Originally Posted by
24left
To answer your first question:
On the LAX flight, I had no intention of giving up my then paid-for Preferred seat. Eventually after take-off, someone in front of me did.
On the SFO, baby was a few months old and crying rather loudly. The mom looked exasperated and I decided the farther away I was, the better (nope, no headphones for me on that trip).
IMHO, The MAIN issues here are:
1. AC sells Tango tickets that require the additional purchase of a selected seat. Fine, à la carte it is. But there are consequences.....
2. Some families with children on limited budgets perhaps, refuse to pay for that menu option and whether it's AC IT or other reasons, are then separated when checking in as there just aren't always 4 seats together
3. The game of Onboard Musical Chairs ensues, annoying FAs, pax who paid extra for their Preferred seats and some family members who have become separated.
4. Someone then thinks this is worthy of government legislation because they won't make the right personal choices when they travel.
As for the issue of a child being seated completely separately from their parents, I agree with the posters upthread who wondered how bad IT can be when the ticket is specifically booked for a child and family is travelling together.
If AC was playing it fairly, they would inform parents with kids under 11 on their booking that either they:
a) will be seated together at seats x,y, and here are your complimentary pre-assigned seats which can only be changed at the standard seat assignment fee
b) they will have to pay a reserved seating fee, which would be mandatory prior to check-in because -11s cannot fly alone
c) they would have to pay a UM fee and have a flight attendant be in charge of their child.
However, leaving it as it is now is not acceptable.