Proudelitist

^^^

This. Only ONE parent needs to be seated with the child/children. The whole family doesn't need to be. This should make the strain easier on airlines because they would only be responsible for two seats instead many many more.

CDTraveler

Feel free to continue ignoring reality, but the fact that there is even discussion of Congress getting involved should give you a clue about the scope of the problem.

TMM1982

Congress also thought about getting involved in forcing airlines not to charge for checked bags. If Congress getting involved in something is your barometer for the seriousness of a problem, you're going to be sorely disappointed.

Sykes

I'm sure that the least productive congress in decades, which also happens to be one of the most aviation-friendly congresses in years, will put this right at the top of the agenda. /s

PTravel

How is a single passenger being selfish? By flying alone? By wanting to choose a seat?

TMM1982

Apparently by not voluntarily taking an open middle seat to clear space for families.

USA_flyer

As a parent, I want to be able to sit next to my 6 year old daughter ,if that's a problem for you chaps, tough. I've paid enough for the ticket, the airline should seat us together.

Alternatively, you can sit next to her and keep her amused and/or put up with me hovering while I check on her.

cblaisd

The history of threads on this topic on FlyerTalk is not encouraging; most degenerate and end up being locked, often with participants finding themselves with a timeout from FlyerTalk.

I have removed unnecessarily personalized/un-civil posts (or responses thereto); further such are not acceptable. Nor are posts that are simply political in nature; the OMNI/PR forum exists for those.

Thanks for your cooperation.

cblaisd
Moderator, Travel News

mikeef

That's the most sensible solution if you are going to make any changes (although I see this bill as a solution in search of a problem). You don't need to sit together as a family of 4, 6 or 8.

But the actual solution already exists: Reserve your seats in advance. The airlines might charge you to do so. They have that right. You have a right not to pay for it and hope for the best. That leaves you at the mercy of those who do.

Sure, it's a nuisance fee. There are lots of nuisance fees in the world. I'm not going to let Congress legislate them all away.

I understand that not everyone in the world is a FTer who has tons of experience flying, but the airlines give more than adequate notice that if you don't select your seat, you run the risk of not getting a desirable one. What seems to be the sticking point for most people is that they don't want to have to pay for an assigned seat. [redacted OMNI/PR material]
Mike

cblaisd

I just deleted another uncivil and overly personalized post whose points could have been made without the snark.

And this is not the place to offer political opinions about Congress and business. Take that to OMNI/PR, please.

cblaisd, Moderator
Travel News

Loren Pechtel

Then pay what it takes to pick seats at booking, don't expect to simply show up and demand it. Don't expect sympathy from me if you tried to do it cheap and it didn't work--but I'll be inclined to help if you're the victim of an IRROPS.

TMM1982

agreed

USA_flyer

And this is why I choose BA. I pay more for the ticket (£100 more per ticket than Delta) but, they take a common sense approach and deliberately seat families together.^

Scrooge McDuck

Having kids of my own, I do understand the problem of entertaining them on a (longer) flight. Keeping them "alone" is a pain for them - as well as the the other poor passengers having the luck of sitting next to them

Honestly, I don't understand why the airlines are having such a problem with this very reasonable request. Whenever I do book I flight, I do have to give personal details, such as birthdates. And I always book all family members together in one booking. So the airlines knows about families and kids. Here in Europe, each airlines I have seen so far was sitting us together automatically, even though in not all cases we were able to pre-book seats (even for money).

TMM1982

Take Southwest for example. They have an open seating policy, first ones in get to pick their seats. They board in groups A, pre-board with small kids, B, C. If a family is in C group, there is almost 0 chance they will be sitting together. Yet they will run front to back, back to front, trying to strongarm people into switching seats. It's pathetic.