Have you had problems getting assigned seats while flying with kids?

[Aelwydd]

This WSJ article paints a pretty awful picture of flying with kids. (And don't read the comments section if you are the sensitive type--it's pretty brutal.)

 

My experience traveling with my ds has been limited--only flew with him once as a 6 month old, and then last year when we went to Florida--but it hasn't been terrible. We had assigned seats last year (we flew on Delta), and honestly, it was a very low-key, relaxed event.

 

It did suck that they don't allow families to pre-board anymore. So, that meant that we were one of the last groups to board. We flew out on a morning flight, on a Thursday, and it was 99% business. Our ds was the only child on the whole flight. The folks around us were actually really friendly, and they engaged our son in chat. They seemed to think it was really nice that our family was going to Disney World. There are only 3 of us, so we all sat together, ds on window, me in the middle, an dh on the aisle. We were seated together that way for all four flights of our trip.

 

Articles like this pretty much encapsulate my dread at flying though. I was hoping we'd luck out with a good experience, and we did. But, I think our experience was on the very positive end of the spectrum. My suspicion is that it's probably far more common for flying with kids to be difficult and stressful, especially with all the rules these days.

 

I'm curious as to others' experiences here with flying. Is the article a pretty accurate gauge of what is common, or is flying with kids not so bad?

[rwjx2khsmj]

It's been awhile since I've flown with kids. My sisters do it frequently and agree that paying extra to reserve seats is worth the peace of mind.

[jennsmile]

I have flown very seldom. And we always get compliments that our kids were quiet and well behaved. I have flown with lap children a time or two and I have also flown with carseats. It isn't easy but it does work. We have always been together but usually it is just myself, child and dh or MIL. The worst was when we had a lap child and we gate checked the seat hoping that the next flight would have a spot for the carseat. They sent it to baggage instead of the gate. I left my nursing 1 yo with dh and went in search of it. (Dh has a disability so it was more logical for me to walk the Denver Airport.) So I fetched the seat while my oldest learned to walk... Then I waited in line while they kept pulling others through until finally I explained my dh and nursing son were already through security and it was their fault that I had to fetch a seat.

 

I think the worst is delays. I had that happen once and while I was prepared with extra diapers and milk on demand, another passenger was irrate that they had been delayed and had no milk for their baby or diapers.

[jennsmile]

And I get to preboard because of dh...

[athena1277]

I flew in July just me and the 2 kids, and also May of last year. I bought the tickets online and did not have a choice of seats when I bought them. When we got to the gate, I told the airlines' agent of the problem. They never gave me a problem with changing the seats. One time they were not able to do it and told us to board first and tell the stewardess. The stewardess put us in the first row (after first class) and made whoever was going to sit there move. No one got mad or said anything mean. We flew Delta both trips, if that makes a difference.

[jplain]

The only time our reserved seats have been split up is when a plane has been changed or a flight canceled. When that happens I make DH go haunt the check-in desk, and usually they take care of it before we board. When it hasn't been taken care of before boarding, I explain it to the flight attendant, and then break the news to the person whose seat(s) I'm going to need to commandeer. No one has ever been unpleasant about it.

 

The only semi-annoying thing about it is that they usually can't put all 4 of us together. Usually we end up with 2 and 2, which is fine. But twice it's been 3 and 1. Guess who got the 1? DH of course, because the little one refused to sit anywhere but next to me. *sigh* Now that they're older, if it ever happens again, I have decreed that DH gets to sit with the kids, and I get to pretend I'm traveling solo.

[CarolfromIL]

Well my husband is adamant that the "elites"----frequent flyers who have flown a certain amount of mileage or flights---get to board before families or others in need. He feels the airlines need to take care of their "best customers" vs. the occasional family leisure traveler :(

[tabrizia]

I fly semi frequently with my kids. I always am with a second adult when it is with all 3 of them. We have never had problems getting seats together. We did have to have the gate agents move seats around in August when we flew because they had us all over the plane, but they were happy to do it and set us up in two rows, so there was an adult with the kids, both going and returning.

 

I will admit that it was far easier to travel with kids when DS1 was a baby, then it is now, with the changes in how seats are assigned etc, but we have not had any problems and I fly with them at least 2 to 5 times a year.

[freesia]

Don't even get me started!

