Possibly not sitting with children on airplane

[NotUrsula]

The airline is not going to have the ability to tend to the unaccompanied minor without previous reservation (and the fee associated to it) so it is their policy to ensure that rearranging of seats does not result in an unaccompanied minor situation.

Which would be nice, but it would appear that they were falsely reassuring you by splitting hairs. The tricky part is the definition of "unaccompanied". The standard on U.S. carriers is that the word is usually interpreted as "not seated in the same class cabin." There is no rule on any U.S. carrier that I know of that says that a child who is over 5 years old is counted as "unaccompanied" if not seated contiguously with an adult in the child's party, so long as an adult from that party is seated somewhere in the same-class cabin.

The only US federal law that applies to the contiguous seating position of children is in regard to the use of carseats: 14CFR121.311 *does* require that a child in a carseat be seated contiguously with a supervising adult, because in the event of an emergency evacuation the child will not be able to get out of the seat unaided. In such cases the FA is empowered to *force* someone to trade seats.

FA's will usually try asking nicely and sometimes bribing with free drinks, and most of the time it works when kids are younger than school-age. If the child is older than that you are depending on the kindness of strangers, because FA's really don't have the power to force it except in a very few special situations.

 

[3DisneyBuggs]

that it all works out.

 

[ducklite]

I'm so sorry to hear that so many of you have had bad experiences when it comes to seating.

As a flight attendant(SWA), I will not allow a plane to push back from a gate without parent and child seated together. As a mother I know how important it is to me, and therefore make it a mandatory on my plane.

I simply make an announcement that unless you are "willing to babysit for the next __ minutes/hours" I suggest you volunteer and move. I have even forced the plane into oversell...once(don't ask, it was awful).

But you simply can't force someone to attend to another persons kids. Because the flights to MCO are often 80% kids, you could often be hard pressed to seat a late arriving/boarding family together. It's the luck of the draw sometimes. Once you've got your solo adults seated in the exit rows, there's not much you can do. And like I said, you simply can't (nor would you want to try to) force someone to take care of someone elses kid. Because of people like the the earlier poster who implied that everyone on the plane was a child molester, there's no way I would even talk to someone elses child except to maybe give them a little smile when they sat down. I don't need some crazy stressed out mother trying to say I did something untoward to their child. I'd rather err on the side of caution and pretend the child wasn't there. Sad that some parents have ruined a lot of things for everyone.

Not trying to argue, but last I knew that was a pilot/ATC decision to push back, not the FA's. I've been on SW flights that did push back with families scattered--including one in a child seat occupying a window seat with the closest parent a good four rows away. The flight was already late and I've never seen FA's toss people into seats so fast in my life. They were still securing the child seat as we were pushing back. After we got into the air the person in the seat next to the kid switched with the father, the person in the aisle was with the child in the aisle across from them and obviously not willing to switch--so the four year old sat alone about six rows away during the entire flight.

Anne

 

[perdidochas]

Hopefully someone will move and help you out. I had this happen to me once.

Me and DS 4 (at the time) were flying for Thanksgiving. We both ended up with aisle seat a couple rows apart with him being behind me. I begged and pleaded and no one wanted to give up their window seat. It was 2 seats on either side 4 in a row.

It was a very early morning flight and everyone wanted to sleep. So....the guy that DS ended up sitting next to that didn't want to trade had a VERY bad flight. DS wouldn't let him sleep, kept messing with the window, took his magazine, spilled his OJ. He kept looking at me to do something and I didn't. I just sat there and smiled. When he spilled the OJ (it was a bumpy flight) I just got up and went to the bathroom.

When the plane landed and everyone around us was PO'd I just smiled and said happy thanksgiving, maybe next time you'll move.

I don't normally let DS act that way but I let it slide and he knew he could get away with more and he did. I was more than happy to let him be. If they don't accomodate you at first they probably will after they realize they'll have to handle the kid themself.

I think you did the best thing. I have no doubts that next time in that situation, he will be asking the parent to trade seats.....

 

[perdidochas]

That was INCREDIBLY RUDE and someday that karma will pay you back. A four year old is certainly old enmough to have manners to not behave like that. Shame on you for allowing it.

Anne

Karma paid the man back. Anybody that would refuse to trade seats with a mother separated from their child deserves to sit next to an antsy kid.

