Kacee

Responsible parents don't buy BE tickets when traveling with a 2 year old.

COSPILOT

So lack of planning by the Mom is UA's fault? In fairness, UA does a pretty good job with families, even for those that don't plan. On the rare occasion it doesn't work though, I don't see what UA can do to appease everyone, short of not giving seat assignments to anyone prior to check in. I didn't want to deal with random seating on a train in Italy last year, so I booked reserved seating for my family. Cost me a few bucks, but the idea of demanding other travelers move to help my family didn't seem reasonable to me. I planned, she did not, nor does my cousin, every year.

omaralt

gdam22

I think the airline can be more accommodating without negatively impacting other passengers. Not everyone is experienced with booking flights. You don't have to necessarily be sitting NEXT to the person, but with kids that young, at least moving them a bit closer to the mother would be better. Say, move someone from the back of the plane forward and move the mother back to where the kids are sitting, for example. Give the mom a middle seat in the back 2 rows away and move someone else up, for example. Hiding behind the "its a basic economy ticket" is just bad customer service when you're talking about young children. You know, at least close enough where the mom can keep an eye on them? Not that hard, United.

Of course, if sitting together is that important, the mother needs to take steps when booking to make sure she books seats together. Book directly with the airline.

Now, of course, airlines can/will change seats randomly for all sorts of reasons, and then I think you'd have the right to be upset if you'd booked together THEN been separated.

jsloan

So, you can't make up your mind whether you want UA to discriminate against families with children or discriminate in favor of families with children?

I've already proposed an alternative -- block off a couple of rows at the back of the aircraft and keep them for gate assignment.

MSPeconomist

Maybe if the airlines would just deny boarding in such cases, these irresponsible parents would learn to avoid BE tickets and to pay if necessary to get seats together. It shouldn't be the burden of random other revenue passengers to accommodate such families.

omaralt

lol you can't willingly sell something to somebody and then say it's irresponsible to buy

jamesn00

United's policy just seems both vindictive and unsafe. Easyjet's policy seems far better - and this is a budget airline.

"If you're travelling with children or infants it's important that you tell us when making a booking so we can sit you all together where possible. Simply add the number of children and infants and their ages during the booking process.

If you haven't booked seats then the best chance of sitting together with family and friends is to check in as early as possible. Check in opens 30 days before departure and we recommend you check in as early and possible and no later than 7 days before your flight. Whilst our seating system will always try to seat families and friends together, seats are allocated on a first come first served basis so the earlier you check in the more likely you are to be seated together. If you leave it to the last minute it's possible that there may not be enough seats left for us to seat your group next to each other."

MSPeconomist

Really? This is done all the time. It's the customer's responsibility not to buy something which is inappropriate for him/her and it's not the responsibility or choice of another person so determine what is inappropriate for that individual. For example, if my driving skills are inadequate to handle a true sports car, provided that I have a driver's license and can afford the car, a dealer will happily sell it to me even though it's inappropriate for me. A clothing store will sell me items that don't fit and look terrible on me. Restaurants sell high calorie sugar-laden stuff to fat people and don't even ask if they have diabetes.

omaralt

but you're saying UA should deny boarding to those who bought BE.. so they sell it to you and then tell you "nope sorry you cant fly because you bought the wrong ticket type, even though we willingly sold it to you". thats like ordering a meal, paying for it, and then being told, by the restaurant "nope sorry your blood sugar is too high, you should have ordered something else"

Finkface

Um, on the first flight, the child was seated directly behind the mom and other child. That wasn’t good enough. They wanted a row to themselves.

StuckinITH

My wife would gladly take that responsibility. Much better than ending in a middle seat. Twice on international long hauls (CLT-GIG and GIG-CLT on USAirways) the middle seat kid near her was only 6 years old. On one flight, the mother was in the middle seat in the row ahead, on the other flight the 20 years old brother was in the middle seat in the row behind. My wife told them not to worry, she would make sure that the kid was fed and would let them know if the kid needed to use the toilet. She would do the same for a 2 years old. And for sure, my wife would make sure that their seat belt is on. And, even like that, the FAs always check that. In the middle of the night, if the captain announces that seat belts have to be on due to turbulence, the FAs use flashlights to make sure the seatbelts are properly used.

Often1

Of course you can.

Someone shows up at the gate who cannot safely or properly be boarded, the carrier denies boarding. Happens every day. People with medical issues, lacking visas, or whatever. Irresponsible passengers don't get boarded.

Kacee

Yes.

Enough of the mommy society.

azepine00

like disabilities? clearly they can be a safety hazard..

i am not aware of any culture that sees a child being together with parent as a privilege they should pay for