 

It has gotten worse and worse. From 2000-2007 we flew frequently across the continent w/ up to 3 children. Every year got worse. We would get seats all over the place. At first you could change them at the gate, then you had to ask folks for favors! During my last flight (in 2009) they assigned me to the side of the plane w/o an extra oxygen mask (even though my record said I had a lap infant) and no one would trade. The plane had to sit there until someone would.

 

Something is seriously wrong when no provisions are made for an under 5 year old to sit next to his parent. The business people really want to sit next to my 2 yo, really??????????

 

Some people have more needs, real needs than other people. Families with young children count as one of them. Compassion, airlines and business folks, compassion.

[Dmmetler]

DH or I have always been seated with DD, even on last minute emergency/standby-type flights. The three of us aren't always together, but they've had NO trouble finding someone else to move so a baby/toddler/young child in car seat didn't have to sit by someone other than their parent. We also were always allowed and encouraged to pre-board when we had a car seat, even when it wasn't officially announced-they wanted us to get that seat installed BEFORE everyone got on the plane.

[NancyNellen]

This has not been our experience. We just flew this past weekend with Southwest. All seven of us were roughly together (the littler ones were right with us, the oldest three were either in front of us or next to us.

 

We flew last ear with Virgin America and were together with no problems.

 

Our experience has been that people are generally very happy to relocate in order to allow family members to be together. I would never want to sit next to someone else's 2 year old...I can't imagine that happens very often :D

[regentrude]

We have traveled overseas (3 legs each one-way trip) with our two children every year for the last fourteen years and never once had trouble with seating. If no contiguous seating was available at the check-in counter, the gate agents or the flight attendants were always able to accommodate us.

In the last few years we have been able to select our seats ourselves while booking online and always got those.

I also can not imagine which adult would insisted on sitting next to some stranger's 3 year old; in my experience everybody was always happy to trade so the kid gets to sit next to a parent.

 

ETA: All flights on which we were in the last few years invited parents with small children to pre-board. It is in the airline's best interest to get them seated and out of the way and not have them slow down the boarding process.

Edited November 17, 2011 by regentrude

[momtokea]

We have had mostly good experiences travelling with kids, but there have been times when we haven't been seated together. We have usually been able to rearrange our seating with people around us, sometimes the stewardesses have been helpful, but not always.

 

We have also been seated in the emergency aisles, and then the stewardesses are scrambling to find people to switch with us. This always baffles me, with more adults than children booked on a flight, how do 3 children get booked into the emergency aisles? It almost seemed like it was done on purpose.

 

Overall, air travel services have really deteriorated. I remember flying with my parents in the 70's and we were treated like royalty. (and no, we are not royalty, nor were we flying first class)

[freesia]

This has not been our experience. We just flew this past weekend with Southwest. All seven of us were roughly together (the littler ones were right with us, the oldest three were either in front of us or next to us.

 

We flew last ear with Virgin America and were together with no problems.

 

Our experience has been that people are generally very happy to relocate in order to allow family members to be together. I would never want to sit next to someone else's 2 year old...I can't imagine that happens very often :D

I'm glad you had a better experience. I just don't see why it is necessary to ask anyone. If I am booking my flight months in advance I should be able to choose to sit w/ my kids with no problem.

[QuirkyKapers]

yes- they split our family up, which wasn't too bad since there was a parent with each child. However, they put us in the seats that were the emergency exit. The stewardess was completly rude. Told us we couldn't sit there since it was an emergency exit. Hey dummy, I didn't assign us those seats your airline did! (Of course I didn't include dummy but I did argue with her which made it worse. )

[Jennifer in MI]

Hm. We flew last month and always got priority boarding because we had a young child. We were also whisked quickly through security because we had a big family. No waits in lines for us!

 

We were able to pick our seats for all our flights. We booked with Frontier through Travelocity.

[oldskool]

For the most part it has been okay. Usually it may be that two of the kids will need to sit separately. For me it is not a big deal. Starting at age three I used to fly overseas and we often could not sit together as a family of five (and were stand-by passengers to boot). I never minded it much and met interesting people. I remember sitting next to one man who was a magician and he performed tricks for me all the way to New Zealand. I guess I try to teach my kids that travel is not always going to be convenient and will often be uncomfortable. But, that is part of the adventure.

