Want to Sit Next to Your Family on the Plane? It Just Got Harder
Family Travel Just Got More Complicated
I don’t know about you but I need to sit with my family when I fly. I get a wee bit nervous and like to hold their hands during take off and landing. Plus, keeping a six-year-old amused during flight time is a job itself. But with new fees, being able to sit with my loved ones on the plane has become not just more complicated but more expensive.
Here is what is happening…A variety of airlines are holding window and aisle seats for single travelers who are ready and willing to pay to avoid the middle seat. What that means for other travelers is that when these higher-paying passengers book the coveted window and aisle seats, there are fewer situations when two or three seats are together. And if these window or aisle seats are still available, you may have to pay $25 extra each way to get them. Airlines are reportedly “holding” these seats for people who will pay the surcharge.
If you happen to be an “elite” customer, then not only will you have more choices in seat selection but often you won’t have to pay the extra fees. But as The News Tribune notes, once the airlines are done holding these window and aisle seats “hostage,” they may release them closer to the flight time and you will be able to book your family’s seats together. Plus, you can always plead your case when you arrive at the airport, because really, what passenger would want to sit next to your child while you’re in a totally different row?
Are you annoyed by all the extra fees airlines are creating?
Simple solution…. Fly Southwest. I won’t fly anyone else even though it means I am required to layover before going into Love Field due to Texas politics. My daughter’s great grandparents live there and I have to go if I want her to know them, and I do.
I think the joke is going to end up being on the airlines when their expensive aisle and window seats are bordering someone’s little kid in the middle seat! Have fun talking to my son- he LOVES to talk!
You know, the more I think about it the more I believe that the airlines are also opening up themselves to lawsuits. What if something inappropriate happens to someone’s child when they are sitting next to a stranger? It could happen! I have heard about passengers watching porn on their laptops during flights.
No problem. Let those people pay a surcharge to entertain my toddler in the middle seat next to them. I’ll sleep in the row behind.
Hey- as much as I don’t want to hear kids screaming on a plane, these airlines are a$$-hats for not seating families together. WTF? Any resulting chaos/uproar I would NOT throw at the parents, but heap all over the airlines as a dissatisfied customer.
We had this happen before all the fees for extra seats, but after the airline started blocking off the “good” seats for elites. The 5 of us, 3 kids under 4 and 2 adults weren’t sitting together. We tried to call ahead of time for seats ( every week for 2 months) and the airline refused to move our assigned seats, and at the gate the agent said she couldn’t move people because there was a large family traveling together ( family of 2 parents, 2 grandparents,and 3 teenage kids), and there weren’t any seats together. We just wanted a 2 and 2 combo and we were willing to put our youngest on our lap and just eat the cost of the 3rd ticket.. We were told to figure it out onboard. Needless to say, the flight didn’t leave on time, because although no one wanted to sit with my kids…they also wouldn’t give up the window or aisle seat. Irritating. Now, we fly southwest almost all the time.
this and their new announcement not to let families board early is a clear way of telling families with children that they are not welcome on board.
I, nor my family, will be no longer flying the ‘friendly’ skies.
Alaska Airlines doesn’t do this and they still let families with children pre-board. I avoid other airlines since moving where Alaska Airlines flies. Not sure what happened with families that got separated before these fees went into place but I have been on flights before where the families booked at the last minute and didn’t choose their seats when they originally booked the flights. Can’t blame the airline for that. But I can see some of the bigger carriers that I used to have to fly, won’t mention any names, American and United, doing this to families even if they chose their seats when they booked their flights.
We never get seated together on the plane, but we talk to the agents at the gate and they can usually move things around. Once in about a dozen flights, this family (with teen children) had a hissy fit, and we spent the flight apart, but it wasn’t a super long one. But we’ve never paid a fee for that. It does irritate me that window seats are being held for single travelers. I get motion sickness and looking out the window helps me. Why don’t they take things like that into consideration? There’s very little about the whole flying experience that doesn’t irritate the hell out of me, just another thing to add to the list.
We are driving from NY to FLA in 2 weeks with 3 boys, ages 4, 2, and 1. I thought we were crazy but we may actually have made the better choice all around!
And this is why airline regulation was a good idea. My opinion: when I start flying with my little one and paying for his seat, I will refuse to pay the upcharge-let them put my 2 year old next to complete strangers & see how well that goes with their “elite” customers who paid for the upgrade.
what airline that are doing this?? we hadn’t flown for 10 years & we just flew delta and united at the end of april. and on the two seats my huband and daughter were next to each other and I was across the isle. then we had 3 together on delta. i guess we booked a package through the travel agent so there could have been an extra charge, I just didn’t know about it. …but we certainly were all together. there is no way i would seat my child next to strangers alone. that’s just crazy!