Pre booking flight seats

scottduffy

scottduffy

Suspended / Banned
Messages
3,348
Name
Scott
Edit My Images
Yes
I wouldn't class myself as a frequent flyer 2-3 times a year on average but I've just gone to book my flight seats for our family holiday and they cost £132 for the three of us. This is scandalous in my opinion. We are travelling with Thomas Cook. Last year with Thomson it was around £90. WTF is wrong with these idiots?

I can't even take the chance of not doing it as my son is 6 and their website states that they will do their best to sit kids next to A member of their party and by together they mean in the same row or in front or behind. There's no way I'd let my son travel in front or behind me or his mum with strangers. I am normally quite a mild mannered guy but this has really got my goat.

Do they not have a duty of care to kids? Why do they think it's okay to sit kids in different rows from their parents? I honestly can't believe it. I'm fully booked and paid up but will never book with them again. Could be all airlines are the same but that's the first time I've heard of this.

Rant over.
 
We flew with Thomas Cook a few weeks ago. 2 families of 4 adults and 3 kids only 2 seats were together, our friends 12 year old was 22 rows away from her parents!

Obviously we moved around to suit us, as did several other people, but it's pretty scandalous, lots of kids in the departure lounge scared and in tears as they couldn't comprehend people would move seats to help.

All worked itself out in the end due to decent people on board but from what I can tell there is no law, just recommendations, but all the staff said is there is an option to arrange sitting together- at a cost obviously!
 
pooley said:
We flew with Thomas Cook a few weeks ago. 2 families of 4 adults and 3 kids only 2 seats were together, our friends 12 year old was 22 rows away from her parents!

Obviously we moved around to suit us, as did several other people, but it's pretty scandalous, lots of kids in the departure lounge scared and in tears as they couldn't comprehend people would move seats to help.

All worked itself out in the end due to decent people on board but from what I can tell there is no law, just recommendations, but all the staff said is there is an option to arrange sitting together- at a cost obviously!
Click to expand...
As I said above we always book together and have done since my wife was placed at the opposite end of the plane to me about 15 years ago. I thought when I checked it out there might be something that said the whole party could not be sat together but kids being placed away from parents is shocking. Unless they are going to have a steward or stewardess sitting with them they can't guarantee their safety which seems absurd.

I can imagine the 12 year old's fear. Shocking.
 
On a recent trip to Berlin with BA it was eight quid per person each way.
Would have been fine going, but coming back it was full and some people were obviously sitting apart

For most European trips we try to travel by rail if we can, Eurostar is reasonably priced and efficient.
Trains onwards using SNCF, DBahn or Thalys are equally good and comfortable
Seats reserved before you travel at no cost, two bags per person and only 45 minutes check in time.
 
Last edited:
I actually kind of like the unbundling of flights. I don't care about food on the plane (it's always awful) or speedy boarding or which side of the plan I sit on but I do want to sit with my wife. I pay for that and pretty much nothing else.
 
Annoyingly, it's not just the Europe-bound planes that are doing this but longer-distance flights. I travelled with Emirates for a few years and you could select your seats at booking for no extra cost. Then lo and behold, they changed tactics and now charge extra to book your seats before online check in opens. On the most recent flight, I didn't bother prebooking and we were allocated seats together on both outbound and return journies.
 
Wife and daughter had a flight to Rome 4 weeks ago and wife was sat at the front of the plane, my daughter was at rear, couldn't get further apart if they tried. I think the paying extra to ensure you both sit together is another rip off by the airlines. Maybe something to do with most folk booking and checking in online. The computer just selects seats at random instead of when you used to queue at check in desk and we're seen to by a human, if you asked politely to be sat together the woman at the desk would try to accommodate you if it was possible. At least that was 20 years ago, now we live in a different world nobody cares or gives a toss that your separated from your loved ones on holiday.

I've had to pay extra on my flight tickets just for the pleasure of sitting next to my wife.
 
Last edited:
I feel that paying just north of 4k for a holiday should make the airlines a wee bit appreciative of your custom. It just seems like they will squeeze you for every penny and I don't like that. I remember paying 90 quid last year and it didn't bother me that much but 132 and rising is taking the p***. It's not on. I know people say things like never again often but I honestly won't book through them in the future. They've had their chance.

Called them today to let them know that when I went to update my API details my wife's name isn't spelled exactly as it was on her passport. Girl in store told me we can't help you but you can call the airline and here's the number. Called them on premium number as it was apparently the only one and was on hold for 50 minutes so I called back to store on my mobile at the same time and different girl answered and low and behold she updated the info from there. 50 minutes at 19p a minute for nothing. Idiots.
 
frank said:
Wife and daughter had a flight to Rome 4 weeks ago and wife was sat at the front of the plane, my daughter was at rear, couldn't get further apart if they tried. I think the paying extra to ensure you both sit together is another rip off by the airlines.
Click to expand...
It's all aimed at getting the headline fare as low as possible for comparison sites then making the money back through selling extras like allocated seating. So, if like me you travel alone, paying extra for a specific seat is normally going to be irrelevant, I take what comes and let others that want to sit together pay for that. The more people that pay for allocated seating, the less the basic seat cost is going to be on average. Win for the person that doesn't care.
 