 

Lesley

[acurtis75]

This has not been our experience. We just flew this past weekend with Southwest. All seven of us were roughly together (the littler ones were right with us, the oldest three were either in front of us or next to us.

 

Our experience has been that people are generally very happy to relocate in order to allow family members to be together. I would never want to sit next to someone else's 2 year old...I can't imagine that happens very often :D

:iagree: I fly several times a year with dd6 and we never have a problem. We're almost always on Soutwest which doesn't have assigned seating but they let families board between the A & B group if you don't have an A boarding pass. As dd gets older and we're not allowed in family boarding I'll just make sure to check in right at the 24 hour mark before my flight to get an A boarding pass. A lot of people complain about Southwest not having assigned seats but I actually find it works better for us than flying on other airlines.

 

I also can't imagine someone not giving up a seat when necessary for a parent and child to sit together.

[Classical Country Mama]

I just traveled literally from coast to coast and back last week with dd(7) and ds (18mos--flying in my lap) and had a wonderful experience. We sat together every leg, no problem, and the poor passengers stuck in our row were unfailingly compassionate and even helpful.

 

The flight attendants were fantastic as well, helping me maneuver carryon luggage to our place at the back of the plane (my choice) and chatting with us as we hung out in the galley so ds could walk around. And the passengers on the rest of the plane also couldn't have been lovelier as we walked our laps up and down and up and down and up and down the aisle. (Btw, everybody in the world has an iPad. Just sayin.)

 

And for all four flights we boarded before everybody else (Frontier Airlines).

 

And last but not least, on our return flight TSA had relaxed the rules so kids 12 and under don't have to remove their shoes.

 

Not that I'm in a hurry to share a seat with a toddler across the country again anytime soon--but we had a very positive experience. Yes, even with TSA. :cheers2:

[NancyNellen]

I'm glad you had a better experience. I just don't see why it is necessary to ask anyone. If I am booking my flight months in advance I should be able to choose to sit w/ my kids with no problem.

 

We have to ask on Southwest because there is no assigned seating for anyone. When we've traveled with Virgin America we choose our seats when we purchase our tickets and have never had a problem actually being in the seats chosen. I haven't flown any other airline in the last few years...maybe I'm just picking the right airlines?

[Serenade]

I have only once flown with my kids, when they were 6 and 9. I was able to get reserved seats, even with my frequent flyer miles, but we were still split on the return flight when storms altered the schedule. I called up immediately and tried to get them changed, initially without luck -- the service rep said she couldn't change them over the phone, but that most flights have seats "reserved" for emergencies like this, and I should be able to work it out at the gate. I made sure to get there early and had no problem. But, the flights weren't full to capacity or anything. Now I'm wondering if I wouldn't have been so lucky if they had been fully booked.

 

What bothers me about the guy in the article, who was flying to Bangkok, was that he had reservations to be seated together, that he checked continuously, and then he showed up, and they basically told him too bad. That is unacceptable. Airlines should be required to honor flight arrangements, even if the specific seats have to be changed -- traveling groups should be kept together if they made such arrangements and have confirmation.

 

I remember once a stewardess tried to boot me from a seat for which I had a reservation, years and years ago. It was a long flight and I had booked an aisle seat because of my RA. The stewardess tried to get me to move because apparently somebody else had the same reservation. Well, I refused to get up, I was there first after all, and I had proof that it was my seat. Anyhow, it was a big commotion, and I was almost in tears, but in the end they let me stay there. The other passengers backed me up, thank goodness. I don't think I would refuse to get out of a seat today, LOL. They'd throw you off a plane for that.

[nowimscrappin]

I made a last-minute reservation on JetBlue a couple of weeks ago. Called to get seats and they couldn't make them at the time because all they had left were extra leg room seats. She said she'd make a note that it was a small child (6) travelling with parent that they needed to be together for when they assigned them at the airport. Turns out, I was able to get them assigned together due to disability - Emma's diabetes - and that she couldn't sit separate from me. Honestly, if they want to separate me from her, I'd make sure she had every loud electronic toy she could, and make sure she drank lots of water before she got on the flight so she needed to get up often to go to the bathroom - that'll teach someone to separate a child from a parent.

 

But that said, I've never been in a situation, even with a completely full flight, of having kids not with an adult. We are a family of 5 - sometimes its 3 seats in one place and 2 in another, but never a solo.

