SFW13

I'm kind of furious about the way we were treated by US Airways today and would appreciate thoughts on whether I'm right or wrong to feel that way.

I was on a US Shuttle flight with my wife, our 2 year old and our 3 month old baby. We had three seats booked plus the lap infant. Now, there are no seat advance seat assignments on the shuttle (not even for families - I did call to check), and if you're traveling with an infant you can't check in online. So it's a question of getting to the airport early and trying to be seated together.

On the outbound flight they couldn't seat us all together, but we ended up with me and the 2yr old in one row, and my wife and the baby a few rows back. Not ideal, but not the end of the world.

On the return, however, all three - me, wife, toddler - were given middle seats in different rows (and one on the opposite side of the aircraft.) Everything else had been taken at online check-in, we were told.

I was pretty shocked that my 2 year old was being asked to sit on her own, between two strangers, but the check-in agent said the gate agent would sort it out. When we got to the gate, the gate agent said - and I'm quoting pretty much verbatim - "What do you expect me to do? I can't change other people's seats to accommodate your family. You'll have to work it out onboard."

So I asked the purser when we boarded. His line "Just negotiate with other passengers. I can't help you."

In the end, we managed to persuade someone in a window to trade for a middle seat in a different row, so two of us could sit together. But it was awkward to have to guilt trip another passenger into helping us out, and with a baby and toddler in tow the whole thing was unnecessarily stressful.

We fly together a lot as a family and we've never had this before on any carrier. I'm just pretty astonished that they would allocate a two year old a seat alone, away from her parents, and expect us to walk down a crowded aircraft aisle trying to find someone kind enough to move into a middle seat in order to help us out.

Or is this just what we should expect on US?

warreng24

Yup.

That's one thing I hate about the shuttle. Not being able to pre-assign seats.

It sounds like your situation is one of those that "falls through the cracks." It's one of those odd situations where you never thing about when you're brainstorming all the possible system states.

For cases like this, it's probably best to book on two separate itineraries. One with you and the 2 year old (so you can check-in and select seats together). And another with your wife and your lap-child.

The disadvantage would be in IRROPS, you may be split up during the auto-rebooking, and if you're elite, but your wife isn't (or vice versa) one person will miss out on the elite benefits (if any).

TiredOfTooMuchTravel

This is what you can expect on any Shuttle type flight in which advance seats are not offered, US or even DL. However on any other US flight, you would probably be able to avoid this issue since you do get advance seat assignments.

Unfortunately with regards to the employee interactions, agents and flight attendants arent obligated to move around seating to accomodate families. Some will do it, some wont.

I wouldnt be furious about the situation though. Its the disadvantage for dealing with a product thats geared towards the business traveler and not leisure travelers and families.

SFW13

Thanks for the responses so far. I don't think having two separate bookings would have helped. They split all three of us up - 17B, 19E, 20B - so would also have separated me and the 2yr old if it had been just us on the booking.

And I still find it fundamentally astonishing that an airline would expect a 2yr old girl to sit on her own between two adult men she didn't know, with her parents several rows away from her. I know for a fact that it would be totally unacceptable on the European airline I know best. In fact, I'm not even sure it would be legal.

Think about it - we would not have been able to see her, or she us, for the whole flight. 2 year olds don't just sit quietly on their own reading inflight magazines. Most worryingly, in the event of an emergency we would not have been able to reach her. I just struggle to see how a carrier can permit such a situation. The liability issues alone are mind boggling.

dcpatti

The advantage of splitting into two reservations would be that one parent and the 2-year-old would be on one reservation and be able to check in online as there's no lap child in the mix. It almost guarantees that the parent with the lap infant will be separated from the other parent and the toddler, but it makes for a much easier and more even swap, as you and the toddler could select for example a window and a middle, then you'd just need the solo traveler on your row's aisle to swap with your wife. Folks are pretty accomodating to swap aisle-for-aisle especially when the alternative is playing Neighboring Child Lottery; not many folks would want to roll the dice that the toddler turns out to be a well-behaved one!

At any rate, you'd decrease your chances that you'd all be split up by having at least some of the party able to do OLCI.