 

[jodifla]

Which would be nice, but it would appear that they were falsely reassuring you by splitting hairs. The tricky part is the definition of "unaccompanied". The standard on U.S. carriers is that the word is usually interpreted as "not seated in the same class cabin." There is no rule on any U.S. carrier that I know of that says that a child who is over 5 years old is counted as "unaccompanied" if not seated contiguously with an adult in the child's party, so long as an adult from that party is seated somewhere in the same-class cabin.

The only US federal law that applies to the contiguous seating position of children is in regard to the use of carseats: 14CFR121.311 *does* require that a child in a carseat be seated contiguously with a supervising adult, because in the event of an emergency evacuation the child will not be able to get out of the seat unaided. In such cases the FA is empowered to *force* someone to trade seats.

FA's will usually try asking nicely and sometimes bribing with free drinks, and most of the time it works when kids are younger than school-age. If the child is older than that you are depending on the kindness of strangers, because FA's really don't have the power to force it except in a very few special situations.

Hmm. I thought passengers had to do whatever flight attendants asked you to do?

Why would this case be any different? If you don't have a right to any seat, just a seat on the plane, it seems as though a FA would be perfectly within his/her rights to move people around to accommodate a small child.

 

[ducklite]

Hmm. I thought passengers had to do whatever flight attendants asked you to do?

Why would this case be any different? If you don't have a right to any seat, just a seat on the plane, it seems as though a FA would be perfectly within his/her rights to move people around to accommodate a small child.

They will often ask a passenger to move to accomodate a parent with a SMALL child--four and under. For a child over four the FA will generally tell the parent to try to get a fellow passenger to move, they generally won't get involved unless the child has speicla needs.

Once a passenger is in their assigned seat, a FA will generally never insist that they move if they don't want to.

Anne

 

[bumbershoot]

I am only slightly concerned about this because on our return trip we are flying SW for the first time, so will not have assigned seats. However, all of my children but DD6 would be fine sitting by themselves. What bothers me about this type of situation is - what type of person, especially when asked nicely, would not give up their seat so that a mother could sit with a small child? That is very sad.

The SW flights I've been on since having DS they have allowed people traveling with children to board first (well, after the people with physical difficulties, that is). So you get first-ish pick, really.

And if you don't want to take advantage of that, be sure to check in online 24 hours before your flight to get in the A group, and if you can't do that, get there as early as possible, so you're boarding as early as you can!


As for the not moving thing...to me moving seats on a plane was no biggie when I was single, and really, wouldn't be THAT big a deal nowadays, as long as DS was with DH or me, and as long as DH's new seat-partner wouldn't be bothered by his broad shoulders and sumo wrestler physique (I have to squish myself to give him shoulder room, LOL).

However, I know people who wouldn't, and I don't think it's necessarily wrong of them. They made their life decisions, and they don't want to be negatively affected by the decisions that other people made. Of course, in reality, we're ALL impacted by the decisions of others, even when in our own homes (someone else usually designed our homes, afterall, and made decisions in building etc), and I know a couple of people who don't like to admit THAT and feel that ALL interactions with children are negative, but still, I think that we should all try to reduce our impact on others, b/c our decisions were not theirs. (Ha, tell that to me 12 years ago while traveling overnight to Ireland, next to the drunken Irishwoman singing and telling everyone exactly what she was going to do to her boyfriend when she got home...nothing like landing at Shannon to get a rental care with gearshift on left side to drive on the right side of the road, with NO sleep! ...but I digress)

Now THAT was a lovely sentence.


When I was still traveling on those silly airlines that assign seats (personal preference very likely set in motion by dad being a Greyhound driver and spending most of our weekends with him finding seats on his bus), I always saw people moving around for others when requested. If I made a reservation on one of those airlines, I likely wouldn't freak out about seat assignment (one of the reasons I ended up trying SW was b/c I'd make seat "reservations" on other airlines after much thought, and ALWAYS would end up with a different seat, so I had to let go of any expectations), b/c I've seen so many people move in my long history of cross-country travel... Just seems more likely to work out than to not...

 

[kaytieeldr]

It was a very early morning flight and everyone wanted to sleep. So....the guy that DS ended up sitting next to that didn't want to trade had a VERY bad flight. DS wouldn't let him sleep, kept messing with the window, took his magazine, spilled his OJ. He kept looking at me to do something and I didn't. I just sat there and smiled. When he spilled the OJ (it was a bumpy flight) I just got up and went to the bathroom.