[Ewe Mama]

About a year and a half ago, I flew AirTran with my ds, then age 4. It was just the two of us travelling, and he was a really good, quiet traveller, so we had no problems from other passengers onboard. The problem we had was with the airline. They kept trying to seperate us, even though I kept checking us in together as a parent with a young child. We had 4 flights and on all 4 they tried to split us up. We also ended up in the very rear seat on all four flights, no leg room, no window to look out. The poor little guy was so sad because he couldn't even look out a blooming window to see what flying looked like. :glare:

[alpidarkomama]

I just flew cross-country with my 4 kids (ages 4-8). It went pretty well. The only odd thing that happened was that about a week before our flight I checked our seats and discovered that they had split us up all over the plane (??!!!??). It was very weird. I called Delta, and the customer service rep's supervisor gave us "special permission" to have our seats re-assigned (??!!). It was odd! It didn't happen for our return flight.

 

Otherwise, everything was a piece of cake - going through security, boarding (I chose the back of the plane so we could get on first and be near the bathrooms so they could take themselves), keeping themselves busy for most of the 4-1/2 hours. I paid the 8-year-old $5 (a princely sum in our family) to "babysit" her 4-year-old brother across the aisle from us, and they were very cute and sweet together! I had really been dreading it, but I couldn't believe how easy it was. :) Thank goodness, since DH couldn't come along not having much vacation time... :)

[In The Great White North]

I'm glad you had a better experience. I just don't see why it is necessary to ask anyone. If I am booking my flight months in advance I should be able to choose to sit w/ my kids with no problem.

 

What bothers me about the guy in the article, who was flying to Bangkok, was that he had reservations to be seated together, that he checked continuously, and then he showed up, and they basically told him too bad. That is unacceptable. Airlines should be required to honor flight arrangements, even if the specific seats have to be changed -- traveling groups should be kept together if they made such arrangements and have confirmation.

 

:iagree::iagree: Somehow, this wasn't a problem in the old days of paper and pencil.

 

Now, with everything computerized so every ticket agent and online customer can see which seats are taken, now, it's become a problem. Might it have something to do with overbooking the flight???

 

On my last flight (July 2011), they arbitrarily changed my seat (and then tried to convince me it was a "better" seat,) had a kid a few rows over nowhere near her parents, and had two people booked into the same seat. All on one, international flight (Delta.)

[Excelsior! Academy]

We've flown a handful of times with children. I quess we have been pretty fortunate, because we have either been booked together or had people who would switch. I can't imagine people refusing to switch so you would be separated from a small child. That is ridiculous! They deserve to get seated by the unsupervised child, if they would rather keep their seat than switch.:)

[Murmer]

:iagree::iagree: Somehow, this wasn't a problem in the old days of paper and pencil.

 

Now, with everything computerized so every ticket agent and online customer can see which seats are taken, now, it's become a problem. Might it have something to do with overbooking the flight???

 

On my last flight (July 2011), they arbitrarily changed my seat (and then tried to convince me it was a "better" seat,) had a kid a few rows over nowhere near her parents, and had two people booked into the same seat. All on one, international flight (Delta.)

 

Or perhaps because it is all computerized and there is no human element, no one thinking maybe we shouldn't seat a 3 year old at the back of the plane and his mom in the front like it use to be with paper and pencil.

[Laura Corin]

I've travelled frequently over many years with my sons in Asia, Europe and America. I've only once had to board with seat assignments which separated me from the boys, and in that case another passenger swapped with me so that I could sit next to my younger son. I do set my alarm so that I can check in as soon as online check-in opens.

 

Laura

[Splinter]

I fly fairly often with my four and I've never had a problem. Even when we've booked at the last minute, I've at least been able to get two seats together for myself and my youngest.

 

I do think, however, that some people make too big a deal about flying with children and stress themselves out about it. I've seen parents arguing with flight attendants to have their teenagers seated next to them and with ticket agents to be allowed to board early with their 10 year old.

[In The Great White North]

I've seen parents arguing with flight attendants to have their teenagers seated next to them

 

If they bought the tickets as one party, they should get to sit next to each other, without having to ask. I expect to be able to sit with my husband when we buy tickets together too, as do business partners. It's not really too much to ask.

