erik123

Life can be unfair sometimes - Ask my kids.

kop84

I'm just saying its not as easy to just flat out say all kids 14 and under get to sit next to the person they are traveling with 100%.

I played in U14 soccer and one of the "kids" on the other team was 6 feet tall and had a full beard. And he was 14 at the oldest. Good luck convincing someone to move for that kid. You might be able to talk a lot more people into seating next to kids 9/10 and younger but once they start getting into their tween/teen years its a lot harder sell.

Then what about places like STT. There probably are not a lot of solo travelers heading there. And places like MCO where 50% of the plane is families with children.

Broad declarative statements like "kids under 15 get seats next to an adult PERIOD" tries to put a blanket solution on a much more complex problem.


Then you can be the person who gets to tell a passenger who booked his/her seat a long time ago, paid for it, or flew enough to get status that they have to move because you have a child with you and that makes you more important. The FA/GA's jobs are hard enough w/o having to do that too.

sethb

The seats in the last row are just as "together" as the seats in C+. Let the person who needs to be together move back, and whoever is sitting next to the other person who needs to be together move forward.

When the choice is "sit together in Row 42, or one of you in C+ and the other in Row 25" it's amazing how often sitting together is no longer necessary.

MSPeconomist

What if the plane is a CRJ-200 with 2-2 seating? Would this mean that a family with one adult and two kids could never fly on this aircraft?

Similarly, your rule would seem to forbid anyone under 15 (except lap kids) from being in the upper deck on a 747. On the 777, 767 international, and A330, kids in business class could never get window seats.

TravelLawyer

I'm not judging you because you have a stepdaughter, but is it different because she had a life without you and vice versa? Where you in her life when she was 4 years old? That's pretty young...I consider kindergarten age to be where kids get fairly self-sufficient, and 4 is definitely before that period. I would rather not fly than to put a 4 year old in between a couple of strangers that I've never met. You assume that all other passengers will be cordial, but I've seen grown adults have yelling fits at kids because they kicked their chair or was crying or whatever. I'd hate to think what would happen if their parents weren't even nearby.

And your analogy is not the same. It would be more like booking a hotel room, and then having your kid stay in someone else's room down the hall a few rooms away. The parent was not asking to be seated in a different class, such as your suggest with your upgrade scenario. It would however, be more like hotels charging extra for additional guests. Usually that is waived for children under a certain age - at least in the US.

MSPeconomist

This is the problem. It's not just that parents demand seats next to the kids, but they want free DC/C+ seats too and having to sit next to the kid is just an excuse to get something for nothing when they are not entitled to those seats.

Neophytetraveler

I had a similar situation last week when my ChS ->Lax United flight was cancelled and we had to fly out the next day. I had paid for C but on the first flight to iah I had to sit in the very back row of Y next to the Lav. On the next leg I got the very last C seats with no recline. But that's what I had to do to be seated next to my kid.

kop84

I just don't like the idea that the airline has to mandate it. I believe creating a legal "right" for parents to be able to sit next to children is going to cause more harm than good.

Look how much service animals and wheelchairs get abused. Every time airlines are legally forced to accommodate someone it gets abused to the point that a lot of people (myself included at times) what to severely restrict the practice and unintentionally harm those it was intended to help.

I think that most people are reasonable enough to handle it either at the gate or on the plane. We hear about a few of these a year, I bet a large percentage of flights, system wide, have people swapping seats for families and most of the other passengers on that plane don't know.

Widgets

Customer in a wheelchair rudely, loudly demands first row of Comfort+. He's even picking fights with other customers around him and at the security checkpoint.

He stands up and walks over to some guy at the gate, trying to start an argument with him. He doesn't appear to need the wheelchair at all.

What would you do?

kop84

I have no idea. (other than try to call the cops) That is why I don't want to make it mandatory for children to be given seats next to an adult. GA/FA's already have to deal with too much. Adding that having to re-seat every parent with a tween that couldn't get seats together would be insane.

I'm trying to be on your side here!

On a really bad side note, I don't suppose tipping him over would be appropriate?

Widgets

I was just wondering if I did the right thing. I gave him the seat, the couple seated next to him asked for the exit row and I gave them a handful of HOOU coupons. I didn't really say a word to the rude customer. My coworker tried making conversation. I secretly hoped that his demand for a wheelchair in his connecting city caused him to miss a flight or something...

MSPeconomist

I'm sure it will be a miracle flight and he'll run off the plane.

Widgets

But then how will he get Comfort+ on the next flight?

I see him in toddlers today. They watch their parents throw a fit and they see that tantrums get results. The guy I saw last week is just the product of 50 years of that mentality.

I do the bare minimum for rude people who don't have a reason to be rude. I hook people up who are nice, and I tell them that!

kop84

If the seat was not occupied I think you did the right thing and at least gave the people next to him enough drink tickets to make him bearable.

If the seat was occupied and you had to move someone, I'd have let him where he was supposed to be...but then it's really easy for me to say that sitting at a desk in Minneapolis.

gator21

^^^