I just bought tickets for my family to fly on Delta. There's were two options for tickets. For a $15 per person per flight fee you can choose your seats when you book the flight. If you choose not to pay this fee you choose your seat when you check in. It explicitly states that families may not sit together. I didn't want to pay $120 additional for the flight so I acknowledged that my family might not sit together. We have a 2 year old and a 4 year old. How likely is it that we couldn't get two sets of two seats together?
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I have no idea but I am interested in how these new types of policies will play out. On the one hand, it is unfair to make families pay extra to sit together. On the other, it is also unfair to rely on others to volunteer to switch seats to accommodate families that decided not to pay the extra. Hopefully their algorithm is set up so that at least you get pairs of seats. I can't imagine an airline forcing a 2 year old to sit alone!
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I had to make the same decision and didn't want to risk it. I couldn't imagine my 5 year old having to sit by herself. So, we paid it
I wonder if you could pay the lower fee and then call to see if they can put you in seats together. I doubt it would work, but might be worth asking. Or at least calling and seeing how they handle families under that situation.
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I would think of this from the flip side no adult wants to sit by an unaccompanied 2 yo - I imagine people will accommodate. Additionally no flight attendant wants to deal with that so I'm sure they would help rearrange as well
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@Corduroy: In my 3 years of flying Delta with our son, there has only been one time he wasn't seated with me. And my seatmate immediately offered to swap! I never am guaranteed seats together either (DH is an employee so we fly standby).
ETA: Check in with the gate agent when you arrive and ask about pre boarding with your kid and your concerns about seats so they can work on seat arrangements.
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I recently flew with them and didn't even realize the new policy was a thing. So, I didn't pay it and I flew one row ahead of my 5 and 2 year old. It wasn't ideal, but it was a short flight (2 hours) and so we made do.
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More likely than you might think. On my local moms group there have been multiple complaints about families not being seated together when they purchase seats without electing to reserve a seat in advance. Some that had to have their kids sit next to a stranger since passengers can be douchebags.
Now that airlines have monetized every possible tier of seating (aisle, exit row, seat assignment, economy plus, etc) I'd expect this to happen more and more, sadly.
On our last flight that we *had* to book last minute we were separated. My husband is 1K with united and they couldn't even help us since they couldn't move a passenger who had paid for a seat assignment. I offered a lady 4 drink coupons and a meal and she refused. It wasn't until the kind gentleman near her pointed out what a miserable bag of douche she was that she relented.
ETA: united does this too now they just don't tell you, especially if you book the lowest price fare class on Expedia or the third party sites. You'll find out when you never get a seat assignment. Safest to book directly through the carrier.
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We flew Allegiant not delta. But we just did a trip (family of 4) and I did not pay the assign seat fee. I figured they HAD to put the kids with one of us or split us 2 and 2. It worked out that they did. One was we were split 2 and 2 and one way I was with the kids and DH was across from us. I am glad it worked out for us but after these stories I don't think I would chance it again.
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@Littlebit7: Thanks for letting me know about United. We fly with them later this month and that wasn't on my radar.
These fees make me so mad because it's all marketing BS. They're building in a scare tactic that you might not sit with your loved ones and then charging you for the "value" of sitting with your loved ones. Points for creativity.
If I don't get to sit with my 2 yo I hope the people next to him enjoy that privilege - and then launch a social media campaign about how awful the policy is.
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@Corduroy: yeah no kidding. I actually handed my diaper bag to the lady and said "here you'll need this and ohbytheway she also gets motion sick"
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@Littlebit7: i was going to say the same thing! This has happened a lot with families recently where they didn't pay for the seat, and they were not seated together AND gate agents wouldn't change it AND other passengers would not switch.
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@Littlebit7: @Anagram: OMFG if a passenger wouldn't switch me and had to sit by my 3yo I'd say "jokes on you" and go to my seat and enjoy a glass of wine and my kindle.
I literally can't comprehend who would want to sit next to an unaccompanied toddler. -
It's only our experience but we fly with Delta fairly frequently and they have always found a way to seat us together. I've found them to wonderfully accommodating but I do think it depends a lot on the person you get.
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It can't be safe to not put a child with the adult caring for them. How is that even a little bit ok. The unregulated airlines are a mess. Who will help that child in an emergency?
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@SweetiePie: I don't get it either! I can't fathom people not switching seats if they were going to be next to a 3 year old that is by himself - not even out of the goodness of their hearts, but because they would be stuck looking after a 3 year old on the flight!
@Corduroy: I'm with you, I would not pay for the seats and hope that someone, at some point in the process, would be able to sit you together 2 and 2.
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Wow, the more I learn about Delta, the more they sound awful. How is it even legal to let a child sit by themselves without someone looking out for them?? What happens in an emergency??
We flew American Airlines and you just automatically select your seats when you book with them without paying an extra fee (you pay an extra fee for additional legroom).
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It's so ridiculous. If I don't pay the seat selection fee, someone else might be in charge of the safety of my toddler (making sure they wear their seat belt, get their oxygen mask if needed, etc.) Who will that responsibility fall to - their random seat mate, or the flight attendant? I can't imagine any passenger would want to sit next to my 3 year for more than a few minutes LOL. I bet they would be switching with me pretty quickly
There was major public outrage when Air Canada tried to enforce this policy last year and they eventually changed it to allow free seat selection for children under 12 and their guardian.
http://m.huffingtonpost.ca/2016/04/30/air-canada-backs-down-on-40-fee-to-seat-child-with-parent_n_9812148.html -
We just flew Delta two weeks ago and I had the same concerns.
