SJCPremier

Appologies if this is covered in another thread. I did some searches but couldn't find anything.

I'm scheduled to travel with my family of 4 (Children ages 12 and 10) on the upper deck of a 747 in May. I had booked 63 & 64 J&K for all of us, but 63J is considered an exit row. I have been told in the past in the US that anyone on the same reservation with children under the age 16 cannot sit in the exit row even if the children aren't in the exit row. However, the BA website lets me select 63J. Will this be allowed, or do I likely face having my seats changed at the airport because they'll realize we're not allowed to sit there. Thanks!

Can I help you

As long as the 10 year old doesn’t sit in 63J you are fine.

SJCPremier

Thank you!

trooper

That's interesting! BA allows you to put yourselves in the exit rows and your children in another row.... I thought that was universally disallowed....

River in Sight

I had a similar scenario last summer and the JFK checkin staff initially said we would need to be moved, but after consultation with another agent allowed us to stay (me in an exit and my wife and son in a non exit - all upper deck). Very small sample set but just a caution that checkin staff may take issue at least in JFK.

trueblu

It's a US regulation, so if flying back from the US, it may be an issue regardless of BA policy. I found out when my wife/ daughter were in domestic F (redemption) but I was in exit row Y (paid), and although different PNRs, we boarded together and the GA said "no can do". The GA was incredibly rude about it, implying I was trying to trick the system, but I genuinely had no idea...

tb

SJCPremier

This was what I was worried about. The flight is leaving from the US, so I was thinking the DOT rule applies. It also happened to me once on Southwest were the wife & 2 kids sat in one row, and I tried to sit 4 rows behind in the exit. The FA was immediately on it and told me I can’t sit there if we are all on the same reservation, regardless if the kids are not sitting with me.

A P Yu

The row behind or in front is still 'next to'. Theres no one inbetween and so such an arrangement would be ok

Lefly

We flew from SFO last July on 747 upper deck in row 62, me & husband in exit row marked seats, kids 11 & 12 in the aisle seats. No problem whatsoever.

Davvidd

As far as I know it's a safety issue and not an issue of the PNR. So if your children and wife are not sitting in the exit row it should not be an issue.
However if you are alone with two children of 12 and 10 then it would be an issue for them to sit alone. So in this case they would not let them sit alone so you would have to move from the exit row.

rapidex

The 12 year old is permitted to sit in an exit row. The 10 year old in the row behind will be fine.

trueblu

It seems BA doesn't enforce this, which is good for the OP. However, it is against DOT/FAA regulations as per this link (and the link that link).

The FAA suggests 15 as the age one can sit in an exit row, BA says 12. And to be fair, the FAA doesn't appear to specify what "small children" means. However, it does appear, in practice on US-based airlines at least, that one can't say: "this parent alone is responsible for the kids, I'm OK with the exit row", and I think that's reasonable. To be fair, although I was upset by the way the situation was handled in my situation, I do understand that in an actual emergency, my first thought might well be with regards to helping my small child, especially, say if the other parent is incapacitated, instead of dealing with my exit row duties.

tb

KARFA

Do you think that might be because BA is not a US carrier that these DOT/FAA regulations don't apply rather than BA not enforcing them?

trueblu

I don't know. I have no idea about aviation law. But I would have thought that US laws would apply to a) US carriers, and b) other carriers departing from or in US airspace. That would make sense to me from a purely logical perspective.

Otherwise, one could argue that airline X from dodgy country Y doesn't believe you need to dump fuel before an emergency landing. Should it, or should it not dump fuel when making an emergency landing on US/ UK soil?

tb

KARFA

That would not be a valid assumption I am afraid. I don't know the exact details either but there have been other debates around regulations for cabin conduct where some have cited FAA/DOT rules and BA staff have been quite explicit in saying they don't apply to us for certain issues. Don't assume they apply and BA are not enforcing - it may equally be that they don't apply in the first place.