RANT: I don't care if you want to sit next to your kids on the airplane

[LiveYourLife]

In that case the priority should go to the people who were bumped from their original flight like a line.
And to put it simply yes assuming the parent had arranged on their original flight to be booked next to her child that is more of a priority than an adult just wanting to sit in that seat because they like ti better.

I can assure you that I am not sitting in a seat on an airplane because "I like it better". I've paid extra for that seat, in some cases as much as $200.00 on top of my airfare and baggage fees.

So, do pray tell, if you've invested $200.00 extra for your seat would you still feel the same? I ask this because you've skipped over this minor detail in every one of your responses, and it is not as simple as adults being selfish over a seat on a plane and they just need to get over it and immediately move for a family that wants to sit together (insert whatever reason here).

 

[mummabear]

I can assure you that I am not sitting in a seat on an airplane because "I like it better". I've paid extra for that seat, in some cases as much as $200.00 on top of my airfare and baggage fees.

So, do pray tell, if you've invested $200.00 extra for your seat would you still feel the same? I ask this because you've skipped over this minor detail in every one of your responses, and it is not as simple as adults being selfish over a seat on a plane and they just need to get over it and immediately move for a family that wants to sit together (insert whatever reason here).

If you had read the post I quoted you would have noted a point covered several times in this thread. For all you know the mother that the OP is complaining about did book and pay extra for her seats on her original flight which was cancelled by the storm.
The previous poster asked how the airline should prioritise who gets the seat that they paid extra for since both people has. My opinion is the mother for 2 reasons a) her flight was first as in a line if the OP wanted that seat so much they could wait for a flight where it is available and b) in the case where both people have paid extra for the seat: a parent sitting next to their child is more important than a adult just wanting that seat because "they paid for it" but the airline should refund them the extra cost

 

[maxiesmom]

I'd like to know too how they differentiate between who is in a seat because they like it more, and who is in a seat because they have a need of it. Such as a family member who needs assistance, needs assistance themselves, or who has an anxiety and need to be where they are. Are they supposed to hold up the flight while they quiz everyone, or will it be the child's needs are supreme and who cares about the rest of you? Ridiculous.

 

[LiveYourLife]

If you had read the post I quoted you would have noted a point covered several times in this thread. For all you know the mother that the OP is complaining about did book and pay extra for her seats on her original flight which was cancelled by the storm.
The previous poster asked how the airline should prioritise who gets the seat that they paid extra for since both people has. My opinion is the mother for 2 reasons a) her flight was first as in a line if the OP wanted that seat so much they could wait for a flight where it is available and b) in the case where both people have paid extra for the seat: a parent sitting next to their child is more important than a adult just wanting that seat because "they paid for it" but the airline should refund them the extra cost

I'm not referring to the situation that the OP posted, nor am I trying to dissect it, as I pretty much know it really didn't happen.

I understand if you don't want to answer how you would handle a situation (not the OP's situation) where you paid extra for a seat and then were asked to move so a family could sit together (again not the OP's situation). I already know what your answer would be

 

[Allison]

No way should someone from an earlier flight get priority over someone originally on a flight. That doesn't make sense.

 

[jdb in AZ]

No way should someone from an earlier flight get priority over someone originally on a flight. That doesn't make sense.

Agreed. Especially if someone is already sitting in the seat on the flight they paid for. When weather problems cancel flights, the airlines often take days to get back to normal, but they don't do it by bumping passengers from unaffected flights.

 

[jrmasm]

No way should someone from an earlier flight get priority over someone originally on a flight. That doesn't make sense.

Agreed. That idea is just crazy!

 

[JoeA]

Never seen air masks deploy on a school bus, you?

I've flown well in excess of 1M miles on United alone. Who knows how many on feeder flights, etc, and the only time I've seen an air mask is during the pre-flight song and dance.

If I was sitting next to a kid, either because they were traveling alone or got separated (on purpose or accident) then I'd like to think I could help the kid out. After I put the mask on myself first, of course.

 

[mummabear]

I'm not referring to the situation that the OP posted, nor am I trying to dissect it, as I pretty much know it really didn't happen.

I understand if you don't want to answer how you would handle a situation (not the OP's situation) where you paid extra for a seat and then were asked to move so a family could sit together (again not the OP's situation). I already know what your answer would be

I'm not sure what you mean by that? I am all for families sitting together, as long as it wasn't separating me from my own kids.