 

Can you imagine how that would go over in a restaurant, theater, or anywhere else you buy a ticket? "OK, there's three in your party? And you paid for seats together six months ago? No problem. One of you can sit by the window, the other over by the kitchen and let's put the third by the door." :glare:

[PiCO]

I've had better luck in the last two years. But once about five years ago, I was flying somewhere on Frontier and they told me there was no way I could sit near either of my kids (then 8 and 13.) Not really a huge deal, my kids are well-traveled and had their ipods, the flight was only 3 hours long.

 

After boarding, I found out that a large group on board had been switch from another flight due to a missed connection. We were sitting in and around them. It was obvious that our seats could have been together, and they would have not had strangers sitting among them.

 

Oh, and the group was a bunch of teenagers that had obviously not been taught how to behave when using public transportation. Yelling across rows, using language not appropriate in public, etc. I talked to the kids in my row, and they thanked me and said they would pass on the news. It was a church group, and their "leader" was about 21 yrs old and just as misbehaved as the kids.

 

They weren't bad kids, just clueless.

[In the Rain]

When my girls were smaller, we flew several times a year without any issues. That was 5-10 years ago. In the last couple of years we've had problems, and I wonder if it is because flights are more full.

 

On one of our trips, we had reserved 4 seats in a block. They were reassigned just before the flight into 4 separate seats. :glare:

[JumpedIntoTheDeepEndFirst]

I've been assigned seats that were nowhere near my kids'-including the infant. (When I asked upon checking in and at the gate the responsibility for fixing it always went to the on-board crew.) I've had the crew refuse to assist me in buckling in an infant seat but complain about how I did it. I've had crew refuse to assist my getting the baby, carseat, carryons, coats etc from door to the seat only to have fellow passengers help instead. I've had to trade meals with my kid because they would only give the kid meal to seat xx and not to the kid next to me (I got kid's meal and kid got mine.) I've had security try to take my kid away while they gave me an extra sweep.

 

I've had lots of help too-much of it above and beyond the call of duty. But not always.

[elfgivas]

This WSJ article paints a pretty awful picture of flying with kids. (And don't read the comments section if you are the sensitive type--it's pretty brutal.)

 

i read it, and it felt as if it were written for sensationalism rather than sharing common experience. it is true that families are ending up at the back more often. sometimes i think that's because other folks don't choose those seats and so it is easier to seat larger groups together. our kids liked it when they were younger because it meant they had new friends sitting near them....

 

 

It did suck that they don't allow families to pre-board anymore. So, that meant that we were one of the last groups to board.

 

we fly multiple times a year. (dh flies at least twice a month in addition). we haven't had many of the experiences mentioned in the article. dh can't remember a flight where families with children under 5 have not been invited to board first. perhaps it depends on the airport or the airline? (although the article mentions united, and it is our current airline of choice)

 

I'm curious as to others' experiences here with flying. Is the article a pretty accurate gauge of what is common, or is flying with kids not so bad?

 

we love flying with our kids. staff are mostly helpful and cheerful. i think its like anything; sometimes, folks have a bad day. sometimes, folks are stressed out. sometimes things just go badly off the rails. but in our experience, not so much.

 

so in 42 years of flying at least twice a year, we've had maybe four bad experiences if one excludes luggage moments. we've witnessed a few more. mostly, it happens when things are unusual (delays, weather, equipment, etc) which increase stress for both crew and passengers. only once did they split us all up and the crew wouldn't help. a few more times, we've been split up and people have willingly switched when asked. but its way less than five percent of the time, and has never been unresolved. twice our flight has been delayed enough that they have put us in a hotel overnight.

 

we just look at it as part of the adventure.

 

fwiw,

ann

 

 

 

and i've been treated with great graciousness by many.

 

the flip side would be our luggage experience, but we manage to work our way thru that by being pleasantly persistent (and by calling the baggage claim area of the outgoing and incoming airports when the night staff are on and are happy to speak with just about anyone).

[Mrs Mungo]

We are a military family. We have lived on both coasts, in Germany and in Hawaii. Our extended families live in the middle of the country. So, we have flown tons and tons of times. Most of my friends *also* fly frequently with kids.

