Charging fees for family to sit together

[Deleted]

I'd rather not. In fact if someone else has to deal with my kids while we fly would be AWE.some

[IIOY]

I saw this yesterday. IME, passengers will gladly switch seats for free so as not to sit next to someone else's unsupervised kid.

I want to know if these fees are tax-exempt, like baggage fees.

[ECB]

Sept 19, 2012 7:17:46 GMT -5 IIOY said:

IME, passengers will gladly switch seats for free so as not to sit next to someone else's unsupervised kid.

This is what makes the whole concept seems idiotic. If I got onto a plane where there weren't 2 seats together, I'd just loudly say "O.k, anyone want to switch? No one? O.k. - then one lucky passenger gets to watch my 4 year old!!! Enjoy!" while looking around at the people near me eyeing up the empty seats....

I have a feeling someone pretty close to where I standing at that moment would leap up and offer to take MY seat.....

If we really get to a point where people aren't nice enough to switch seats so that a parent can sit w/ their child - somehting is REALLY wrong.

[Deleted]

i thought it was already FAA regulation that families had to sit together.

In the past when our seats and got moved we always got put back together at check in.

[IIOY]

The article I read recommended refusing to pay the fee and fighting it out at the gate. The people interviewed said this is basically a game of chicken and, when pressed, the airline will blink.

[Deleted]

Sept 19, 2012 7:30:14 GMT -5 IIOY said:

The article I read recommended refusing to pay the fee and fighting it out at the gate. The people interviewed said this is basically a game of chicken and, when pressed, the airline will blink.

It is and the airlines will blink because you imagine having to sit next to my 4 year old in business class on a transatlantic flight with me sitting elsewhere?

[Deleted]

The last time I flew I had a dude just take my seat to sit by his kid. Which is fine, but he could have been a little more polite about it.

I try to fly SW and avoid this issue entirely.

[cookiemdough]

With all these fees why are airlines still having such financial difficulties?

[jaylea]

Sept 19, 2012 7:22:57 GMT -5 ECB said:

If we really get to a point where people aren't nice enough to switch seats so that a parent can sit w/ their child - somehting is REALLY wrong.

I've seen it happen. I offered up my seat, but it did no good because no one else around me would. Fortunately the kid was 10 or so, and not 4.

Seems to me that if I book the two seats at the same time, it is entirely reasonable to expect to have the seats be together - just like if I purchase concert tickets or any other type of ticket with assigned seats. This is all absurd.

[Deleted]

Sure, if it's just one mom and one child. But if there are 2 or 3 kids and one parent I've seen it get complicated, especially if multiple family members are booked in middle seats so someone has to give up an aisle or window. In business it would seem to be less of an issue because there is more space. If it were nominal I would pay the fee to avoid dealing.

[MixedBerryJam]

I had to fly once from JFK to LA(?) with all four of us sitting separately. No one would switch, even just to 2 and 2. I. Was. Pissed. And learned during the flight that my seatmate needed to make a really short connection whereever we landed. Guess who stayed in her seat until the very last minute and didn't let her seatmate out, either?

[penguingrrl]

I'd be more likely to pay to get someone else to sit with my kids for the flight... If someone really refuses to move to let me sit with my kid they can deal with them. I'll bring a book!

[mrshandy]

To me this problem would be solved, if NO ONE paid extra to sit in special seats. Then the airline seating would just go back to how it was before.

I refuse to pay just so I can sit with my kid. That is plain BS.

[blacksred]

I think some people may be hesitant to give up a seat they paid EXTRA to pay for such more legroom, aisle or window seat.

[pantsparty]

This is effing ridiculous. I'm just waiting to get a bill after a flight for the oxygen I breathed in the air. WTF.

[earlgreyhot]

Sept 19, 2012 8:27:35 GMT -5 mrshandy said:

To me this problem would be solved, if NO ONE paid extra to sit in special seats. Then the airline seating would just go back to how it was before.

I refuse to pay just so I can sit with my kid. That is plain BS.

For serious.

I think the idea of someone else sitting with my toddler while I enjoy an US Weekly a few rows back seems kinda heavenly. Where's my motivation to pay the fee? Now, I am certainly willing to buy the person who gives up their seat a drink.

[jigsy]

The best thing the flying public can do is not to "play chicken" with the airlines at the gate, it's to not patron the airlines that have these practices. It's because the flying public will basically chose whichever carrier is the cheapest that the airlines are all in a race to the bottom. Stop supporting shitty business practices with your dollars and shitty business practices will eventually stop, but stomping your foot at a gate agent will do little, getting terse with a flight attendant who is probably just as fed up with the airline, if not more, than you are, will do nothing to change the actual practices.

[OscarQ]

Hell no I wouldn't pay and I guarantee the poor passenger stuck next to my toddler would be begging me to switch seats with them inside of 5 minutes.

