Pre Booking Seats on flights??

[thebadger]

Had an email from Thomas cook today saying to check my itinerary for my flight as "seats were booking up fast"

We are travelling as a party of 4 , 2 x adults, 1 x 16 year old , 1 x 7 year old. Would they split us up as a group?

Pre selecting our seats comes in at £75 just to have Mrs badger and the kids in a row and me next to them on an aisle seat.

I would say there's about 50% of seats left on the plane.

Having only flew trans-atlantic twice before is this just a money making exercise or would pre booking be beneficial?

I think when we flew to Canada (4 years ago now) we just made sure we were close to the front for check in and got seated together but Mrs B is adamant(lines on her face and everything , bad joke I know ) that we pre booked seats.

What to do??...?? What do you do??

 

[Elise79]

I don't know about Thomas Cook but with Virgin & BA they will ensure that every child under 12 will be seated with an adult but other than that there are no guarantees that the whole group will be seated together if you don't pay to pre-book.

 

[Kath2003]

Had an email from Thomas cook today saying to check my itinerary for my flight as "seats were booking up fast"

We are travelling as a party of 4 , 2 x adults, 1 x 16 year old , 1 x 7 year old. Would they split us up as a group?

Pre selecting our seats comes in at £75 just to have Mrs badger and the kids in a row and me next to them on an aisle seat.

I would say there's about 50% of seats left on the plane.

Having only flew trans-atlantic twice before is this just a money making exercise or would pre booking be beneficial?

I think when we flew to Canada (4 years ago now) we just made sure we were close to the front for check in and got seated together but Mrs B is adamant(lines on her face and everything , bad joke I know ) that we pre booked seats.

What to do??...?? What do you do??

Either you or your wife will be sat next to your seven year old. The rest could be anywhere - you'd have to gamble.

I've always said we would never pay to book seats but having recently flown on long haul flight where there was CHAOS at check-in because seemingly no one was sat with their travelling companion(s), I would now factor this into the cost of my booking if using an airline which charged for seat selection.

 

[chmurf]

There is a reason why cheap (not so cheap actually) flights are cheaper (actually they're not). If you want quality service, peace of mind, and the things you'd expect from a vacation, you'll have to put that hand in your pocket once more, and fish out a couple of bank notes.

That's what TAs and airlines do these days.

They will make sure that, if you don't pay, you don't get seated together, so next time, you'll pay, or you'll tell friends who will pay to avoid the "ordeal".

I would pay the extra fee for seats, and say goodbye to airlines, TAs and those who charge you extra for things that are supposed to be "normal" such as being seated next to one's wife and kids.

What's next ? ... book a restaurant for a party of 4 and pay extra to be assured to eat at the same table or else ...? I'll tell you what, I'm not eating at that restaurant. And if I had to, I'd pay to avoid losing even more, but they'd never see me again.