My family of 4 were traveling with my parents. So when I bought the tickets, and saw that this was their policy (not guaranteeing that families would sit together), I bought one adult ticket along with my 2 boys at the additional cost. And then bought the remaining 3 tickets at the lower cost.
So our experience of the actual flight:
Our flight out was overbooked. When I checked in the 3 seats that I had paid more for were all together. Out of the other 3 seats, 2 were together. At the gate I tried to get my husband's seat with my kids and father, but they wouldn't do it. They said we would have to ask the person that was sitting in that seat if they would switch once we were on the plane. Thankfully that person did switch.
On our flight home when I checked in the 3 seats I had paid more for (and had selected seats when I bought the tickets 6+ months ago) were no longer together. The cheaper 3 seats were not together at all either. Thankfully it was not a full flight and the employee at the gate was super helpful and moved us around so that 4 of us were together and 2 were together. I'm not sure what we would have done otherwise.
The policy is definitely flawed and was causing me anxiety. The seats that you pay less for you can't get a seat assignment until you are physically at the gate. At least that was our experience. -
I wouldn't trust some passenger to put my son's mask on in the god forbid case of an emergency! I honestly think that this policy is a terrible idea and it's going to take a big problem and social media to get the airline to change the policy. What baffles me is that no one in the company thought about the worst case scenarios, or if they did, they weren't heard.
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@meredithNYC: Did the plane have a 3 seat row, or was it two seats on each side of the aisle?
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I don't really have anything to add other than this is one of the most absurd things I have ever heard of concerning air travel. I can't imagine someone wanting to babysit my 3yo or my very talkative 6yo unpaid on a long flight if our seats were separated.
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We fly Allegiant a lot and they do this. It's basically an extra $90 to select seats. It is totally ridiculous.
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@lamariniere: agree
How is this even legal?
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It's the new wave of ala carte pricing. The airlines are trying to squeeze any profit by charging for anything above a bare bones ticket. They did it with luggage fees years ago and it's stuck. This is the latest round.
And I fully expect American will follow suit.
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I think the responsibility lies with the parent to pay the extra fee to sit together because, technically, the parent had the choice to do so or not. Parents are still responsible for supervising their child if you choose that he/she are sitting in another row, avoiding the additional cost. I think the biggest burden is on gate crew and flight crew to make miracles of getting families sitting together when parents get around the fee. That said, I don't think the policy is a healthy one for anyone. I hope public outcry gets things resolved but the airlines will probably up everyone's tickets...after the legal bills mount.
Unaccompanied minors are at elementary or middle school age and cost more. A 4 year old sitting in a different row is operating in the same independence and is cheaper. Policy is at conflict there too. -
This is nuts. I'm generally not a big fan of Air Canada but they have a policy where a parent and minor child get free seat selection so you're guaranteed to sit together. I understand wanting to squeeze out some extra money by making you pay to pick seats (I hate it, but if all you're after is dollars it makes sense) but you need to make exceptions for kids.
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If I was traveling without my kids and I paid to select my seat I would be really annoyed if some who didn't pay the fee would just assume that I would just switch with them (especially if it was an aisle vs middle seat or something like that). I would, obviously...but I could see why someone else would put up a fuss.
When I buy tickets, I just ignore the lowest price category and pretend it doesn't exist; between baggage fees and extra charges I don't think you save much at the end of the day anyway (at least I tell myself that!).
I really hope that airlines change this pricing strategy, and I feel really bad for the flight crews who have to deal with this
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I thought it was against the law for airlines to make children under a certain age sit without a guardian?
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I think the LIFT act was trying to get this into policy. (d) Family Seating.–Not later than 1 year after the dateof the enactment of this Act, the Secretary shall review and,if appropriate, establish a policy directing all air carriersto ensure that, if a family is traveling on a reservationwith a child under the age of 13, that child is able to sit
in a seat adjacent to the seat of an accompanying family member over the age of 13, to the maximum extent practicable,
at no additional cost.
http://familytravel.org/congress-passes-law-families-flying-together/
Read the comments though. It says it is still pending and pressure needed. -
@looch: Two each side. My neck hurt at the end from constantly craning it backwards to supervise the mayhem, but I'm just glad it was a short flight. Next time I guess I'll read the fine print!
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As 808love pointed out, this is illegal, according to law passed by Congress a year ago. Unfortunately there has been no rulemaking to put the law into effect, which is why airlines are still able to get away with this. In effect what that means is it's up to us as parents to inform the airlines that they're breaking the law and that they have to sit us with our kids at no cost. I imagine this is going to require at least one high-profile ruckus in the news before we see an improvement.
https://www.cnbc.com/2017/06/11/flying-the-friendly-and-crowded-skies-with-kids-this-summer.html
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The more I hear about other airlines, the more thankful I am that all of our extended family live in Southwest hubs.
I wonder if you could pay the lower fee and then call to see if they can put you in seats together. I doubt it would work, but might be worth asking. Or at least calling and seeing how they handle families under that situation.
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