Thanks for the replies.

It was close to midnight when I made this discovery. My Brother isn't a frequent traveller so doesn't check bookings once they are made. it's nearly 7am now and as soon as they are awake I'll get one of them to call. Thankfully this is just for 1 sector, London to Dubai - but I pity the people who get stuck next to my very talkative 5 year old niece or my fidgety 7 year old nephew if they have to be split up and sit on their own!

The booking was via a travel agent who hasn't done a few things. They had an intra European flight and I noticed the flight time had changed. No child meals had been requested either on this leg. None of the airlines had a personal email for them from what I can see so all comms would be going to the TA I assume who has promptly ignored them it seems!