Airline seat - plane full sitting apart - kid on his own

[paulfoel]

Booked with delta flying via BOS.

Only problem is plane is pretty full and could only book three seats scattered around the plane. ie. DS aged 7 will be away from us.

Will airline allow this to happen or will the ensure at least one of us is sitting next to him? Otherwise I dont think hes going to be happy.

 

[mackay_j]

Booked with delta flying via BOS.

Only problem is plane is pretty full and could only book three seats scattered around the plane. ie. DS aged 7 will be away from us.

Will airline allow this to happen or will the ensure at least one of us is sitting next to him? Otherwise I dont think hes going to be happy.

do not book any actual seats and just turn up. I am sure that you will be seated together as 7 is too young to be on his own. I was in a plane (can't recall which) but the pilot refused to take off until someone gave up there seat so that a child could be seated next to the parent.

 

[Stitch's Greatest Fa]

Hello, I can't say for certain but I have a feeling the airline will shuffle others around so that at least one of you gets to sit with DS. As adults we have been moved around before even tho we selected our seating.

Another reason they do this is if someone requests a sky cot - we had some people once very annoyed at us *** they thought we were sitting in their seat that they had reserved but the airline had put us there instead as we needed a sky cot (those seats have extra legroom).

So I would think that this would be the case. You could always call or email - they will know of course that DS is a child as you have to specify at time of booking.

Hope it all works out for you.

 

[jockey]

I can't see them allowing this. COA tried to seat me 3 & 5 year olds on their own but they screamed the place down so they sorted it ASAP. I was distraught at the thought of it too!

 

[lin85prest]

when you check in you will probably get seats together, no seat is guaranteed, last year due to our plane going tech we had to change flights and all 7 of us were given the seats that were left as fight had already checked in. The cabin crew made sure my GS2 was sitting with his Mum. An other passenger swapped so that the 10 yr old could sit with me.

 

[disneyholic family]

when you say the 7 year old is away from "us", who's "us"?

if there are 2 adults, why not put the 7 year old with one of you and one of the adults alone?

 

[mackay_j]

or if all else fails, hand the person sitting next to your son a towel and a sick bag and say just in case as he is usualy very sick on flights- that might get them to swap with you

We had one flight were our dd (15) was sat a few rows away from me and even although the air hostess had asked noone would swap- I just went up to the person next to her and requested that they watch out for her looking odd, slumping or fitting and if so to give me a shout so I could give her an emergency injection (large needle which I took great pleasure in showing them ) as she was diabetic- The two lads (in their 20's) soon cahanged their minds and swapped with me and my much younger girl.

 

[paulfoel]

when you say the 7 year old is away from "us", who's "us"?

if there are 2 adults, why not put the 7 year old with one of you and one of the adults alone?

Two of us. Mum and Dad. All 3 seats are currently spread around. i.e .no-one is sitting next to anyone.

Not expecting all of us to sit together just one of us next to DS.

 

[madmumof2]

I doubt they will. I travelled on my own with two children and the person o the phone tried to tell me to book seated together or it's likely we'll separate etc but the airline said they would ever have separated us, they would have moved people, I don't think they're allowed to seat a young child without a guardian for safety reasons.

 

[dixonsontour]

I'm sure they will sort it on check in and at least seat your son with one of you.

7 is too young to fly unaccompanied - check the delta rules for unaccompanied minors.

Last year on the flight back from orlando (Virgin) we had an unacompanied 10 year old boy sit with us (row of 4).

His parents were virgin crew and were sitting upstairs in the crew seats. I was a bit suprised they only checked on him once but he was a lovely lad and seasoned traveller.

DH did get a bit fed up when the stewardess kept assuming he was with him - no i don't know what he wants to eat why not ask him.

 

[skygirltkw]

I didn't work for Delta, but was a flight attendant for a few years, if the gate agent didn't sort it out and switch things around we always did...unhappy kiddo means a plane full of unhappy pax, the FA will sort it out...just ask nicely

 

[paulfoel]

I'm sure they will sort it on check in and at least seat your son with one of you.

7 is too young to fly unaccompanied - check the delta rules for unaccompanied minors.

Last year on the flight back from orlando (Virgin) we had an unacompanied 10 year old boy sit with us (row of 4).