I live in a country where airlines don't shake you down for everything they can, checked bags are normally included, seats are assigned by grouping and don't require to pay extra to get, food/drink sevice is complementary.
I find it Anti family to force people to pay more so they can supervise their children. Would you really trust someone with an attitude like the OP to take care of them in an emergency and if something terrible did happen I would like to be able to comfort my children, I don't think that is so unrealistic or unreasonable.

 

[mummabear]

No way should someone from an earlier flight get priority over someone originally on a flight. That doesn't make sense.

To me it does make sense instead of saying flight A was cancelled now flight B is going and flight A people have to fit around and get screwed over twice (by being late and by loosing the seats they have paid for), I would see it as Flight A is due to go first so the next flight is really still flight A.

 

[goofy !]

To me it does make sense instead of saying flight A was cancelled now flight B is going and flight A people have to fit around and get screwed over twice (by being late and by loosing the seats they have paid for), I would see it as Flight A is due to go first so the next flight is really still flight A.

I don't agree at all.

Couple of weekends ago I traveled out of town with my special needs daughter. There was a huge storm predicted at home for the day we were going to fly back.

Sure enough, flights started being canceled the night before. Mine wasn't canceled yet, but I fully expected my flight to be canceled by the time I got to the airport. I packed our carry ons with that expectation.

Luckily our flight was the last one out before everything into our home airport was canceled. I can assure you that even though I was traveling with a daughter with special needs, it never occurred to me to think that if my flight was canceled that I would be more entitled to a seat on the next flight than the original person with that seat. My flight would have been the one canceled, so it would have been "sucks to be me. "

I packed my bags with the expectation that we might have an extended time in the airport before two seats would be available that would fit my needs.

Sorry, thinking that one person's wants supercede another person's wants just because they are a parent is too entitled for my taste.

 

[NHdisneylover]

To me it does make sense instead of saying flight A was cancelled now flight B is going and flight A people have to fit around and get screwed over twice (by being late and by loosing the seats they have paid for), I would see it as Flight A is due to go first so the next flight is really still flight A.

But there is basically never a "new" flight added in to make up for the cancelled flight--they just fill in holes in remaining existing flights to fit people in.

So, by your logic, on the one flight per day DEN to FRA on Lufthansa, for example:

a snow storm on a Monday in early December results in a cancellation. Now everyone from Monday was screwed over and must fly Tuesday. Everyone from Tuesday is also screwed over and must now fly Wednesday, resulting in moving everyone from Wednesday to Thursday, and so one indefinitely--ALL passengers for the foreseeable future of booked flights are now screwed over. You are talking about wreaking having on the schedules of many thousands of people, not just the few hundred from one flight. And if another storm hits two weeks later and results in another cancellation, everyone is then flying two days later than planned. And so on.

And, as an airline, you have just lost pretty much all of your better revenue generating business flyers to some airline which is not going to jerk people around like this. Business people really cannot have this--my husband flies nearly every week, I cannot imagine the jigsaw that his travel already is being complicated by shifting travel days constantly due to cancelled flights in all regions in the world. It is not even logistically possible (even less so when you consider that many people will have connecting flights to take into consideration)

The current system of rebooking people from a cancelled flight int existing flights in empty seats, even though it can result in splitting up parties and sometimes in waits of a few days when weather has been really bad and flights are going very full (like around Christmas) causes the fewest disruptions overall to the fewest people. It stinks when you are hte ones stuck (been there, done that) but that is a chance you take and it IS the most logical and least disruptive system, so you (or at least I) deal with it.

 

[Allons-y!]

To me it does make sense instead of saying flight A was cancelled now flight B is going and flight A people have to fit around and get screwed over twice (by being late and by loosing the seats they have paid for), I would see it as Flight A is due to go first so the next flight is really still flight A.

That isn't how it works. The logistical nightmare that would be caused by the scenario you propose is staggering. Do you really not see that it isn't as simple as shifting people from one flight to the next??

 

[kaytieeldr]

I find it Aneed tnti family to force people to pay more so they can supervise their children.

Expecting people who want their families seated together to pay the same as - not more than - any/every other passenger who doesn't want to leave seat assignment to chance isn't anti-family. It's completely reasonable.

