LondonElite

Did you make her dream come true?

TMM1982

Skyman65

Did you ask her if she had just voted for Pedro?

florin

Unfortunately, it's not always possible. If you book your ticket way in advance, yes, otherwise it's possible that 2 adjacent seats are simply not available. I've had that experience more than once.

Once my wife and I got UGed to the last 2 available seats in C and we were at opposite ends of the cabin. We both politely asked adjacent pax to switch, they both refused and we just sat apart. We had no issue with that whatsoever.

(After traveling quite a bit for work, I'm used to flying by myself and I actually like to sit by myself. I like sitting next to my wife and I prefer that, but no issue if it's not possible. It's not easy to explain that to a coworker, but I've managed without them hating me - at least not openly.)

TMM1982

What if it had been you and your hypothetical 5 year old daughter. Would you have simply sat apart or would have you approached the FA's in a near panic insisting that someone be told to move? (And I've seen people act like this before).

LondonElite

Most of the time airlines do a pretty good job of ensuring that families sit together. When there are minor children in the reservation, I've never encountered a situation where this has not automatically happened. Usually families are on one reservation so it's not really rocket science to get it right. Even when they are on separate reservations all you need to do is call in and get them linked. We have four children and have booked all kinds of crazy itineraries and have never had a situation where we had to make a fuss about junior being in 25E and mummy in 3A. Anecdotal maybe, but I suspect molehill->mountain.

As far as the earlier comment about the 14-year-old probably rolling her eyes that the had to sit with her mother, I can only echo that! Sometimes you need to be careful what you wish for!

TMM1982

Depends which airline. I've seen chaos breakout on plenty of Southwest Flights. All the stragglers who get stuck in C section, there aren't enough seats for families in C to sit together. But I have no sympathy for them because everyone has the opportunity to buy EarlyBird check-in which essentially guarantees families can sit together.

LondonElite

Yes, on the free-scrum airlines this clearly does not apply. But as you, and others, have correctly said, in most cases it's hard to fathom why people couldn't plan ahead/pay extra if sitting together is important.

MSPeconomist

If sitting together is so important, the parent and kid can decline the upgrade and move back to their seats together in coach. To get an upgrade and then demand that airline staff move other passengers is inappropriate.

florin

With a 5 year old, I would have made an effort to get seats together: call the airline, talk to the TA, talk o the GA before boarding. If none of that worked and pax refused to move, I would address the issue with a FA. Being polite and not freaking out is very important though.

MSPeconomist

If other passengers refuse to move for you, why not accept their decision instead of trying to get various airline staff to force others to move? Insisting just reinforces to the GA that it's easier to give last minute upgrades to nonrevs rather than elites who then demand that seating be completely rearranged to accommodate their preferences. When I request an upgrade, I'm implicitly saying that I would be pleased with any seat in the premium cabin--otherwise, I should indicate that I prefer to keep my reserved coach seat.

florin

My son is almost 4. Trust me, you would NOT want to sit next to him if I'm seated elsewhere. If this is about sitting next to a friend/spouse/whatever, I have no issue being separated. Trying to address the problem before we get on board is the responsible thing to do, IMO.

Who said anything about upgrades? This is about asking to be seated next to a hypothetical 5 year-old child, not about being UGed. GAs can do stuff like move a pax to an exit row seat (or an otherwise more desirable seat) so that I can sit next to my hypothetical 5-year-old.

Lovethecabin

In the past year and a half, US Airways splitting us up three times even though I had made sure our seats were together.

Once was an equipment change that must have happened at the last minute. That one worked out because I was across the aisle from our son. (the entire first class cabin ended up playing musical chairs anyway)

I was watching our assigned seats for our November trip and twice, we were scrambled apart so I picked new seats for us ahead of time.

Our seats are changed again for an upcoming flight, all of us are separate but our son is old enough now to sit alone and since it is first, he isn't too far away from either of us. Of course, there is a chance someone will switch.

I remember flying home from Munich with my parents and the FA asked my dad if I would switch with another passenger. (this was nearly 20 years ago) There were two young girls flying unaccompanied and the FAs didn't want a man sitting with the girls. I was a 16 yo female and jumped at the chance to get away from my parents. The FAs also gave me the girls' wine, I was thrilled! BA served wine in small bottles back then. I slept most of the way home to the east coast.

LondonElite

I did say most of the time . It's a pain when it happens, but I think that the sum-total of all the anxiety is greater than the reality when it does. I don't think any airline would let a <6 year-old sit apart from a parent, once all the dust has settled.

Unfortunately, BA still does!

CMK10

Depends on the length of the flight. I can't think of any situation I'd switch to a middle in (unless it's a middle with no window next to it like the exit row on the A-319 for example) but I might go from an exit row/bulkhead/E+ to an E- type seat if the flight was really short. Or if they ask me really nicely. But I'd say the chances are overall pretty low.