Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Flying back to DC a week ago we had our flight canceled because of the storm. They rebooked us through a different city, but put us in center seats all over the airplane. We had previously paid to all sit together but we had to take the rebooked flight or stay overseas until after the storm. There were no other seats or flights. I have two small kids, 5 and 8 yo. It was a a 5 hour long international flight. The gate agent said she had no way of seating us together so we'd have to ask on the plane.

What exactly should I have done differently?

Sounds like the gate agent just didn't want to deal with it. They absolutely can switch seats around and try to accommodate families or at least try to get you as close as possible - I see them do it all the time.

Anonymous wrote:95% of trips with small children aren't even needed.

Drive.

International trips? Lol. Your kid doesn't need to go in those before they're the age where they can sit still by themselves.

Only reason would be a death of a grandparent abroad, which the vast majority of you aren't traveling for. Boo hoo, you'd need to drive to Disney? Plan. Otherwise shut up and don't expect public transportation to cater to your individual needs. If you want guaranteed seating together no matter whether there is an issueater on with transfers, delays, or glitches, charter your own damn plane. .

Leave your hell spawns at home or do more reasonable trips if they can't handle sitting alone..

Anonymous wrote:You all need to be directing your ire to the right place: the airlines, who create this Lord of the Flies situation, while laughing all the way to the bank.

Anonymous wrote:You can book your flights six months out or six hours out and the airlines can still change equipment to a different seat configuration and then all your careful selection of the most speshul seat in the plane for your speshul self is out the window.

Anonymous wrote:I have a young child with SN and so we book well in advance and select seats whenever we can, but yeah when I was flying with my family to see a dying relative I didn’t get that option and I told the airline to sort it out. They did, and promptly, because the risk of an ADA suit or cell phone video of a three year old screaming for her parents wasn’t worth it to them.

Your complaint is with the airlines.

It’s a win for them that you blame your fellow passengers.

See also: all debate about seats reclining.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:You're assuming people are intentionally not booking seats together when there are many scenarios where this could happen and it was not their fault. For example a family could have missed their connecting flight due to a delay on the first flight and had to get bumped to a later flight. And that flight doesn't have seats together. Or there is a last minute plane swap and all the seats get reassigned.

Or in my case, I work for an airline and travel with my husband and son often. Many times the flight is packed so we get assigned random seats. I NEVER ask anyone to switch unless its to an equal or better seat. However most times people offer to switch when they see I'm with a young child, even when it meant switching to a worse or middle seat. I'm always thankful for people like that - lets me know there are still some kind and unselfish people left in the world.

Boo hoo. It's not my problem as a passenger who may have picked their seat. Take it up with the airline.

Maybe one day your carefully chosen seat will get changed on you, and you end up inthe middle seat with fighting kids on both sides.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:You're assuming people are intentionally not booking seats together when there are many scenarios where this could happen and it was not their fault. For example a family could have missed their connecting flight due to a delay on the first flight and had to get bumped to a later flight. And that flight doesn't have seats together. Or there is a last minute plane swap and all the seats get reassigned.

Or in my case, I work for an airline and travel with my husband and son often. Many times the flight is packed so we get assigned random seats. I NEVER ask anyone to switch unless its to an equal or better seat. However most times people offer to switch when they see I'm with a young child, even when it meant switching to a worse or middle seat. I'm always thankful for people like that - lets me know there are still some kind and unselfish people left in the world.

Boo hoo. It's not my problem as a passenger who may have picked their seat. Take it up with the airline.

Maybe one day your carefully chosen seat will get changed on you, and you end up inthe middle seat with fighting kids on both sides.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:You're assuming people are intentionally not booking seats together when there are many scenarios where this could happen and it was not their fault. For example a family could have missed their connecting flight due to a delay on the first flight and had to get bumped to a later flight. And that flight doesn't have seats together. Or there is a last minute plane swap and all the seats get reassigned.

Or in my case, I work for an airline and travel with my husband and son often. Many times the flight is packed so we get assigned random seats. I NEVER ask anyone to switch unless its to an equal or better seat. However most times people offer to switch when they see I'm with a young child, even when it meant switching to a worse or middle seat. I'm always thankful for people like that - lets me know there are still some kind and unselfish people left in the world.

Boo hoo. It's not my problem as a passenger who may have picked their seat. Take it up with the airline.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:No. I will not change my seat because you want to sit next your spouse or kids. It isn't my problem you can't sit together.

I also booked special meals I picked or the flight, so get it through your stupidly thick skulls that even if we switched seats, it causes even more problems when people have pre-specified meal picks. And no, I'd never, ever in a million years give up my aisle or window seat for a worse middle seat.

Why do so many morons insist with sitting next to family members if they can't book next to each other? It's a flight. They're not going anywhere and you'll be fine for a few hours. Requesters for switching seats cause so many stupidly awkward situations and can cause even more problems when other passengers may have specific meals or bought items on shops they have to locate your seat in order to deliver to you. Just sit in your own damn seat people and shut up.

You sound like a really fun travel partner

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:It’s bizarre to me how attached some people immediately become to their arbitrarily assigned (or selected) seat for a one-time flight. As if you have birth to that seat, or spent years lovingly designing it or hand-crafting it.

I assume it’s just a temporary psychotic reaction to the stress and dehumanization that is modern commercial air flight.

I have a blood clotting disorder and am under medical orders to frequently get up to avoid blood clots, and to keep my legs stretched out. There is no way I’m risking a blood clot so you can sit next to your spouse. I will rebook flights until I get an economy plus or business/first aisle seat, and I absolutely do not care what your sob story is. My life is worth more to me than your whining.

No one cares about your blot clotting sob story. Just say “no” if someone asks if you will sit in a different aisle seat that exactly the same as your aisle seat and move in with your life.

Um, yes. That is what I do. I say no, like a normal person. Why are you so weird?

You missed the critical next step which is “MOVE ON with your life”. No one’s coming for your seat.