Flying with children

[Phillip]

Just been watching Simon Calder again....
There was a family who payed extra to chose there own seats on a flight, with Thompson. So they could sit with there kids.
But on there return flight, the plane was sub contracted out to another airline who would not honour this. So they had to sit apart.
This happened to us one year on a ryanair flight. (we had not pre booked seats) but they tried to make my two year nephew old sit at about 10 rows behind his mom, quoting "he has payed for a seat he has a seat" and would not do anything about it. In the end another passenger kindly moved for us. With absolutely no help from the cabin crew..
.....Anyway Guess what.. they are not allowed to do this.....the rules from the UK Civil Aviation Authority are...

"Young children and infants who are accompanied by adults, should ideally be seated in the same seat row as the adult. Children and accompanying adults should not be separated by more than one aisle. Where this is not possible, children should be separated by no more than one seat row from accompanying adults. This is because the speed of an emergency evacuation may be affected by adults trying to reach their children."

Simon added the pilot would not take off if he was aware of children not sitting near there guardians...

[BeachLife]

Its a interesting point Philip - and I am certainly not trying to be controversial.

But the business model of lots of airlines now is to encourage people to pre-book their seats - Its pretty clear to me that those who choose not to will have seats "allocated" on check in.

Now suppose if the majority of the flight HAD chosen to pre-book their seats and a family  rocked up with (for example) 3 kids who had decided to not pre-book and take their chance - why should the passenger who had paid for his seat location move ?

When my kids were younger I always paid the premium to make sure they were adjacent to us and not take a chance

I do however disagree on the alternative flight not helping the pre-booked sit together rule with the kids (perhaps a different aircraft config ?)

[Phillip]

Hello Rich
I believe as its a CAA rule the airline should make sure when you book, that you are seated with your child. As a duty of care to its customers. And you should not have to pay for the privilege.
It is of course a safety issue. If there is a problem with the plane the parent could slow down the evacuation process, by trying to reach there child.

[Corporal Jones]

Totally agree rich, we fly with children aged 2,4,6 and 10 and always prebook seats, whilst there is guidance i cant see anything that says the airline must seat you all together only near to each other. Most airline bookings give ample oppurtunity to book seats, yet you still see people rocking up on ryanair flights who have just noticed that the family are scattered around the plane demanding to be sat together. Most passengers when asked to move refuse and i dont blame them,theyve paid and chosen there seat months ago.

[Phillip]

Hello Victor
Putting aside peoples opinions, it is a rule set by the CAA, so airlines should honer it. You would not break the rule by smoking ect so why do they think they can break this one...? ....Because they want to exploit people who dont know the rules to make more money..
https://www.caa.co.uk/Passengers/On-board/Seating-allocation/

[Phillip]

I also agree with you both on the fact that why should other people move, who have payed to sit together. (although I would)
This is why the airline should make sure parents and child are together at the point of booking.

[Aficionado]

Philip,

The answer to this lies in the first line of the paragraph you linked to which contains the words "close by" and "should be the aim". The word should - not must - continues to be used throughout.

This is not a "rule" or a regulation, it is a recommendation or, if you will, best practice. As long as that remains the case, airlines will be free to do as they see fit.

Having said that, I would agree that seating children with their parents/supervising adults makes sense, and not just from the safety aspects already referred to - but as long as seat pre-booking remains an option it is difficult to see how this could always be achieved - and as this selling of specific seats is part of the profit making design, I don't think it will be changing any time soon.

Michael.

[Phillip]

Hello Mike
Hmmm..dont really agree..
I think the first paragraph says the "aims" should be with the airline...then after this... are the rules..If the airlines aims are not met then the plane should not take off.
Easyjet done this last year..and then back tracked and admitted they where in the wrong (probably  after reading the rules) And refunded the passengers.
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-3623572/Devastated-family-forced-cancel-2-300-Tenerife-dream-holiday-EasyJet-passengers-refused-seats-meaning-children-weren-t-allowed-fly.html

Also the FAA ( the US ) are about to make a amendment to make sure Parent  and child sit together.
http://mommypoints.boardingarea.com/2016/04/14/amendment-to-require-airlines-to-seat-children-next-to-parents-for-free/

[Phillip]

Also "close by" is later defined by no more than one  aisle. 

[Corporal Jones]

Close by in my mind does not mean next to each other. I cant see what the issue is, we flew to disney paris at xmas with air france which i believe is state owned, there were 5 kids in our party, air france on initial seat allocation had us all over the place, you can only check in 30 hours before departure where you then choose your preferred seat, you are clearly told this at time of booking, yet families still rock up at the check in desk expecting to sit together, sorry all the other passengers followed the guidance and chose there seats, tough. The whole concept of paying for seat allocation was budget airlines offering cheap flights, so as a sole traveller with no hold bag, no preferred seat, no cup of tea, could fly around europe for £20, families then moved from the likes of thomson packages because it saved money overall but if you want bags you pay for them, same with seats, frankly if you dont like the business model use somebody else.

[llamedos]

If my grandkids were not sat near me I'd tell them to make as much noise as possible, and believe me they would soon be moved near.


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[Corporal Jones]

On same flight into paris there was a family sat near us who were a bit loud even the parents wereat full volume, whilst this is the norm on ryanair and easy jet the steward after 20 minutes into the 50 minute flight came down and told the lot of them to shut up and be more respectful of other passengers. The mom and dad were aghast it was hilarious especially when someone clapped. Some people are just plain rough !

[Spurs]

Can't see the issue if you want guaranteed sitting together pay and book seats if it's not an issue take a random one like we always do on Ryanair