Originally Posted by
wharvey
I am sure FAs will try to assist you... and I would think most passengers would try to help out. I would suggest trying to go ahead and book the best/desirable seats possible... ie. aisle or window seats.... and be willing to take a worse seat to sit together. For example, do not offer someone a middle seat to trade with you.
Here's the kicker - you should not EXPECT the GA, FA or any other Passengers to accomodate you. You can ask - and be nice about it - and hopefully as another poster mentioned, have a better seat to offer (e.g. they move forward in the cabin, not you!). You will be attempted to be accomodated but there are no guarantees, so you should be prepared to have plenty of activities for the kids to do on their own during the flight, and should prep the kids beforehand that they might be sitting by strangers and how to behave, what to expect, where you'll be, etc.
Check in online at the 24 hour mark, show up at the airport (not the parking lot but in the airport) early, etc - ask nicely about being seated together, etc. Those are your best strategies, but you need to plan for individual seating (unless you're talking infant, then it's a requirement that you're next to the baby seat).