When the plane landed and everyone around us was PO'd I just smiled and said happy thanksgiving, maybe next time you'll move.

Truthfully? Not for a passenger with this attitude. How about, “I’m sorry he’s a handful; I know you want the window seat, but if you’d change seats with me I can entertain my son and he won’t bother you or the other passengers”? Or, did you try changing with a passenger in the aisle seat opposite either of you? Your fellow airline passengers are not responsible for airline rescheduling, or plane changes, or seat reassignments.

I'm sorry but like i said before how do I know who is sitting next to my child while I cannot see...NOT going to happen.

Well, how do parents whose kids fly unaccompanied know who their kids’ seatmates are? At least you’re on the same plane as your kid/s; they CAN go to you if there’s a problem.

As my children would say it's just not fair though - you followed all the rules and did everything why are we being punished. That is how I feel. It's good that it is not their first flight and we will survive.

But you’re not being punished. ALL an airline ticket entitles you to is transportation from point A to point B on (ideally) the scheduled day.

You’re missing ducklite’s point. Your post makes it appear that you automatically assume that if your child is not seated next to you, she/he will therefore be seated next to a molester. THAT assumption, the one that accuses all your fellow passengers of being a danger to your child, is ducklite’s issue.

Sorry but if you read the OP's post you would know that her 6 year old has sensory issues.. [/quote=mrs.magoo]I have 4 children - the oldest is 9 and the youngest is 4. My 6 year old has some sensory issues

You could be partly right. We know the OP has a nine year old, a six year old, and a four year old – and a child whose age we don’t know. If that fourth child is over six, ducklite’s response is completely sensible. If the fourth child is five, well, okay, yeah – the scenario doesn’t quite work, although there’s no apparent reason the nine year old and the five year old can’t sit alone together on the flight.

She told me that that most people will move willingly but if they do not do so they will just move them and then give them an incentive (future upgrade, free drinks at an airport lounge, etc.)

Um, did she explain “future upgrade”? JetBlue only has one class of service (at this point, and since they started flying). Does JetBlue have some announcement coming…?
===================

Okay, now: The OP probably has less to worry about overall than she thinks. Most airlines do not assign exit-row seating until you get to the airport; therefore, probably a half-dozen passengers will be changing seats when they check in for the flight, opening up other seats for parties like the OP’s. This doesn’t mean all six will be together, but there’s always some seat-juggling going on. In addition, I don’t know if JetBlue is one of these, but many airlines only preassign a certain number or certain percentage of seats; the rest are assigned at the airport. The “get there early” advice is the best you’ll get – even though you have connecting flights. It’s extremely possible that an airport Agent will be able to help you with seating on both legs.

 

[leighe]

I have no respect for any adult who think their own selfish needs trump the needs of a small child to sit next to his/her parent. (The only exception is someone with a medical need to sit in a certain seat.)

I have a hard time respecting parents who seem to believe their child's needs trump the rights of anyone else - and I'm a parent myself. If this happened to me and my kids I would hope for the best and do everything I could to make things easier for my kids without inconviencing everyone around me.

 

[Captain_Hook]

I used to fly alone often to visit my parents in Florida. I ALWAYS was willing to switch seats with anyone who needed to for whatever reason.

I wouldn't worry too much about this. I think there are alot of people who don't care where they sit on a plane as much as they care about just getting to where they are going!

 

[ducklite]

I am only slightly concerned about this because on our return trip we are flying SW for the first time, so will not have assigned seats. However, all of my children but DD6 would be fine sitting by themselves. What bothers me about this type of situation is - what type of person, especially when asked nicely, would not give up their seat so that a mother could sit with a small child? That is very sad.

I disagree. If I spend the time to check in online and get an "A" boarding pass, get to the airport two hours early to sit in line, get the seat I want, I'm NOT giving it up because some family decided to ride Dumbo a few more times then stop for ice cream at Beaches and Cream before heading to the airport, knowing that they had "C" passes because they didn't bother to either have someone check them in from home, or take time out of their day the day before to get checked in at guest services or a business center someplace. I'm not the one being selfish in this case.

