Originally Posted by smilee

Perhaps I am too much of an optimist, but perhaps the situation was different. Having children myself, I know sometimes which child gets to sit next to mom/dad can bring on big arguments. Perhaps one of the children wanted to sit with dad, so dad had asked. Then during the flight, there was something more interesting on mom's side (like a movie on a laptop for example) and they changed their mind and wanted to sit next to mom.

On a side note: is it possible to book an "empty" seat in economy, so say a family can have an extra seat next to dad if they wish? We usually fly up front, but since I so often see $150 cross country economy fares these days, I wouldn't mind sitting in back if I had an extra seat for the kids.