To me it does make sense instead of saying flight A was cancelled now flight B is going and flight A people have to fit around and get screwed over twice (by being late and by loosing the seats they have paid for), I would see it as Flight A is due to go first so the next flight is really still flight A.

No. Just no. There is no more fight A once flight A is cancelled. You may want to consider running your own airline with your suggested business plan.

 

[mjkacmom]

To me it does make sense instead of saying flight A was cancelled now flight B is going and flight A people have to fit around and get screwed over twice (by being late and by loosing the seats they have paid for), I would see it as Flight A is due to go first so the next flight is really still flight A.

That's not how it works - that would be a logistical nightmare! Thousands would be disrupted, especially with connecting flights.

 

[PollyannaMom]

...I live in a country where airlines don't shake you down for everything they can, checked bags are normally included, seats are assigned by grouping and don't require to pay extra to get, food/drink service is complementary....

I wish it was like that here. Hidden charges really bug me, too!

...I find it Anti family to force people to pay more so they can supervise their children...

Expecting people who want their families seated together to pay the same as - not more than - any/every other passenger...

But on my last flight, My family did have to pay more to sit together. There were plenty of "regular" seats scattered about the plane, but the only ones in blocks of three happened to be several rows of "board-early, extra-legroom" type seats. We decided to pay the difference because we felt like starting off our vacation together. (Thankfully, DS is old enough that it wasn't absolutely necessary. - But if he was little, I would have felt obligated.)

And please don't say I just need to book earlier. Not everyone has the option, because of work and family situations, to book trips several months out as soon as the flight is open. I also already realize the airline doesn't control my other circumstances, and that I choose fly anyway. All I'm saying is I wish all the seats really were (and really cost) the same, but that it isn't really true.

 

[PollyannaMom]

To me it does make sense instead of saying flight A was cancelled now flight B is going and flight A people have to fit around and get screwed over twice (by being late and by loosing the seats they have paid for), I would see it as Flight A is due to go first so the next flight is really still flight A.

But that would cause a domino effect nightmare! As soon as one flight had a problem, every other subsequent flight would be changed, and nobody would ever be on time. They really have to try to keep as many on their original plan as possible, and fit the ones that got messed up back in.

 

[NHdisneylover]

But on my last flight, My family did have to pay more to sit together. There were plenty of "regular" seats scattered about the plane, but the only ones in blocks of three happened to be several rows of "board-early, extra-legroom" type seats. We decided to pay the difference because we felt like starting off our vacation together. (Thankfully, DS is old enough that it wasn't absolutely necessary. - But if he was little, I would have felt obligated.)
.

But as a family, you did not have to pay more to e seated next to one another than any other people who booked at that time would have to pay to be seated together, or in those particular seats for whatever reason they might want to be there (to sit next to a friend, next to an adult who needs care, sit in a row they prefer, etc). It is not a fee only levied on families, just a fee for those particular seats--which is what I took away as being the point.

 

[PollyannaMom]

But as a family, you did not have to pay more to e seated next to one another than any other people who booked at that time would have to pay to be seated together, or in those particular seats for whatever reason they might want to be there (to sit next to a friend, next to an adult who needs care, sit in a row they prefer, etc). It is not a fee only levied on families, just a fee for those particular seats--which is what I took away as being the point.

Oh, I agree that it effects anyone trying to book as a group, not just families! My point is that designated extra-cost seats break up the "map" so there are fewer same-cost "blocks" available at all. The standard game of "Seat Tetris" gets more complicated and fewer options are available if the seats are chopped up into different types.

 

[piccolopat]

If you had read the post I quoted you would have noted a point covered several times in this thread. For all you know the mother that the OP is complaining about did book and pay extra for her seats on her original flight which was cancelled by the storm.
The previous poster asked how the airline should prioritise who gets the seat that they paid extra for since both people has. My opinion is the mother for 2 reasons a) her flight was first as in a line if the OP wanted that seat so much they could wait for a flight where it is available and b) in the case where both people have paid extra for the seat: a parent sitting next to their child is more important than a adult just wanting that seat because "they paid for it" but the airline should refund them the extra cost

Everyone knows that passengers from cancelled flights are fit into other flights and don't get priority over people on those later flights. If this mother didn't like the seating situation on the flight they were rescheduled to, she had the option of declining and asking for a flight where she would be guaranteed a seat next to her child. This entitlement mentality drives me crazy.