Seat selection

[grantclaire]

Hi all! AM 640 Toronto had a segment on the Stafford show today about online checkin and seat selection. I used to wait until checkin to book a seat on WJ flights to save on fee's but the last couple of flights I could not seat the family all together so now I prepay for seat selection. That was the topic of the show, do you ask at the airport to try to have people move seats? I never did as long one adult was with one of the kids.

 

[hardis5]

I have always been able to sit all together (or in 2 rows behind each other) when doing online check-in right at the 24-hour mark or as close to that time as I can start to check-in but was finding it more difficult and always further back in the plane, so for our most recently booked flights I've broken down to ensure we know where being sat (and check-in can wait till I have time prior to leaving for the airport).

 

[hdrolfe]

Because my kiddo does better near the front of the plane (he gets sick) I now choose to pay and select seats... It's just the two of us travelling together so it hasn't been an issue sitting together.

 

[ottawamom]

If its important that people in your group sit together then you should pay and pre-select seats. I would not travel and expect someone who has paid for pre-selection to move so I, who did not pay, can sit with my traveling companions. I wouldn't leave it to chance at the 24 hour mark.

I traveled in December with a friend who hadn't flown in decades and was very nervous about flying. We didn't pre-pay and initially we were not seated together. I kept checking the seat selection tool and eventually I lucked into two seats together, which I jumped on. If I hadn't we would have had to sit apart because we didn't want to pay the extra to sit together.

 

[Aladora]

If I want to sit together then it is on me to pay and select my seats. The only time I almost made the airline move other people was when I was flying alone with our then 5 year old who had been recently diagnosed as being autistic. I had booked a direct flight from Ottawa to Victoria that had a stop in Toronto. I had paid to select our seats together and when we got to Toronto, we were told to deplane and the gate staff gave us new boarding passes and seats. Problem was, the seats they gave us were not only not together, they were no where near each other! They had us 10 rows apart. Nope, not gonna happen...especially since I had paid for seats together.

 

[lcvb]

I just booked with West Jet for next January and now if you are flying with a child under 12 they provide you with complimentary seat selection at the time of booking. However you are limited to choosing seats in the last few rows.

 

[kerreyn]

We always pay for seat selection. I even prepaid last month when I traveled alone. I like to know where I'm sitting - I prefer a window seat, towards the front of the plane, or the emergency exit for legroom.
We're at the point (and at the age! lol) that my hubby only wants to travel in business class or plus (WJ).

 

[samsteele]

I got burned on a pre-paid seat selection with AC (Rouge) last fall. On the return flight, they changed planes & my seat was no where near what I had pre-selected. To top it off, I had a 6ft man in the seat in front of me recline all the way back even before take-off. When I asked the flight steward to remind him to put his seat up, she declined citing it wasn't an issue. He kept the seat jacked back the entire flight including landing. The Orlando desk would not do anything about the seat/flight change and when I called AC when I got home, they declined to assist advising my concern could only be addressed by email. What a hassle & time drain. I eventually was credited back for the fee but since I often travel solo, IMO just not worth the craziness & poor service. I find if I do my online check-in as soon as it opens up, then I'm good to find a decent aisle seat. For families of 4 plus, then it's more problematic.

 

[BLAZEY]

No, I don't. Many times it has been included in the price I pay in which case I select them at the time of purchase. We are a family of 3 and we don't mind getting split up. DD is seven years old and has flown many times. But I recall Canada has a law on the books say that children can not be seated away from a parent. I always do online check in as soon as it opens up and never have had DD separated from on of us. We as a family may be split up but DD is with one parent.

 

[lost*in*cyberspace]

.... But I recall Canada has a law on the books say that children can not be seated away from a parent.

Actually, such a law does not exist in Canada.

 

[BLAZEY]

Actually, such a law does not exist in Canada.

Sorry, its and existing operating tariff mandated by the CTA Canadian Transport agency. It applies to children under age 12. http://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/british-columbia/air-canada-child-seat-fares-1.3560027

 

[mab2012]

The idea that any airline would try to seat a young child away from his or her parent, whether allowed by law or not, is absurd to me.