H took him on Amtrak two weeks ago and the kid was hanging from the luggage racks before they pulled out of the station. To fly with him I'll probably need to shoot him up with a horse tranquilizer and bribe half the plane with free liquor.

[ttt]

Sept 19, 2012 7:46:07 GMT -5 cookiemdough said:

With all these fees why are airlines still having such financial difficulties?

They aren't.

www.businesstravelnews.com/Strategic-Sourcing/2012-Business-Travel-Survey--Airline-Profits-Within-Reach-For-Third-Consecutive-Year/?ida=Airlines&a=btn

Amid that transformation, carriers still must contend with volatile fuel prices, disruptive world events and poor macroeconomic trends. Still, barring unforeseen shocks, Deutsche Bank analysts projected that publicly traded U.S. commercial airlines this year will post $3.8 billion in net income, following a profitable 2011 for all seven of the largest U.S. carriers—except bankrupt American Airlines.

Most major carriers rang in 2012 with a profitable first quarter—no small feat considering the first three months of the year typically is the weakest seasonal period for airlines. Blocked from first-quarter profits, United cited special costs "primarily" related to the integration of Continental, while American faced the high costs of Chapter 11 restructuring.

Despite such one-time expenses, the fundamentals of the industry have remained healthy. Demand has held up, revenue has continued to grow—albeit at slower rates—and carriers have mitigated the increased cost of jet fuel through pricing actions and capacity control. As proof of such health, the seven largest U.S. carriers in aggregate reported a $247 million first-quarter operating profit, "which was $267 million better than last year despite a $1.8 billion higher fuel bill," according to Deutsche Bank analysts.

[ttt]

Sept 19, 2012 9:00:57 GMT -5 jigsy said:

The best thing the flying public can do is not to "play chicken" with the airlines at the gate, it's to not patron the airlines that have these practices. It's because the flying public will basically chose whichever carrier is the cheapest that the airlines are all in a race to the bottom. Stop supporting shitty business practices with your dollars and shitty business practices will eventually stop, but stomping your foot at a gate agent will do little, getting terse with a flight attendant who is probably just as fed up with the airline, if not more, than you are, will do nothing to change the actual practices.

How are you supposed to do that, though, when nearly every airline has this practice? And depending on where you live and what airport you fly out of, you may not have much of a choice.

ETA: which airline can I fly that won't charge me to choose my seats?

[ladybrettashley]

This just makes me very uncomfortable. As much as I'd like to pawn my child off on other passengers, it just seems really dangerous. If the cabin lost oxygen and the masks came down, you better believe I would be wanting to make sure my own child had his mask on. I cannot trust other passengers or flight attendants to do the same.

I don't know who came up with this fee, but these have got to stop. They're getting ridiculous.

[ttt]

Sept 19, 2012 9:12:10 GMT -5 ladybrettashley said:

This just makes me very uncomfortable. As much as I'd like to pawn my child off on other passengers, it just seems really dangerous. If the cabin lost oxygen and the masks came down, you better believe I would be wanting to make sure my own child had his mask on. I cannot trust other passengers or flight attendants to do the same.

I don't know who came up with this fee, but these have got to stop. They're getting ridiculous.

I also have to imagine this would be a liability issue for the airline. Unaccompanied minors have been sexually molested on flights before, and I believe the airline ended up either losing the lawsuits against them or having to settle with the families.

You'd better believe that i'd sue the hell out of an airline if my 3 year old had to sit apart from me and ANYTHING happened to her.

[LoveTrains]

Sept 19, 2012 8:32:32 GMT -5 blacksred said:

I think some people may be hesitant to give up a seat they paid EXTRA to pay for such more legroom, aisle or window seat.

This is my problem. If I have a tight connection, I'll probably pay extra for an aisle seat at the front of the plane. That sometimes costs $30 or $40.

There is no way in hell I am switching with someone that might have a seat in the back of the plane in that case.

I once sat next to a child I would guess was about 5 or 6. The mother was traveling alone with three kids, and the mother and two other (younger kids) was sitting a few rows up. The kid was fine. I don't know what else she was supposed to do - me switching wouldn't have helped anything at that point. I actually had the window seat and my H had the aisle and she was originally in the middle, but we did allow the little girl to sit in the aisle so she could get up and walk down to visit her family.

[crazytalk]

Sept 19, 2012 8:54:36 GMT -5 @mx said:

As long as the kid is old enough to fly unaccompanied I don't see a problem. I sat next to a completely charming and polite 7 year old on a recent transcontinental flight and would gladly take him over many adults. He kept saying things like "pardon me, might you know the time?"

omg, that's hilarious and adorable.