A decade ago I got married in Dominican and we all paid roughly 800 quid each to go to a similar class hotel to this one. Now we're paying 1350 each. I don't think they're keeping prices down by selling seats. I think they're just ripping the pish out of travellers who they've already got a good deal out of.
 
Pretty much all airlines do this. Much of this is marketing - they could have a ticket for £300 which gives you the flight, seat, meal and bag, or they could advertise fares for £229 but then lob on £30 for seat, £30, bag etc... Its a competitive market and the headline fares often win. Also, many people don't care about taking a bag with them (short haul normally) or food. It is what makes flying more affordable. The other year my son and I flew return to Cologne for £50 between us! Suited us as 1 day and no hold luggage.

If people want to sit together, pay for it. Same if you want a meal or anything else. Yes, it does touch a nerve if looking at a £4k holiday but its either £4k and the option to add on x,y,z or £4,200 and you get it regardless.

I think kids aged 12+ are treated as adults in aircraft, anyone younger must be in the same row or adjoining seats/row to them. In 2015 we paid for seats to Orlando with Virgin as specifically wanted the 'bubble' but didnt on way home and all sat together in a row of 4. Last year with United seats were included. Looking at next year Virgin lump in seats with the baggage as do BA. Kids then will be 11 and 8 and I would be happy to take the chance of sitting behind them if it saved £100 or so, they wouldn't really care (and would probably behave better!)
 
scottduffy said:
A decade ago I got married in Dominican and we all paid roughly 800 quid each to go to a similar class hotel to this one. Now we're paying 1350 each. I don't think they're keeping prices down by selling seats. I think they're just ripping the pish out of travellers who they've already got a good deal out of.
Click to expand...

10 years ago I could buy a pint of bear in town for probably around £3 or £3.50, now its more like £5. Costs have gone up, a lot of it is government taxes, wage costs, fuel etc...
 
The norm nowadays, BA even charge you to pick a seat when you’ve booked a business class ticket which I find a bit much!!!!
I tend to fly EasyJet on holiday though and always book a seat up front, gets you speedy boarding and guarantees you get 2x bags on the plane (1x Cabin Case and 1x Backpack/laptop bag)
 
£50 return for extra legroom, sat together - on a Tui flight. Wouldn't have bothered for the usual asking price (or at all for me - short, fat, hairy legs!) but Mrs Nod had an e-mail a couple of weeks before we flew. We've always ended up sat together having arrived to check in well before the desks have closed.
 
a couple of years ago when we flew home from Gran Canaria and were the last ones to check in, because they hadn't managed to sell the extra leg room seats we got them for no extra charge.
 
Id pay extra not to sit with my 5 and 8 yr old ..... :whistle:
Then watch the folk sat next to them squirm. Reckon they would then pay me to sit with them ;)
 
To play devils advocate a little, I have been on the other side of this. If anyone is travelling with kids and don't reserve their seats on a flight were it's available then what do they expect? All the people who have paid to sit together suddenly go 'oh well, they have kids so we'll all split up so they can sit together'. The airlines would be having a lot of complaints and compensation claims for not providing the service the customer had paid for.

We always pay to reserve our seats for myself, wife and son as my wife is a very nervous flyer and, well, obviously we want to our son to sit with us.

On a flight out on holiday we arrived at the plane to be told by the flight attendant that a mother with an autistic son (late teens) had already been seated in our reserved seats as the son could kick off if he wasn't with his mother and would we mind sitting with me and my son in the seats behind my wife. (they offered me a free cup of coffee, like that would cover the cost). Turned out the mother had already been out on holiday for the previous two weeks with her husband and had returned to the UK to pick their autistic son up to go back out on holiday for a further three weeks, they could easily afford to have reserved their seats themselves but chose not to knowing that the flight attendant would sit them together no matter what due to her son's condition.
Obviously we complained to the airline once home and got a full refund on the seat reservations.
 
I think the problem is selling the seats in the first place. I remember going on holiday with my parents all through my childhood and we were never seated apart. The airlines are creating this situation by selling the seats to simply squeeze more money out of passengers.

I was told the other day that they're now offering a reserve your own sunbed offer. This is a disgrace. Is there no end to their money grabbing? Now that I know about it I will check in future and not book any hotels that offer this service.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top