HELP! Our paid for seats are gone!

[snoopy5386]

FYI, by FAA regulation, the 2 yo and the 5 yo must be sitting with a parent.

 

[taximomfor4]

FYI, by FAA regulation, the 2 yo and the 5 yo must be sitting with a parent.

Really? Till what age? Really, I am more concerned about the 7yo (special needs but NOT wc bound or blind, so airline didn't seem to care). Is there somewhere I can look up the details, maybe print it out?

zippehsmom, you mentioned maybe not needing the carseat. My 2yo is 24.5 lbs and maybe 34 inches tall. Do you think it would be too tight with a carseat? And would the safety belt be protective enough for her in case of turbulence?

 

[JennsBabySky]

zippehsmom, you mentioned maybe not needing the carseat. My 2yo is 24.5 lbs and maybe 34 inches tall. Do you think it would be too tight with a carseat? And would the safety belt be protective enough for her in case of turbulence?

My now 5 year old was still using a carseat at 4 and she still had plenty of room. A little tight, but all airplane seats are tight! IMO, I don't think the safety belt would provide much protection for turbulence and emergency situations. Plus, even at 4 she slept so much better in her carseat. Those plane seats are just not designed for kids and my daughter now has a really hard time getting comfy.

 

[GoingtoSeeRella]

Taximom...same thing just happened to us on USAirways. We have a flight for April 06....and it's ALREADY booked solid...we have a family of 5, 3 kiddos...DD3, DD5 and DS8. We must have been one of the last groups to buy seats on the plane, and there weren't any two seats together...all single seats, all over the place.

I told the agent this wouldn't be acceptable, with small children. She said there's nothing she can do now, and that we'll have to straighten it out at the airport that morning.

I'm not going to worry about it...because I'm just going on the assumption that when I place my 3 year old next to someone, and hand them her snack/entertainment bag...they'll move faster than lightening

Good luck!!

 

[stacy6552]

the rule of thumb about being in a seat w or w/o the carseat if whether or not they can sit all the way back in the seat and have their legs bend over the edge of the seat all the way (90 degrees). If not, they should be in a carseat.

 

[JerJan]

We also fly out of Cleveland quite often (we try to use mostly AirTran out of Akron) and Continental has always helped us work out this problem when it comes up (and it does)! We have always had it work out in the end.Don't let it worry you...have a MAGICAL time on your vacation!

 

[NotUrsula]

the rule of thumb about being in a seat w or w/o the carseat if whether or not they can sit all the way back in the seat and have their legs bend over the edge of the seat all the way (90 degrees). If not, they should be in a carseat.

This rule is correct for automobiles, but does NOT apply in aircraft. The FAA recommendation is that a carseat be used until a child weighs 40 lbs; there is no height component to the aircraft use guidelines.

In practical terms, in commercial aircraft coach pitch configurations, a child who is more than about 46" tall will generally not be able to use a carseat on an aircraft, because their ankles could be caught or trapped between the leading edge of the carseat and the back of the aircraft seat in front of them.
(This is not a reference to seat-kicking. To help with that, take off the child's shoes and also put a pillow in the seatback pocket. Bring your own if the airline no longer supplies them.)

 

[taximomfor4]

This rule is correct for automobiles, but does NOT apply in aircraft. The FAA recommendation is that a carseat be used until a child weighs 40 lbs; there is no height component to the aircraft use guidelines.

In practical terms, in commercial aircraft coach pitch configurations, a child who is more than about 46" tall will generally not be able to use a carseat on an aircraft, because their ankles could be caught or trapped between the leading edge of the carseat and the back of the aircraft seat in front of them.
(This is not a reference to seat-kicking. To help with that, take off the child's shoes and also put a pillow in the seatback pocket. Bring your own if the airline no longer supplies them.)

Wow! Thanks! Gotta check, I don't think my 5yo is even 40 lbs yet (if he is, it is just BARELY). My 2yo, at 24 or so lbs, is definitely going to need her carseat, it looks like. Shoot. We are going to be carrying a lot, hehe. At least we get to use the stroller at the airport. SOOOOOO glad we caved in and bought a Maclaren (higher weight limit). We had almost decided to rent at the parks. But that was when we were driving.

I guess, worst case scenario we get bumped from the plane (doubt it will happen -- I think they usually take volunteers first). We packed a couple of extra travel days into our trip when we had planned to drive. So if we get stuck overnight waiting for another flight, that is fine. When it happened to me and dd on USAirways in 2001, we had a blast. Great hotel, and we talked them into a food credit. Only downside was that the flight they got us on for the next day was at 6:45am. EWWWWWW!


Now to figure out who

 

[maryliz]

I'm not going to worry about it...because I'm just going on the assumption that when I place my 3 year old next to someone, and hand them her snack/entertainment bag...they'll move faster than lightening

Don't forget to grab the barf-bag out of the seat pocket and hand it over along with the snack bag ! "bye bye now, sweetie ... Mommy loves you" !

