Am I missing something?...

[kristenrice]

I just got our seat assignments for our NWA flight in January. They have DH and I seated together .....

...but they put DD2 and DD4 together 3 rows behind us!

Uh....as much as I would love to let someone else deal with the little darlings on their first airplane experience, I am pretty sure that won't go over well. The flight appears to be full so my only option will be to switch DH and DD4. The "front" seats are behind an exit row so moving DD2 is not an option since she will be in a carseat. I was contemplating taking one for DD4 because she is so mobile, but I guess that is definitely not an option now.

I was unable to change the seats online so I tried to e-mail NWA. I'll have to wait until tomorrow to see what happens. I'm fairly certain that they'll move someone in our family. Has anyone else run into this? What is the procedure? I have never flown with children before...I've only flown twice myself!

 

[dudspizza]

I would call them tomorrow and see what they can do. At worst, you will be with 1 child and DH will be with another. The actually seating assignments don't really matter. You and DH can still be listed together and the two DD's can be listed together, but when you get on the plane, split with the kids.....

Have a great trip and good luck with NWA tomorrow.....

Duds

 

[NotUrsula]

You need to call them; emailing won't do it in this case. As you've observed, the actual seat assignments DO matter, because there are carseats involved.

US Federal law says that you have a right to use a carseat for any child that weighs under 40 lbs, if you have purchased a seat to place it in. Under those conditions, if you want to use your second carseat then you can; they MUST accomodate your request to be moved to a "legal" seat position for it.

Now then, the bad news. If they are both in carseats then they must both be sitting in window seats (unless this is a 2-aisle widebody, where you can sit dead center of the middle row). This would mean that both you and your DH would have to sit in middle seats next to them, unless one of you chose to sit with both seats in which case the carseats go window, middle, with the largest one at the window.

 

[kristenrice]

Thanks for the quick responses!

NotUrsula, DD4 is actually over 40 pounds (she's 42 pounds...maybe I'll put her on a diet ) so unfortunately, I cannot invoke that law.

We're flying on a DC-9 and I was originally hoping to be Window/Middle with DH and DD2 directly in front of me and DD4. DD4 is a seat kicker, mainly because she is so tall for her age. She is 45" tall which is why I am not sure that I even want to bring a carseat on board for her because I do not want her legs high enough to whack the seat in front of her. It is her first flight and I'm worried that the lap belt might not be enough "restraint" for her. I think she would feel more comfortable and less anxious if she were in her carseat with the 5-point harness. I'm having visions of the AirTran incident and I do not want to be the next victim of a child who freaks out on an airplane! I've got movies (on the iPod with headphones, of course), coloring books, and as many distracting activities that I can fit in my carryon ready but I am still nervous. I am just hoping that our travel day is one of her "good" days....

 

[NotUrsula]

That's touchy. No one would weigh her, so if you really wanted to use the seat you could --- however, at 45" you are skirting close to the limit of how tall she could be and still sit in a carseat. It depends on the model of carseat, of course, but IME, 48" is about the upper limit, because if you go much taller their legs literally sometimes cannot fit between the carseat and the seat in front of them, because the carseat pushes their seating position up and forward. If their legs won't bend down at the knee, there won't be enough room at all.

 

[kristenrice]

I e-mailed NWA last night and they got back to me within an hour. They moved us to the back of the plane where they put us in 2 consecutive rows. Apparently, they still didn't understand the ages of our children because they put DD2 and DD4 in middle/aisle seats right behind me and DH. I'm sure some poor soul would thoroughly enjoy sitting in the window seat next to my 2 daughters! If they were noisy, I'd just keep turning around and asking him/her to please control their children. Besides, I am sure that DD2 would love to spend her first plane ride stuck between DD4 and a complete stranger! They actually had the window seat assigned in that row too!

I was able to change back to our original locations, 3 rows apart, but I put the kids in the window seats and DH and I in the middle seats. They said that this will work fine. Hopefully, DD4 will do OK without her carseat since it is still not an option due to the exit row.

Thanks for all the info! I have flown twice since high-school (yup, that was a LONG time ago ) and DH took his inaugural flight for our honeymoon in 2002. Needless to say, we are very much NOT familiar with the whole flying thing.

 

[Chickkypoo]

You're not actually sitting in the exit row are you? If so, I believe you have to be of a certain age (15 perhaps?) to sit in the exit row as you must be able to open the exit doors in case of emergency. If your seats are in this row, you will get moved.

 

[TAKitty]

When you check in for your flight and are at the actual gate, they will move you to a location where you can all be together. You need to talk to the desk worker. A similar thing happened to me this past summer; my sister and I were not sitting together at all. Not a huge deal, but they made it workout. Also, it doesn't really matter whose name is on what seat. As long as you are not taking someone's seat, it should be fine.

 

[NotUrsula]

When you check in for your flight and are at the actual gate, they will move you to a location where you can all be together. You need to talk to the desk worker.

Not so much for the OP, because her children are both under 5 and she does have two seat pairs already, but the above should NOT be counted on, especially if all members of the party are adults.

IME, United often will make the effort to have the ticket or gate agent change seat assignments (usually by upgrading someone else to free their seats), to get a party seated contiguously, but most of the other airlines will NOT do so. Unless there are children involved who are under 5 yrs. old, they will usually leave it up to the passenger to negotiate with other passengers to exchange seats. FA's will only get involved in situations where the children are under age 5, and will only push to get a child seated with one parent, not necessarily both of them.

 

[Fire14]

I had a situation with my niece. They downsized plane and put her ALONE in EXIT ROW Asile seat. She was booked on childs ticket so it wasn't like they didn't know.

 

[TAKitty]

Not so much for the OP, because her children are both under 5 and she does have two seat pairs already, but the above should NOT be counted on, especially if all members of the party are adults.

IME, United often will make the effort to have the ticket or gate agent change seat assignments (usually by upgrading someone else to free their seats), to get a party seated contiguously, but most of the other airlines will NOT do so. Unless there are children involved who are under 5 yrs. old, they will usually leave it up to the passenger to negotiate with other passengers to exchange seats. FA's will only get involved in situations where the children are under age 5, and will only push to get a child seated with one parent, not necessarily both of them.

I guess I don't see what the big deal is having one parent with one kid and one with the other. Anyway, I am reporting what NWA told me at MCO. They said that some people won't be assigned a seat and that the gate with make the changes.

 

[Befferk]

I am flying NWA in Feb. out of MSP. We are 1st time flyers. If we go on the internet right at our 90 days to choose our seats, what are our odds of being able to get seats next to each other if we aren't already? I ask because my DS5 will totally freak out if one of us is not with him for that 3 1/2 hours. I wouldn't be overly upset if we weren't all together, but at least one of us with DS. Is this usually a problem w/ NWA?

 

[Chickkypoo]

If you choose your seats at the 90 day mark, you shouldn't have a problem at all. At that point, you'll pretty much still have your pick of the plane.