 

We have had great experiences for the most part. But, it partly depends upon the airline. I *hate* flying United Airways. Their flights are either too hot or too cold. The last time we flew them it was *freeeeeeezing* and they were charging $7 for a blanket. :glare: What a ripoff.

 

I have a friend with a 20 year old daughter. When that daughter was 4, my friend was flying from Japan to the US with her dd and her baby son. They were supposed to be sitting in the bulkhead (because they have bassinets that fit in the bulkhead), but when they got their boarding passes only the dd was in that row. My friend approached the man sitting by her dd and asked if he would switch. He said no. She handed him an airsickness bag, said "you're gonna need this" and started to walk away. He would up switching seats with her. That was 16 years ago, so jerkiness is not a new thing.

 

While there are jerks out there, I've also experienced *extreme* kindness from people. People have entertained my babies, have picked up dropped items, have carried my extra carseat when it was snowy and the plane landed out on the tarmac and I was by myself. People all over the world have been really helpful to me.

 

We are not usually all together, but we rarely book months in advance. Most of our leave isn't written in stone until shortly before we fly. Usually, it will be one adult with one kid and the other adult with two kids. The times we *do* book in advance, then we are all together.

 

We have flown many times when the flight attendants put my careseats in the seats before people even boarded the plane, especially when I was flying alone with kids. We have met some cranky flight attendants, but many, many more helpful and wonderful flight attendants.

 

My experience is that they do still pre-board people with *young* children and disabilities. People with older kids don't need to pre-board.

 

IMO, there have been two big drawbacks to flying in recent years. One, not being able to carry on my toiletry bag and two, a lack of food on the planes. We have been on *several* overseas flights where they only served a snack and ran out of those.

 

One little drawback? Luggage charges have meant more and more people bring oversized bags onto the plane. It is *excessively* annoying. I pay and avoid dealing with a bag on the plane every time *unless* I'm traveling to attend a funeral. I think people who choose not to bring a bag on the plane should be able to get off the plane before anyone else.

[TechWife]

It's not bad at all. We have flown countless times & have only been split up once. That time we went to the gate agent and she reassigned one of us to be with my son, resulting in someone else getting a different seat assignment, but that person was traveling alone. It was no problem at all.

 

We've been all over on airplanes, everything from first class to the very back of the plane w/out any rhyme or reason. I've never noticed a "baby ghetto." I don't find the babies that travel troublesome, but the 3-6 year old set can be difficult. It is especially hard when the parents don't make their child follow the rules - seat belt on NOW. DO NOT stand up. NO, you may not go to the bathroom 15 times, climbing over people to get there. STOP screaming in that lady's ear - she really needs to get some sleep.

[higginszoo]

I've flown frequently with all of my dc since they were pretty little. The last couple of times we flew on an airline with assigned seats (we used to live at a Delta hub, but I think that it happened on Frontier a few times too when they were still all assigned), two or three were separated from me and each other, but I usually had 2-3 seats together anyway, so my preschooler and I at least got to sit together, and sometimes my youngest grade schooler. My dc are confident travelers and the elementary dc did great on their own-- they kind of enjoyed the independence (I checked on all of them a few times while taking the little one to the bathroom.) Lately, we've been flying Southwest, mostly for cost, but also for convenience from our location. We've always been able to get sets of 2 and 3 (or 3 and 3 if dh flies with us, which doesn't happen a lot), usually close to each other. Even with C line position (rare, but it has happened) and no pre-boarding, I've never been out of sight of any of the dc in quite a while, and nobody has had to sit alone, not that that matters as much to me anymore, since the older two or three dc fly without adults pretty frequently.

[TechWife]

Well my husband is adamant that the "elites"----frequent flyers who have flown a certain amount of mileage or flights---get to board before families or others in need. He feels the airlines need to take care of their "best customers" vs. the occasional family leisure traveler :(

 

My husband has flown over 1 million miles and he completely agrees with your husband!

 

Also, planes start boarding about 30 minutes before the flight is due to leave the gate. If you get on first, it's another 30 minutes with your little one strapped into his/her seat w/nothing to do & no where to go.