 

[bavaria]

Uh oh... taximomfor4 that brings back memories of your AS post! Don't stress.... keep trying back.

Yesterday United gave away my perfect seat (I have the same seat every week on an A319, and the same seat every three weeks on a 757). I confirmed it at check in and had a boarding pass, and they gave it away 30 minutes before departure to 'seat a family together'. Family was a middle aged couple with no kids!

But back to your issue - I have had United ask me hundreds of times if I can move so that a family can sit together. If the gate agent is no help, the FA's are great - they know that their job will be easier if they can get the family together. (or at least ONE adult with the kids)

So don't stress, just enjoy the rest of your planning........

 

[SqueakyMouse]

We've had this problem with Delta -- twice when we'd actually been assigned seats together only to have them changed at the last minute. We've always managed to split the children and have dh sit with one or two and me sit with the other(s).

 

[taximomfor4]

Uh oh... taximomfor4 that brings back memories of your AS post! Don't stress.... keep trying back.

Yep. that AS Situation gets me into stress mode about planning, and quadruple checking EVERYTHING, lol. The end result is that I have planned each aspect of the trip, convinced dh to go again, AND now convinced him to fly. And GUESS WHAT, convinced him to try All Stars resort again...sports this time. WDW would only credit toward an AS stay. But to sweeten the deal for dh, I threw in the second half of the trip at WL. I am THE ONE that nobody wants to stay at a hotel with, or go to a restaurant with anymore. (Something really bad, not petty nit-picking, always goes wrong). The lastest was booking a King Suite at a fancy hotel to treat my dd, and my friend treat her dd. Got there, got our cardkeys, went to our rooom. OOOPS! Room already taken. And they were IN THE ROOM at that time. Of course, hotel booked pretty full. Had to downgrade to a plain old room at RACK RATE since it was last minute.

*crosses fingers* This had BETTER go ok, lol.

 

[Dznypal]

Last year on our family trip to HAwaii our seats were scattred all over the plane!!! (there were 16 of us!!!)

My sisters family my BIL had a seat my two Dnephews (ages 6 and 9) were both by themelves and my sister was to get her seat at check in!!!

We werent asking to be sitting all together but at least families with kids together and couples would be nice!!!

Our travel agent was no help either

so----

one nite I spent 45 minutes on the phone with United and got us so families with kids were together and couples.
The guy was great---he kept apolizing for the taking so long!!!

I know how annoying it is but somehow it works out!!!

 

[aubriee]

don't stress. We had a similar experience last year, and everyone was very willing to move around to accomodate us(3 boys 4, 7 and 8) ..... let's face it--other passangers didn't want to have to chat and play with kids that weren't theirs if they didn't have to!

Totally different scenario, but this post reminded me of my trip this past May. I had purposely bought a window seat in a row where someone else had bought an aisle seat, hoping no one would buy the center seat, so I could have more room to spread out and hopefully have a quiet flight. No such luck! A very nice young man wound up between me and a young lady who was flying her 7 month old godchild back to meet up with his parents in Florida, who had gone on a cruise. This poor young lady had no business flying, as she was so sick she could barely hold her head up. To help her out the young man and I were twiddling our fingers at the baby to keep him occupied, when all of a sudden the young lady jumped up, dropped the baby in the young man's lap and ran for the restroom. The look of shock on both the baby's face and that young man's face was priceless. I immediately reached for the baby and we were able to keep him occupied, while the young lady spent most of the trip in the restroom. She was so grateful for us babysitting him, but I couldn't help but wonder what the baby's mother would have thought about total strangers on a plane taking care of her infant. The baby was wonderful by the way, only getting fussy, while I was trying to give him a bottle while landing (to keep his ears from popping).

 

[owtrbnks]

JUST ANOTHER REASON TO ALWAYS FLY SWA!!!

 

[k_k_100]

A couple of years ago I was traveling alone w/ my then 7 month old who had her own seat. When we checked in we were told we would have to talk to the gate agent. At the gate the agent told me we would have to ask the flight attendent to move people around. I just smiled and calmly told her "no problem, I don't really need to nurse during the flight - I have plenty of milk pumped for the flight - I'm sure the person next to my infant would have no problem giving her the bottle & I'll give them plenty of diapers - that it would give me a great chance to catch up on some sleep" *poof* we were upgraded to first class - sitting together!

 

[manning]

A couple of years ago I was traveling alone w/ my then 7 month old who had her own seat. When we checked in we were told we would have to talk to the gate agent. At the gate the agent told me we would have to ask the flight attendent to move people around. I just smiled and calmly told her "no problem, I don't really need to nurse during the flight - I have plenty of milk pumped for the flight - I'm sure the person next to my infant would have no problem giving her the bottle & I'll give them plenty of diapers - that it would give me a great chance to catch up on some sleep" *poof* we were upgraded to first class - sitting together!

Now that's a funny one. Sometimes you wonder were common sense has gone to!!