[...] Airlines to Parents: No, You Can’t Sit With Your Kids [...]

Yes, this has happened to me a handful of times on different airlines. In every case, it worked out that someone helped me sit with my young daughter. I agree that if we buy X number of tickets at one time, I expect them to be together. It would be a different story if I bought the tickets separately (or on different days), but when I buy two tickets in one transaction, I expect two seats next to each other, especially when I fill out the box that says I’m traveling with a child.

I almost wish someone would have the nerve to do it. Leave their child between strangers, 26 rows away. I bet the policy would change really quickly if a parent didn’t work on the switcheroo, but said “no, no. These are the seats you gave us, I’m sure you know what’s best.” Especially if they had a particularly rambunctious, outgoing child.

I’ll take the train or drive, thanks. The airlines could give a damn about their customers these days.

This has happened to me once, but we had two seats together and the third (assigned to my 4yo) was separate. We took it upon ourselves to rearrange. The second leg of the trip they were able to reassign us so we got lucky. I have also found that if you say you won’t be offended if you want to sit somewhere other than next to a toddler, the other passenger will glady switch seats. However! I don’t know why this happens to begin with. I have to give my son’s age when I book a ticket for him so they should know that the adults should be seated with him. Besides, all they have to do is stop guaranteeing seating assignments. Or handle it by calling passengers up in the gate area to discuss rearrangements rather than causing problems at boarding.

Enquiring minds want to know: Did you purchase specific seats next to each other ahead of time? I fly a lot for business and I can totally see this happening (and have seen even stupider things happen like a parent getting a seat and their kid getting bumped to a later flight). But in talking with my friends, people are having a hard time believing this could happen if you purchased specific seats at the time you bought your ticket, and then checked in on time at the gate. Can you clarify?

I’ve flown a ton with my little kid, and I always just reserve seats together. I’ve been known to call several times beforehand to ensure we’re seated together. Is this not common practice?

@Scorpio: The train! Ahh! I hope the trains run better where you are. Around here they’re more expensive than flying and take 10 times as long. I remember pointing that out to the lady at Amtrak I was trying to book with. She pointed out that I got a bigger seat, a table, and a full meal! That’s because it takes forever!

This is why I fly SWA. I can choose my seats when I get there. Flight attendants are always helpful in making sure my (now) 5 yr old and I are not seperated. Honestly, of all the airlines we’ve flown together (quite a few), Southwest has been the best for us.

We also fly Southwest all the time, and I have to say we have always had a good experience. As others have said, you can pick your own seats, so you will always be sitting next to your kids. (They let families with small kids board after the first 30 people. I know it sounds weird, but it works.) I have always found them to be extremely accommodating and friendly with kids. I have had occasion to fly with my son on a couple of other airlines and I have not had the same good experience.

Also, about the Kevin Smith thing, the facts are a little weird. He actually did buy 2 seats, but then wanted to fly earlier so he went on standby and got on a plane that had only one seat available. Southwest probably should have made sure there were 2 seats available, but he also should have made sure. I get a feeling he is doing this for publicity since he has a movie coming out. (Before his last movie there was an incident where he broke a toilet.)

Didn’t another Strollerderby blogger blog about sexual abuse on airplanes? If you Google “sexual abuse on airplanes” you get all sorts of hits about how such abuse is far more common than one might imagine. I distinctly remember reading about a girl who was a solo traveler falling asleep and woke up with someone’s hands in her pants. You’d think that the airlines might be more concerned about law suits, even if they’re not concerned with the health, safety, and comfort of their passengers.
When you buy a ticket, even if you can pick seats, sometimes, the flights are overbooked, so the airline assigns the same seat to two people. It’s all a vast tapestry.
Finally, my husband won’t fly Southwest anymore. They almost arrested us because we didn’t have a doctor’s note for my son, even though I called their customer service agents and asked specifically if we needed said note, and they said no. The pilot ended up being able to call the doctor’s office and getting the note faxed. The flight attendant was awful – told us to get off the plane or be arrested, as opposed to trying to help at all.

There’s something I just don’t understand about the circumstances surrounding this (and I mean “don’t understand” in the genuine way, not the potentially-snarky way). If you buy your tickets and reserve seats ahead of time so that you can sit with your kids, and later on, you’re just assigned different seats willy-nilly, then what the %#$@ is the point of allowing you to pick your seats out ahead of time? OK, maybe I did mean it in the snarky way…
If I reserved seats when I booked, I’d assume those were my seats unless there were extraordinary circumstances. It sounds like in some circumstances, the act of choosing seats upon booking your tickets is sort of like those play steering wheels for toddlers…you’re not actually controlling the process, you only think you are. What am I missing?

Last year, United cancelled our flight from Chicago to Hawaii and rerouted my husband and me on a separate flight from my child. He was two months old at the time, and it took me approximately 2 hours of arguing with both the people at the gate and the “customer service” people to get it fixed. Also, they had him on two flights , and even though I explained that he wasn’t even rolling over yet, so would probably miss his connection, they still threw up their hands!

This has happened to us several times recently. Once on an international flight when I was traveling with my 3 year old and one year old. On one leg I was able to get someone to switch, but then on another when I refused to sit apart from my crying children I had to disembark and fly the rest of our international flight on standby. This was on Continental. For our family, this kind of situation has tended to occur when our original flight (where we insured seats together) is cancelled and then we’re rebooked on flights, but with seats that are not necessarily together. Such a nightmare, and the policies in place are just a disgrace. Such a stressful way to travel.

“I explained that he wasn’t even rolling over yet, so would probably miss his connection”

LOL

This strikes me as a huge SAFETY issue. What happens if a child is apart from her parent, and something happens to the plane? What if it falls in the Hudson River? A distressed parent trying to reconnect with a solo young child is going to be a danger to everyone on the plane trying to exit.

This just happened to me on a United flight from Hawaii. They decided to overbook the plane and when it got to crowded not to fit everyone on it they decided that my 5 year could sit by herself away from me. I was furious and feel like it is time we start pushing congress to pass laws to stop this.

I used to work for a very cheap airline about 10 years ago, and I was responsible for switching planes on the computer. I always made sure to block unoccupied seats together in the new plane, then once the switch was made checked the age of misplaced passengers and even upgraded them if necessary.
As ground personnel it was always a common practice to ask on behalf of the passenger for switches and maybe upgrade the one passenger versus the whole family. I think this should be the case with every airline!!

I think the quickest way to get this into law is to require that “any person who is traveling with a child or other person who needs assistance, should put on the other person’s oxygen mask first and then your own.” Anyone accompanying such a person must be seated next to them. Make this a life safety issue! Because it truly is! (And a new law/rule should apply to Amtrak as well for the care reasons people have stated here.) Come on people, all you who are now traveling Amtrak or your kids are grown, take time to email or call your Congressional reps and let them know how you feel.

To be honest, I think that this is one way for airlines to “push” for fewer children on flights. With all of the bad publicity in recent years regarding children, and with the parents who truly don’t care about their Childs behavior on a flight, I think that the airlines are trying to make it more difficult for parents and little kids to fly.