Anne

 

[ducklite]

I have a hard time respecting parents who seem to believe their child's needs trump the rights of anyone else - and I'm a parent myself. If this happened to me and my kids I would hope for the best and do everything I could to make things easier for my kids without inconviencing everyone around me.

Anne

 

[FayeW]

I think some of you are getting carried away over nothing. It isn't a matter of a child's wants/needs/desires trumping that of an adult who planned ahead; it is a matter of common courtesy and basic human decency. Sure, the kid is probably going to be just fine without Mom or Dad sitting next to him...but isn't everybody going to have a more pleasant flight because they ARE sitting next to him?

Personally, I think that karma kicked that guy right in the butt, and he got exactly what he deserved for being a rude, selfish jerk.

My kids have sat apart from us on the plane. Our daughter was a couple of rows away and had a great time watching TV and getting snacks (she likes JetBlue's blue chips). Wasn't a big deal (although my kids are 10 & 12, so they aren't "little").

 

[jodifla]

I have a hard time respecting parents who seem to believe their child's needs trump the rights of anyone else - and I'm a parent myself. If this happened to me and my kids I would hope for the best and do everything I could to make things easier for my kids without inconviencing everyone around me.

And if the child in question is a 6 year old special needs child, I expect the adult to do the right thing and switch places.


As another poster said, it's called commony decency.

 

[NotUrsula]

... would I leave my child alone away from my watchful eye for 3 hours (that is how long my flight is) and to say that the other people on the plane would stop something innapropriate may be true but what happens if ...

The truth is that paranoid parents almost always become aisle-loiterers during flights where they are separated from kids that they don't trust to behave, so I'm sure it would probably work the other way 'round, too. They spend most of the flight standing up in the aisle watching little Jimmy like a hawk, and only sit down when the seatbelt light is on. I'm sure the FA's don't hate that any less than you would.

 

[ducklite]

I think some of you are getting carried away over nothing. It isn't a matter of a child's wants/needs/desires trumping that of an adult who planned ahead; it is a matter of common courtesy and basic human decency. Sure, the kid is probably going to be just fine without Mom or Dad sitting next to him...but isn't everybody going to have a more pleasant flight because they ARE sitting next to him?

The lack of common courtesy and basic decency are with the parents who don't plan appropriately, not with the travelers who do. IMHO parents who arrive late for reasons other than a late arriving connection and can't deal with their kids should be forced to take another flight rather than disrupt an entire plane. In Orlando you can tell that it wasn't a late arriving connection when they board with huge bags of Disney souvieniers. I have no sympathy--or empathy--for those parents who didn't bother to plan accordingly for whatever reason. My time and comfort is just as valuable.

Anne

 

[mrs. magoo]

So as the OP I have learned quite about the travel industry and flying. I know that everything will work out. I will warn the oldest 2 that they may have to seat by themselves and make sure the flight attendants know about my dd6 "special issues".

I am from the camp that I would not want someone else to watch my kids. That is why I picked the seats 8 months ago. I understand that my ticket did not guarentee the seats then why have the choice to pick the seats in the first place? This is the problem I have. When I told the women that I had a print out of all the seating assignments she did hesitate a bit, but offered no real help.

Again thanks for the help. I will let everyone know how things went when we return.

Kathe

 

[hollieplus2]

I disagree. If I spend the time to check in online and get an "A" boarding pass, get to the airport two hours early to sit in line, get the seat I want, I'm NOT giving it up because some family decided to ride Dumbo a few more times then stop for ice cream at Beaches and Cream before heading to the airport, knowing that they had "C" passes because they didn't bother to either have someone check them in from home, or take time out of their day the day before to get checked in at guest services or a business center someplace. I'm not the one being selfish in this case.

Anne

I agree with you completely

 

[jodifla]

The lack of common courtesy and basic decency are with the parents who don't plan appropriately, not with the travelers who do. IMHO parents who arrive late for reasons other than a late arriving connection and can't deal with their kids should be forced to take another flight rather than disrupt an entire plane. In Orlando you can tell that it wasn't a late arriving connection when they board with huge bags of Disney souvieniers. I have no sympathy--or empathy--for those parents who didn't bother to plan accordingly for whatever reason. My time and comfort is just as valuable.

Anne

But in this situation, it wasn't a matter of being late to the plane. It was a matter of being jerked around by the airline...

I know when this happened to your family, you took a later plane. I doubt that would work as well today, since planes are so full.