Pack1620

I rarely am the asking one bc I mostly fly for business so I'm flying alone but whenever I'm asked as long as it's a reasonable approach as you stated I have no problem. I don't even mind moving back as long as I don't have a real tight connection. Had one the other day where a group of ladies were going on a group vacation and I happened to be their row with them with one lady several rows back. She asked once we were all boarded if I minded switching with her as they were all of her friends and I said absolutely. It was nice seeing all of them have a good time and excited about vacation. Maybe its just me but I don't mind being nice to people as long as they aren't trying to screw me over. Hopefully all of this good flyer karma will come back to help me some day.

rjque

I disagree. I think everyone wants the best seats on the aircraft, but if a family who is separated for whatever reason is offered the last row together, they will usually happily take it to avoid having to negotiate on board. It needs to be offered before the family boards, and not onboard where human nature kicks in and everyone tries to improve his lot.

I also think the last row is an ideal place for a family with a toddler, and it's the row I select with my three year old if no MCE or E+ seats are available. Easy access to the lav is a luxury with a three year old, and most families with small children are checking bags rather than trying to manage them on board, so being first off the aircraft is of little use.

cbn42

True, but in my experience this is rare. Even if the airline cannot get the whole family together in advance, they will usually manage to give them 2 seats together somewhere.

It might be different on the ULCCs that charge for seat assignments , but I don't have enough data points from those airlines.

Yup, you are one of those passengers that is causing the government to start meddling in this.

What would be the point of such a law? Of course an airline will seat families together if space is available. A law saying "do it if you can" is completely meaningless.

PTravel

The reservation system should preclude a family from booking if there are not adjacent seats. If there are adjacent seats, the system should not allow the family to be separated, whether for equipment change or whatever arbitrary glitch results in random seat changes.

A law like this would prevent a family from booking separate seats and then crying about, "but what am I supposed to do?" after they are on-board.

cbn42

There would be blood running in the streets if any airline did that.

"You are discriminating against people with children! Call the civil rights lawyers!"

PTravel

There might be blood in the streets. However, it would not inappropriate discrimination, either legally or morally.

Here's a thought: the airline could try to programmatically broker a seat swap, e.g. automatically generate an email to booked passengers and say, "would you be willing to change your seat for a drink coupon?" or something like that. Someone accepts, the parents get email notifying them that their booking is confirmed and providing seat assignments.

cestmoi123

I was pointing out that, even if you personally have never been offered a better seat, I offered people better seats twice in a couple of months, so it does happen.

I'm talking about my standard for _asking_ someone to switch. Whether or not to switch is entirely up to them. I would never even _ask_ somebody to switch if I thought they'd end up worse off.

In the case of the F seat mentioned above, I certainly think an F aisle beats an EC aisle, which is why I felt comfortable offering it. If the person in that EC seat had disagreed, that's entirely fine, their call.

rjque

But the airlines have no incentive to do anything like that. They already take the position that they can change your seat for whatever reason (or no reason). Sure, it would be a much better service to passengers to try to avoid moving people around, but airlines have almost no concern for that. Nor are airlines going to turn down someone who is willing to pay just because there are no current seats together. After all, people cancel reservations all the time, and they get upgraded, making room for more passengers.

Like I said, it would make much more sense for airlines to simply reserve the last few rows for airport assignment, which is similar to what they used to do before they charged for even the most basic coach seats. But, again, the major airlines consider themselves to be in the business of selling a commodity, not a service business, so there is little incentive for them to make things easier.

chollie

I think they've switched from reserving the back rows for airport assignment to reserving the middle seats for airport assignment.

PTravel

We were discussing the parameters of a hypothetical law. The law would be incentive.

Agreed.

TheTakeOffRush

This is a very noble perspective. I myself would hesitate, and then go ahead and ask politely if they'd switch. You never know, sometimes boldness pays, or they have a different set of concerns, or [insert other rationale].

Asking politely for a possible inconvenience isn't itself rude. In my book.

But yeah, if they refused I'd probably beat them about the head with my willfulness. Cause I'm civilized like that.

televisor

It seems like the european solution would be so much simpler: block all seats until checkin, and auto-assign seats for groups. You could still allow seat selection for payment (almost no-one will use that) or with status, and for E+/First/other premium cabins. No unnecessary discrimination, families and other groups get to sit together.

stut

London drivers can kick off quite happily when they need to Thing is, London transport is at such capacity that the buses are obsessively monitored (they are each GPS tracked). Drivers are under immense pressure to keep things moving, and will get disciplined for not doing so. Doing something that delays the bus is a big no-no.

(Which can also lead to drivers allegedly deliberately skipping stops where a wheelchair user is waiting, due to the time taken to extend the ramp, etc.)

crabbing

more precisely, the system should recognize when a reservation includes an underage child, and require a seat selection adjacent to an adult on the same PNR. any attempt to seat a child, by either the passenger or the airline, separately should be prohibited. in the event of IROPS, equipment change, or something else that shuffles seats, the system should put the child+adult into either gate-reserved seats (e.g., bulkhead or last row), or move them up to economy plus or whatever.

i am not aware of any reason why the airlines can't do this. they just don't want to.

extramileage

Emirates does this - to some extent - for pax traveling with infants.

Bassinet seats are blocked off on seat maps and can only be selected by pax with an infant on the PNR.

Seats next to bassinet seats are available for selection, but the airline reserves the right to reassign you if a family with an infant needs it (and I've seen it done). [Note: and do you really want to pick a Y seat next a bassinet on an EK long haul???]

Phone CSRs will generally let you reserve a bassinet seat in J (mainly because there are less infants traveling), but will explicitly warn you that you will get the boot if an infant bassinet seat is required.