I agree with whomever upthread compared airlines to concert venues with regards to assigned seating. I don't know why it's so difficult to let passengers pick a seat when they book the flight, and stick with it. Then you know - as you're booking - what you're getting into. If there isn't a flight with 2 seats together, then you find another one. Walla. But even though I always pick my seat (and 99% of the time I travel alone), I often get changed to another seat at the gate.

[ttt]

Sept 19, 2012 9:23:25 GMT -5 crazytalk said:

Sept 19, 2012 8:54:36 GMT -5 @mx said:

As long as the kid is old enough to fly unaccompanied I don't see a problem. I sat next to a completely charming and polite 7 year old on a recent transcontinental flight and would gladly take him over many adults. He kept saying things like "pardon me, might you know the time?"

omg, that's hilarious and adorable.

I agree with whomever upthread compared airlines to concert venues with regards to assigned seating. I don't know why it's so difficult to let passengers pick a seat when they book the flight, and stick with it. Then you know - as you're booking - what you're getting into. If there isn't a flight with 2 seats together, then you find another one. Walla. But even though I always pick my seat (and 99% of the time I travel alone), I often get changed to another seat at the gate.

This just isn't possible a lot of the time. Sometimes you have no choice but to travel at short notice (like for a funeral, for example) and there are no flights with seats available. And part of the reason for this is because the airlines have now blocked off 75% of the aircraft for "premium" seats that aren't available for you to choose, so the seats that you can choose are long gone.

I was going to say that if the kids are older, it's not that big of a deal. But there are a couple situations where it might be a big deal - the kid sitting next to a child molester (totally rare, but it does and has happened), if the child happens to have some kind of medical emergency, or if something goes wrong on the flight like depressurization or a crash (also rare, but there is a reason they give safety briefings at the beginning of every flight). I don't want to just trust that total strangers will take good care of my child, and frankly, it isn't and shouldn't really be their responsibility.

And if your child is small, what then? You're going to let a 2 year old sit with strangers, unsupervised? Who's in charge of making sure she keeps her seat belt on? Who's in charge of making sure she doesn't get up and run through the aisles? Who's in charge of quieting her if she gets scared and starts crying and screaming?

[meshaliuknits]

Sept 19, 2012 8:54:36 GMT -5 @mx said:

As long as the kid is old enough to fly unaccompanied I don't see a problem. I sat next to a completely charming and polite 7 year old on a recent transcontinental flight and would gladly take him over many adults. He kept saying things like "pardon me, might you know the time?"

That is darling!

*makes mental note to teach phrase to child*

[vanillacourage]

Sept 19, 2012 8:32:32 GMT -5 blacksred said:

I think some people may be hesitant to give up a seat they paid EXTRA to pay for such more legroom, aisle or window seat.

I agree with this, and I'm a mom of 2. Unless the flight attendants are able to keep records of who paid extra for their seat and who lucked into it by random assignment, guilting people for not giving up their spot is inappropriate.

[ttt]

Sept 19, 2012 10:05:25 GMT -5 vanillacourage said:

Sept 19, 2012 8:32:32 GMT -5 blacksred said:

I think some people may be hesitant to give up a seat they paid EXTRA to pay for such more legroom, aisle or window seat.

I agree with this, and I'm a mom of 2. Unless the flight attendants are able to keep records of who paid extra for their seat and who lucked into it by random assignment, guilting people for not giving up their spot is inappropriate.

Guilting by the flight attendants or by the family?

I agree with you, but I'm just not sure what a family is supposed to do if they've been separated, short of pay the extortion fee.

I was going to say the flight attendant could instead find a row where people haven't paid extra, if possible, but frankly, flight attendants have other things to do pre-flight besides coordinate musical chairs. They're supposed to be doing things like checking safety equipment and making sure everyone is getting on board OK.

Incidentally, that reminds me that when I was a FA, our incoming flight (the one my crew was scheduled to return to the US) had a medical emergency. They went into the emergency medical kit and it was missing the equipment they needed because the FAs had neglected to check to make sure it was intact before takeoff.

[passthewine]

I'm so confused by this whole thing. I don't fly too often but every time I do, I can pick our seats for each flight. Is that only certain airlines, or have they stopped doing that? I don't *have* to sit next to DH but I'd be shocked if I didn't seeing as I picked my seats months ago.
Plus, I'd just rather annoy DH every time I have to get up rather than a stranger.

[karinothing]

Sept 19, 2012 11:10:19 GMT -5 passthewine said:

I'm so confused by this whole thing. I don't fly too often but every time I do, I can pick our seats for each flight. Is that only certain airlines, or have they stopped doing that? I don't *have* to sit next to DH but I'd be shocked if I didn't seeing as I picked my seats months ago.
Plus, I'd just rather annoy DH every time I have to get up rather than a stranger.

This is where I am. I always pick my seats and print my boarding pass ahead of time. It always has my seats.. .