I mean, if you want to seat my kid halfway up the plane, go for it, I guess, and we'll see how that works out? I'll have a nice relaxing flight while the lady sitting in row 11 now has to babysit my 6-year-old, who is likely shrieking in distress over being surrounded by strangers. I'm thinking you're going to have a lot more unhappy passengers than just me and my kid.

I do not pay for advance seat selection, on principle. It's an unnecessary cash grab. I don't expect that my family of four will always be seated together, but I do expect that my young children will be seated with a parent. I have never had any problem at all checking in at the 24h mark on WestJet, even on fully booked flights. I have *twice* had issues with Air Canada pre-allocating my family into an emergency exit row, and being unable to change it at the 24h mark because every seat on the plane has been pre-allocated (and I don't believe for a second that every other passenger on that plane either paid for seat selection or got in ahead of me). In both cases, the (grumpy) gate agent had to deal with it. We now avoid flying with Air Canada whenever there is a reasonably priced alternative.

 

[BLAZEY]

The idea that any airline would try to seat a young child away from his or her parent, whether allowed by law or not, is absurd to me.

I mean, if you want to seat my kid halfway up the plane, go for it, I guess, and we'll see how that works out? I'll have a nice relaxing flight while the lady sitting in row 11 now has to babysit my 6-year-old, who is likely shrieking in distress over being surrounded by strangers. I'm thinking you're going to have a lot more unhappy passengers than just me and my kid.

I do not pay for advance seat selection, on principle. It's an unnecessary cash grab. I don't expect that my family of four will always be seated together, but I do expect that my young children will be seated with a parent. I have never had any problem at all checking in at the 24h mark on WestJet, even on fully booked flights. I have *twice* had issues with Air Canada pre-allocating my family into an emergency exit row, and being unable to change it at the 24h mark because every seat on the plane has been pre-allocated (and I don't believe for a second that every other passenger on that plane either paid for seat selection or got in ahead of me). In both cases, the (grumpy) gate agent had to deal with it. We now avoid flying with Air Canada whenever there is a reasonably priced alternative.

I have never had an issue with Air Canada in Canada (the American gate agents in Orlando for a Air Canada flight were not that helpful however to another family, the flight crew was more helpful) DD7 was seated next to me, but DH was across the aisle and up a row. Not ideal but not bad. Ideally all passengers on the same reservation would be seated together, just like the airlines used to do for free when you booked as it doesn't cost anything to do. But realistically for Safety reasons children should be seated next to a parent. I can't help my daughter open something, get something from her bag or help her when her ears hurt if necessary from 6 rows back. Yet a disabled person gets a companion seated next to them to help with many of the same things for no extra charge. In a few years when she is old enough I won't mind her being a couple of row up on her own.

 

[jcourtney]

I just booked for westjet in December and they did not give me free seat selection because of my DS who is 5. I'm hoping we'll get something at 24hrs. Last year we flew with Air Canada and they did give us assigned seats because of DS but I didn't get to choose them and they weren't all together.

 

[piccolopat]

The idea that any airline would try to seat a young child away from his or her parent, whether allowed by law or not, is absurd to me.

I mean, if you want to seat my kid halfway up the plane, go for it, I guess, and we'll see how that works out? I'll have a nice relaxing flight while the lady sitting in row 11 now has to babysit my 6-year-old, who is likely shrieking in distress over being surrounded by strangers. I'm thinking you're going to have a lot more unhappy passengers than just me and my kid.

I do not pay for advance seat selection, on principle. It's an unnecessary cash grab. I don't expect that my family of four will always be seated together, but I do expect that my young children will be seated with a parent. I have never had any problem at all checking in at the 24h mark on WestJet, even on fully booked flights. I have *twice* had issues with Air Canada pre-allocating my family into an emergency exit row, and being unable to change it at the 24h mark because every seat on the plane has been pre-allocated (and I don't believe for a second that every other passenger on that plane either paid for seat selection or got in ahead of me). In both cases, the (grumpy) gate agent had to deal with it. We now avoid flying with Air Canada whenever there is a reasonably priced alternative.