His parents were virgin crew and were sitting upstairs in the crew seats. I was a bit suprised they only checked on him once but he was a lovely lad and seasoned traveller.

DH did get a bit fed up when the stewardess kept assuming he was with him - no i don't know what he wants to eat why not ask him.

I had a similar experience a few years ago. Was sat next to a lovely old woman from India. She couldnt speak English much though.

We sorta helped her get off the plane and let her tag along with us in the airport etc but then we got immigration they started having a go at us *** she hadnt filled in the right forms/got right visa etc. Tried to explain that we only sat next to her on the plane!

In the end, it was sorted and her family were there to meet her at the gate. To be fair they were really grateful to us for looking after her.

 

[disneyholic family]

7 is too young to fly unaccompanied - check the delta rules for unaccompanied minors.

children can travel unaccompanied on delta from the age of 5.

 

[irisheyes123]

children can travel unaccompanied on delta from the age of 5.

Only on a nonstop flight if its a connecting flight they have to be 8 years old
To the OP Id say they will try get you together I have seen this on plenty of flights most people don't mind moving to keep young children with family's

 

[Bonnie151]

How far out is your flight? We had that problem last year (different airline) and I kept checking online every day. Free seats would pop up and I finally got it down to just one flight with a problem. I then phoned, and we were able to have either 3 together (1 adult separated from the rest of the party - but that's not necessarily a bad thing!) or 2 & 2 for each leg.

 

[ccgirl]

Booked with delta flying via BOS.

Only problem is plane is pretty full and could only book three seats scattered around the plane. ie. DS aged 7 will be away from us.

Will airline allow this to happen or will the ensure at least one of us is sitting next to him? Otherwise I dont think hes going to be happy.

May I ask, if you knew the there seats were scattered; why did you book the flight? Why didn't you look for a flight that could accommodate all of you together? That is what I do. I would not expect an airline to move others around for me. Afterall, they chose their seat too.

I would prepare my 7 year old for the possibility of not sitting with you.

 

[Bonnie151]

May I ask, if you knew the there seats were scattered; why did you book the flight? Why didn't you look for a flight that could accommodate all of you together? That is what I do. I would not expect an airline to move others around for me. Afterall, they chose their seat too.

I would prepare my 7 year old for the possibility of not sitting with you.

I'm not the OP, but I know when I booked my flight there was no way of knowing which seats were free or not. I wasn't able to view the seating plan until quite a while after my booking and then it appeared that (possibly) seat bookings had opened up in the US before the UK as most seats were already taken on the first day that I was able to get into the system to book.

 

[dixonsontour]

children can travel unaccompanied on delta from the age of 5.

Gosh that is young. There is no way my DD who is five could manage on a flight alone.

I hadn't checked but assumed it would be 10 or 12.

I can remember watching a TV airline show a few years ago and the airline wouldn't let a much older child - maybe 12 fly alone (maybe easyjet) the mum got another passenger to pretend she was her friend and would accompany him but the check in lady was having none of it.

From a practical point of view I am sure there will do everything to seat a child with 1 parent.

 

[ccgirl]

I'm not the OP, but I know when I booked my flight there was no way of knowing which seats were free or not. I wasn't able to view the seating plan until quite a while after my booking and then it appeared that (possibly) seat bookings had opened up in the US before the UK as most seats were already taken on the first day that I was able to get into the system to book.

Thanks for the clarification. When the OP stated the plane was pretty full and could only book 3 seats scattered around the plane, I thought they knew at the time of booking the seats were not together. I thought all airlines but SW would let you pick your seats ahead of time???

 

[Bonnie151]

Thanks for the clarification. When the OP stated the plane was pretty full and could only book 3 seats scattered around the plane, I thought they knew at the time of booking the seats were not together. I thought all airlines but SW would let you pick your seats ahead of time???

I booked my flight with either Expedia or Opodo (have used both in the past, but can't remember which one was last year!) and while I could book my seats ahead, it wasn't straight away - I can't remember the timescales, but I'd phoned the airline to find out the date. I've just done a mock run through on Opodo for Air France flights from Edinburgh to Boston and I may be blind, but I don't see anywhere before the payment page that allows you to view which seats are available? I alwys buy my tickets and then try to book seats.