[Farrar]

It's been a couple of years since I've flown, but it's mostly been fine. Or rather, it's not always been "fine" what with delays and all that, but it's not been kid specific troubles. There was one really bizarre experience we had in Costa Rica with an agent who didn't speak good English (and we don't speak much Spanish) who harassed us about the kids for well over half an hour before we boarded. Finally, her supervisor came over and was like, what, they're fine, they're in order and approved it herself. But the first agent came and found us again at the gate and started in at us AGAIN! Something about how we needed to pay some extra fee for the kids. It was so weird. I never figured out what that was all about. But clearly her supervisor thought she was nuts too. We told her to go away and she finally left in a huff.

 

When my twins were babies, I did once fly with them and was not allowed to breastfeed them both at the same time... that's a whole other story. Something about how it's not safe to have two children in your lap at once? Whatever. I'm over it.

[In The Great White North]

That time we went to the gate agent and she reassigned one of us to be with my son, resulting in someone else getting a different seat assignment, but that person was traveling alone. It was no problem at all.

 

How does anyone (gate agent, flight attendant, you) know it was no problem at all? Because the victim was polite about it? That's a bad assumption.

 

Getting switched from the aisle to the window, from the window to the aisle, from the back to the front, from the middle to the back, etc can have a huge effect on someone who gets airsick, clots in their legs, etc. How would you feel if that person, who got bumped out of their seat to a window in the tail where they couldn't get up the whole flight, developed a fatal blood clot during the flight?

 

I still think assigning seats is not rocket science and can't imagine why the airlines think jerking people's chains won't result in customer dissatisfaction.

[FairyMom]

On the flip side of this, I get passengers (without kids) asking me to tell the parent the kid needs to be quiet. :001_huh: How exactly am I supposed to do that?!? Duct tape? I've had people downright refuse to change seats so families won't be separated. I've also had passengers tell me the breast feeding mom needs to cover up because the plane is a public place. :glare: It's amazing what people expect. However, I do completely agree, if you book your travel with "X" number of people at the same time, you should sit together... period.

[Allearia]

Not that we fly frequently, but the last two times we did so we booked on sites that did not allow you to reserve a seat. Each time, the day before the flight we called the airline and explained that we had young children and they were able to reserve the seats for us together at no charge. This was continental/united. I did see last time some families with young children waiting at the gate to see if they would be able to be seated together, so I was glad we called ahead. I don't know if it works for all airlines but would be worth trying.

[EKS]

I've never had a problem.

[weddell]

My kids have flown a lot including international flights, 11mo and 4yo to London and then 2 and 5 to India--15+ hour flight. We haven't had many problems. The staff really want the flight to go well. It is in their best interest to help you out. I'm sure there are always going to be some jerks or some people on a power trip, but I really think most people are reasonable.

[nd293]

We've flown internationally, mostly Middle Eastern or Asian airlines - from what I have read, this is very different from dealing with US domestic airlines. I never had a problem pre-booking to arrange seating. When we first flew with a child (8 years ago) this did require a phonecall directly to the airline to insist they meet their stated policy (it could not be arranged through the travel agent). Subsequently we have always booked seats online, and there has never been any problems. On a domestic flight where we could not prebook seats, we have had to wait until after boarding to rearrange seating. This is very stressful, although the staff were helpful. All the airlines we've used have allowed families to board first, and been kind and attentive to families, which is fairly typical of the situation in the Middle East and Asia in general.

 

The only time I have seen a real mess was when a woman I knew had failed to prebook seats, and the airline wanted to seat her separately from her small children. Obviously this would not have been what ultimately happened, things would have been rearranged on board, but she lost her cool, and things took a lot longer to sort out than they would have otherwise.

[Laura Corin]

Also, planes start boarding about 30 minutes before the flight is due to leave the gate. If you get on first, it's another 30 minutes with your little one strapped into his/her seat w/nothing to do & no where to go.

 

One adult would get on first with all the hand luggage/car seats. The other adult would stay out until the last minute (getting the kids to run races, as soon as they were old enough) for this reason.

 

Laura

[Scarymelon]

We are a family of 6 and fly a few times a year; it has been a big problem several times. If I have the option, I always reserve seats, but several times I have gotten to the airport and we have been scattered all over the plane. Once, when I was flying with just my son, I had a teenager refuse to trade places with me because he "was kind of a big guy" (he was not) and didn't want a window seat. I don't think he liked me having to constantly reach over him to talk to my 6 year old much either during the 5 hour flight. It is just another thing to add to list of annoying flying stuff. At least they are no longer making kids take off their shoes.