If you don't like paying for seat selection, find an airline that offers it for free. Your child is your responsibility. It is not the airline's responsibility to make sure you are seated together (unless there is a law) It is completely rude and disrespectful to expect other people to deal with your child's angst just because a person is too cheap to make sure their seats are together. What kind of parent expects a stranger to comfort their child? No one likes to pay more than they have to but this shouldn't come at the expense of other people's ability to travel comfortably or your child's emotional wellbeing.

 

[mab2012]

If you don't like paying for seat selection, find an airline that offers it for free. Your child is your responsibility. It is not the airline's responsibility to make sure you are seated together (unless there is a law) It is completely rude and disrespectful to expect other people to deal with your child's angst just because a person is too cheap to make sure their seats are together. What kind of parent expects a stranger to comfort their child? No one likes to pay more than they have to but this shouldn't come at the expense of other people's ability to travel comfortably or your child's emotional wellbeing.

I guess you missed the irony? Your interpretation of my post is so far off base that I can't even be offended.

Of course I don't expect someone else to comfort my child. As if.

You're welcome to your own opinion on the reasonableness of seat selection fees. IMO it's a mess of the airline's own making, and they are absolutely responsible for dealing with the completely forseeable and inevitable fallout, law or not. And that means making sure that small children are ALWAYS seated with a parent, period.

 

[michelb]

I just booked for westjet in December and they did not give me free seat selection because of my DS who is 5. I'm hoping we'll get something at 24hrs. Last year we flew with Air Canada and they did give us assigned seats because of DS but I didn't get to choose them and they weren't all together.

As others have mentioned, some airlines have different ages for unaccompanied minors but I believe by law, they can't sit children under 10 or 12 alone - some airlines (e.g. AllegiantAir I believe, set the age to 15). I've asked in the past (I forgot which airline) and they told us, if they don't have seats together, they will move people to accommodate so you do not have to buy seat selection to insure that kids are not sitting alone. That said, it doesn't mean they will sit your whole group together (i.e. for a family of 5 - 2 adults, 3 kids ( 17, 15, 10), they are only required to sit the 10 year old with an adult and the other adult and older kids could be elsewhere in the plane and not together.

 

[Sue M]

I would always pay for seat selection if I had to, esp if it were important to me to sit with family, or traveling with a child. I'd never ask others who paid for seat selection to move. I mostly fly Alaska and they don't charge extra.

For the AC traveller, I've never heard of being able to recline during take off or landing. Every flight I've been on, the flight attendants always walk down the aisle asking everyone to put tray tables up and seat up. I'm surprised to hear they let this man recline on take off and landing.

The issue of passengers reclining seat on flight is personal. It's not the passengers fault the airlines now have the seats so close together and keep taking away leg room. Now adding economy "plus" to first 10 rows at the expense of the back half of plane, giving even less leg room. Flying now is a misery to be endured. Reclining a seat never used to be an issue, until airlines turned planes into flying sardine cans.
For me, to sit straight up on a 6 hr flight gives me back pain. I do recline my seat. And take Advil before flight to take away some of the discomfort.

 

[michelb]

I would always pay for seat selection if I had to, esp if it were important to me to sit with family, or traveling with a child. I'd never ask others who paid for seat selection to move. I mostly fly Alaska and they don't charge extra.
...

Just so there's no misunderstanding, you wouldn't be the one asking someone to move, the airline would and they'd most likely do it on check-in or before boarding. Also if they didn't have seats available, they'd likely ask for people that don't mind or find a single traveler next to an empty seat and they would likely find people that didn't pay for seat selection either so it's not quite as bad as it sounds. Also, I believe that they check this when they assign the seats in the first place so probably rarely an issue.

Just browsing through my emails, since 2010, I have 18 confirmation emails for flights with AllegiantAir and I've never paid for seat assignment (I thought I might have done it once but none of my emails show paid seat selection) and I don't believe we've ever had to ask to have our seats moved (our kids are now 11 and 7).

 

[CdnKayDee]

We also just booked with WestJet with our children and get free seat selection. Also, they happen to be the best seat we have ever got on a flight! We normally waited till the 24 hours.