Originally Posted by
Segments
Yes the question was, in effect, 'would you take responsibility for the child'. You are presumming someone else to take responsibility for your pre-school child if a parent is not nearby.
Can your 4 yo manage an emergency if you are not adjacent? Can she understand the FA emergency instructions? Secure her oxygen mask by herself? Evacuate the plane? You cannot assist her if you are seating several rows away and properly buckled in your seat (as would be expected during the initial steps of an emergency plan)
Whether the child is old enough to fly unaccompanied would be the criteria to assess the need to deplane. By not securing adjacent seats in advance, you (the parent) have created a safety issue on the flight.
You can't always assume that people didn't plan and select seats together. I was on a flight a while ago that I had booked well in advance and had selected seats so that my 4 year old, my 2 year old and my wife were all together. I knew about the exit rules etc etc etc. I checked seat guru, and as far as I knew the seats I selected were fine for kids. Come check in time they inform me that kids can't seat BEHIND an exit row. We're suddenly all separated. Luckily it all worked out in the end.