Anonymous wrote:I booked a United flight with a connection for 4 people. Once I got to choosing seats, only seats available were rows apart. I then put in a request to “sit together” but there was no movement. Long story short, I refunded the ticket and bought KLM tickets for same price and had no issues reserving seats together for our family without having to put in extra requests to be seated together and hope for airline largesse.

I had this same experience also flying domestic, but there I was at least able to pay to pre book seats together.

I don’t know if United block seats, or it was an in demand flight, but I don’t get these issues flying with European or middle eastern carriers where I buy tickets in advance and the only seats available are 1 seat each, many rows apart.

This is an airline issue, not “many idiots asking to switch seats” issue.

Anonymous wrote:

only one parent needs to be near the young (5 or under) children.

This. Nothing about your family requires that more of you sit together. I flew alone as a child plenty of times

Anonymous wrote:I've swapped an aisle seat for an aisle seat so that a young child wouldn't be separated from their parent. However, I need an aisle seat because I use the restroom more often now that I am older and usually pay more.

Anonymous wrote:Because they fail to plan ahead and pay to secure seats. When you gamble, you sometimes lose. Sometimes, families are separated due to cancellations and equipment changes, but then only one parent needs to be near the young (5 or under) children. The entire family does not need to be sitting together. Those are the only times I'll consider swapping. But for those who chose not to pay to get their seats together, too bad. Take the next flight -- you don't have any right to my seat. Kids are expensive, they cost money. You should know that by now.

Anonymous wrote:This is why i am glad we fly charter.

only one parent needs to be near the young (5 or under) children.

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Anonymous wrote:And if people choose to not pay to select their seats, too bad for them. They get the leftover seats due to their choice. No way will I give up my aisle seat for you. For those split up due to canceled flights, address it at the gate before you board. Only 1 parent needs to be with a young child -- 5 or younger. Older children are fine by themselves. But too often, I see entire families trying to switch people around to sit together and just no. The attendants need to shut that crap down.

5 is too young. Maybe 16.

14 year olds have been molested on planes.

Many teens end up needing help with something (iPad doesn’t work, motion sickness, someone else has the snacks). If families aren’t together you end up disrupting several rows of people just with kid wrangling. And what about in the event of an emergency, the 7 year old is on their own to fend for themselves?

Minors should be placed with adults traveling together.

Yes.

No. It needs to become a regulation that kids under a specific age have to be seated with an adult in their party. That age should be the same as whatever would be considered an unaccompanied minor.

It seems like this will end up being worse for families when they have to fly at the last minute or flights get cancelled/changed. They may have to wait days for an appropriate flight to open up

Why do you think European airlines don’t have this problem? They are simply not allowed to separate families. So they move other passengers even if they have to refund a “seat selection” fee that many don’t even charge in the first place. It’s not that complicated.

This- I lived in Germany for the last three years and traveled by plane at least monthly with my two young children. Never once paid to book seats in advance and never had a single issue with us all being automatically seated together. (Not to mention that the flights were all exponentially cheaper than most US domestic flights.) It really doesn’t need to be that hard.

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Anonymous wrote:And if people choose to not pay to select their seats, too bad for them. They get the leftover seats due to their choice. No way will I give up my aisle seat for you. For those split up due to canceled flights, address it at the gate before you board. Only 1 parent needs to be with a young child -- 5 or younger. Older children are fine by themselves. But too often, I see entire families trying to switch people around to sit together and just no. The attendants need to shut that crap down.

5 is too young. Maybe 16.

14 year olds have been molested on planes.

Many teens end up needing help with something (iPad doesn’t work, motion sickness, someone else has the snacks). If families aren’t together you end up disrupting several rows of people just with kid wrangling. And what about in the event of an emergency, the 7 year old is on their own to fend for themselves?

Minors should be placed with adults traveling together.

Yes.

No. It needs to become a regulation that kids under a specific age have to be seated with an adult in their party. That age should be the same as whatever would be considered an unaccompanied minor.

It seems like this will end up being worse for families when they have to fly at the last minute or flights get cancelled/changed. They may have to wait days for an appropriate flight to open up

Why do you think European airlines don’t have this problem? They are simply not allowed to separate families. So they move other passengers even if they have to refund a “seat selection” fee that many don’t even charge in the first place. It’s not that complicated.

Anonymous wrote:

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Anonymous wrote:And if people choose to not pay to select their seats, too bad for them. They get the leftover seats due to their choice. No way will I give up my aisle seat for you. For those split up due to canceled flights, address it at the gate before you board. Only 1 parent needs to be with a young child -- 5 or younger. Older children are fine by themselves. But too often, I see entire families trying to switch people around to sit together and just no. The attendants need to shut that crap down.

5 is too young. Maybe 16.

14 year olds have been molested on planes.

Many teens end up needing help with something (iPad doesn’t work, motion sickness, someone else has the snacks). If families aren’t together you end up disrupting several rows of people just with kid wrangling. And what about in the event of an emergency, the 7 year old is on their own to fend for themselves?

Minors should be placed with adults traveling together.

Yes.

No. It needs to become a regulation that kids under a specific age have to be seated with an adult in their party. That age should be the same as whatever would be considered an unaccompanied minor.

It seems like this will end up being worse for families when they have to fly at the last minute or flights get cancelled/changed. They may have to wait days for an appropriate flight to open up