This is how my brother and his wife and kids split up when they fly AirTran, as AirTran charges extra for advance seat selections on a lot of their coach fares.

As for the unwillingness of the staff to help, I was recently on a VS flight where the FA asked several couples if they'd switch with another couple whose reading lamps were burned out, and he gave up asking after the 4th or 5th couple said No. It would be nice to have some help in these things but in reality, the FA's have a lot of stuff going on during boarding, and with all the pressure for an on-time departure, lots of things in that "would be nice" category get dropped. The airline computers don't know that the toddler is a toddler, and by the time you arrive at the airport, it's too late.

I'm sorry that it happened to your family. Hopefully it'll give you some ideas on how to make things go more smoothly next time.

TiredOfTooMuchTravel

Its not an ideal situation but what did you expect by booking flights in which advance seat assignments were not offered? Its the risk you run. There are no laws requiring that a 2 year old be seated with his/her parents at least here in the US.

BoeingBoy

Unfortunately you fell into the gap that exists between what many (including at US) view as a business product but that US (and probably DL) marketing will happily sell as part of an itinerary for leisure travelers (who often travel with young children).

Jim

daron4000

I'm not a parent (yet) so I'm sure I would not actually be willing to test this in practice, yet in theory, I would have loved to have just left the 2-year old alone in that middle seat and seen what the FA's and or surrounding pax would have done (making it clear that noone at the airline from check-in to gate agent to FA had offered to help). I'm sure a pax would have offered to switch with you even asking and if no one had, I'm sure the FAs finally would have realized that common sense dictates that a 2 year old sitting alone is a safety hazard.

TiredOfTooMuchTravel

One other possible solution to this situation would be to have asked to gate agent if you could have been switched to another flight with seating together. They wouldnt be obligated to do it but they might have considering the circumstances.

masonuc

I am fanatical about not revealing anything about lap infant until I arrive at the airport, or at least waiting until I check-in online (and then call the Chairman's Desk). I hate that you can't do OLCI with a lap infant -- drives me nuts and not only do you have the problem you mentioned on the shuttle, but it messes up your upgrade chances too (which is admittedly less of an issue than being separated!).

So yeah, my simple solution is (1) try to book all tickets separately -- outbound and return, that is, if prices same and (2) don't mention lap infant until after you've done OLCI, either at the airport or by calling right after you do OLCI.

tahitigirl

The shuttle is much more buisness man/woman friendly than toward families.

Even on regular mainline flights this does happen and it's not unusual for the problem to be pushed along until the family is boarding the a/c. And since families preboard most of the time they are the first to walk on board and say "we have a problem". Our problem as f/a's is without everyone else onboard there's not much we can do at that point. Most of the time I'll tell the parents to either try to ask around their seats for other pax to trade or to take their seats and please have some patience with us until we can come back and help. I've never had a problem getting a toddler seated with at least one parent.

dcpatti

I'd be careful about waiting till the last minute to mention the lap infant, especially on award ticket or TATL tickets where you've upgraded with miles or CP certificates, as the lap child fee can be significantly higher depending on when you "announce" it. I'm sure one of the FT parents on the board can elaborate, as I don't recall all the in's and out's, but if memory serves me, you may end up paying 10% of the walkup first class fare for the lap child if you're on a TATL with a coach purchase and an upgrade to Envoy.

TiredOfTooMuchTravel

Not adding the infant til after OLCI is a great idea. I'd see how this can work without issue except for international flights.

philippa

I think it's really peculiar that unrelated adults would want to sit next to someone else's 2-year-old. I sure wouldn't. And I speak as a parent....

geo1005

I have flown both domestically and internationally with our infant daughter. Domestic is no problem (although I do like the call in after OLCI to add idea!).

Internationally, the lap child pays 10% of the fare for the class of service flown - regardless of how much the parents paid. I'm not sure exactly what fare makes up the basis for the 10% but it's not a discount fare for sure. We flew recently on LH C class award tickets (using DMs) and our daughter, to fly as a lapchild in LH C, had to pay something like $400 (10% of the fare plus taxes, etc).

I would have no hesitation waiting until after OLCI for a domestic flight to add the lapchild. For international travel, I would never recommend waiting. (Doing it all in advance means you can order a bassinette as well.)