?

I don't know, but I've noticed this trend increase within the last year -- it has happened at least once to every single person I know who has flown during the last year, no matter the airline, domestic and international.

Anonymous wrote:I've never had a problem with the airlines changing our seats, even when we were traveling on award tickets. DH and I do fly for business, although I don't have any special status (he does). Is there any rhyme or reason as to why seats get changed? Or do I have this to look forward to on a future flight?

The most obvious one is when they change the aircraft, which happens often because of mechanical problems or when the plane is stuck in a different location due to weather conditions. The seat configuration doesn't stay the same.

Anonymous wrote:I've never had a problem with the airlines changing our seats, even when we were traveling on award tickets. DH and I do fly for business, although I don't have any special status (he does). Is there any rhyme or reason as to why seats get changed? Or do I have this to look forward to on a future flight?

Not that I can tell (re: why it's done). This happened to us recently-- out seats were separate (but near each other), so we called United and were repeatedly told they could not change our seats at all. Until the day before our flight, when they moved us all further apart (2 adults and a 2.5 yo), then lied and said they hadn't moved our seats and still couldn't. Luckily, the gate agent asked someone traveling alone to switch, and he kindly did (aisle seat for aisle seat). I knew United sucked before, but to switch our seats AND claim they hadn't was pretty ridiculous.

I've never had a problem with the airlines changing our seats, even when we were traveling on award tickets. DH and I do fly for business, although I don't have any special status (he does). Is there any rhyme or reason as to why seats get changed? Or do I have this to look forward to on a future flight?

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

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.

THIS.

This thread was a great read. Just came back from Europe and a family with older children, 10 and up, held up the plane until people moved. They also just took another passenger's seat and made her switch. She was really nice about it and offered to sit in a middle seat across the aisle. Then the Dad tries to switch with her. She says yes and the Dad insists that the woman in the aisle give up her seat. Very rude and disruptive.

I would give up my seat for a Mom traveling alone with a young child. I would also give up a seat for a comparable seat. Middle for middle or aisle for aisle. Pretty flexible if I am traveling alone. If I am with my family, no way unless there are dire circumstances.

On my last trip I was extremely ill. Told the flight attendants who basically shrugged their shoulders as did the guy with the aisle seat in my row. Made him get up around 6-8 times on an 8 our flight. Apologized and told him I was ill. He could have had my window seat but did not want to move. Understand but I might have offered to switch for someone. I don't hold it against him that he didn't. He was nice enough.

Grrrr.... just a related rant. I switched seats with a dad who had been separated from his 3 year old on a flight from SFO to Dulles. Then the dad sat there reading a magazine while his kid freaked out, screamed, and whined. Honestly, I wanted to ask to switch back, because at least I would have tried to do something to try to calm the kid down, as opposed to sitting there like a lump, completely ignoring him.

Anonymous wrote:We just flee cross-country with our three-year-old, and United chaned our seats so that DH, DD, and I were no longer sitting together. My DD is 3 and would freak out if she wasn't with one of us on the plane. We tried to get it fixed at chec-in (having arrived at the airport early for that purpose) and they just referred us to the gate agent. We were first on line to talk to the gate agent, and she took our info and said to wait. I don't know what she may have done on the computer, but she waited until after all groups had boarded before trying to page the other passengers who were next to our seats, to see if they would switch. Of course by that point they had all boarded. So then she said I should just ask people to switch, leaving it to me to find a volunteer, after people had already settled into their seats, and making me one of the last people to board the plane. Luckily the flight attendant helped me find a volunteer (THANK YOU AGAIN! nice lady!!!) so DD and I were next to each other in the end, but SO stressful, and incompetently-handled by the airline and not fair to anybody involved. Why can't they just flag seats of young kids and pit a block on moving them separately without a parent next to them? How hard could that really be??

I agree. I have had my seats changed through no fault of my own, attempted to get them changed back to what they were well ahead of time, only to have the gate agent tell me that all I needed to do was ask someone to change seats with me. To the OP: do you really think it's reasonable for me to have to wait in an airport for god knows how long until there is a flight available that can accommodate us sitting next to each other just so I don't have to piss somebody off by asking them to switch seats, when it wasn't my fault in the first place? I don't think it's unreasonable to ask someone to switch - you can always say no.

We always book the aisle/window hoping the middle seat stays empty. If someone sits there, we offer them their choice of aisle or window. They never say no, but usually we get a "free" empty seat. But I also try not to fly on sold out flights.