Seat selection

[22Tink]

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.

I'm flying Westjet with my 8yo next week and I had to pay for our seat selection. Did you book online or on the phone?

 

[AngelDisney]

I'm flying Westjet with my 8yo next week and I had to pay for our seat selection. Did you book online or on the phone?

When I was trying to add seat selection over the phone, the CS representative asked me the age of my daughter. I told her my daughter would be 20 and I knew if she was younger, she would get seat selection for free. I believed she replied with a yes.

 

[22Tink]

When I was trying to add seat selection over the phone, the CS representative asked me the age of my daughter. I told her my daughter would be 20 and I knew if she was younger, she would get seat selection for free. I believed she replied with a yes.

I booked online so maybe that is the difference. Perhaps if I'd booked over the phone it would have been free. It was only $24 for both of us I believe so not a substantial cost but free is still better! I'll have to try calling next time.

 

[Donald - my hero]

Just a heads up for those of you who are flying with WestJet HOME from MCO ... the last 3 years we have flown with a few very annoyed families. WHY? As soon as the announcement was made that "since this is a flight from Orlando and most of you are travelling with young children there will be no pre-boarding for this flight" several feathers were extremely ruffled. The gate crew (who turn into the flight crew for the last flight out) were very diligent at checking boarding passes and did not allow anyone to board before their section was called. (the one exception was the Make a Wish family who were treated like royalty from the gate all the way to Pearson, super impressed with WestJet!)

This year was fine -- flight was maybe 2/3 full but 2 years ago it was packed and there were families begging others to "sell" their pre-paid seats so they could ALL sit together. WestJet did NOT separate young children from an adult, but there were several families who wanted their entire clan sitting together and that wasn't possible.

 

[CdnKayDee]

Yes, we booked on the phone.

 

[grantclaire]

I must have jinxed myself when I started this thread! On Friday at MCO when waiting for our flight back to Toronto my Son and I get paged to the WestJet counter for "A important message" At the counter the agent wants to know if we will move from our seats so a family can sit together. I had prepaid for 7ABCD because the DD17's girlfriend is a nervous flyer and I wanted to be near the front of the plane. I said I would move as long as you give me a good seat! She was able to put me in an emergency row seat with extra legroom. So the Mom and 2 kids did get to sit together and the Dad was in the row with me so it all worked out.

 

[Sue M]

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).

Good to know. I've never flown on an airline that doesn't offer free seat selection. For myself I need to be sitting on the right aisle seat so I can stretch out left leg. Flight to WDW is 6 hrs for us, and no way I can sit with leg bent for that long because of knee surgery. So if I had to I'd pay for seat rather then risk a long painful flight.

 

[Sue M]

I must have jinxed myself when I started this thread! On Friday at MCO when waiting for our flight back to Toronto my Son and I get paged to the WestJet counter for "A important message" At the counter the agent wants to know if we will move from our seats so a family can sit together. I had prepaid for 7ABCD because the DD17's girlfriend is a nervous flyer and I wanted to be near the front of the plane. I said I would move as long as you give me a good seat! She was able to put me in an emergency row seat with extra legroom. So the Mom and 2 kids did get to sit together and the Dad was in the row with me so it all worked out.

I just don't understand why if it's important to a family to sit together why they don't pay for their seats to do so instead of expecting those that did to give them up. But glad you were happy with your new seats.

 

[samsteele]

While not a family story, a few yrs ago I was at the gate in Toronto waiting to board an AC flight to Orlando. A group of sales people traveling together were sitting next to me & one woman announced loudly her seat number and that she wasn't about to be stuck with such a crummy seat in the middle of the row and that she would tell the fool sitting next to her in the aisle seat that she had to switch seats because of med issues. Everyone in their group laughed knowingly and talked away. I overheard her, thought her seat number sounded familiar and sure enough, I was the "fool" in the aisle seat next to her. I waited until we got to our seats and gave her a big smile. She recognized me from the waiting area & kept her head down for the entire flight. So I guess the moral of the story is while its wonderful to do a good turn for someone, not everyone is genuine & deserving.

 

[Sue M]

While not a family story, a few yrs ago I was at the gate in Toronto waiting to board an AC flight to Orlando. A group of sales people traveling together were sitting next to me & one woman announced loudly her seat number and that she wasn't about to be stuck with such a crummy seat in the middle of the row and that she would tell the fool sitting next to her in the aisle seat that she had to switch seats because of med issues. Everyone in their group laughed knowingly and talked away. I overheard her, thought her seat number sounded familiar and sure enough, I was the "fool" in the aisle seat next to her. I waited until we got to our seats and gave her a big smile. She recognized me from the waiting area & kept her head down for the entire flight. So I guess the moral of the story is while its wonderful to do a good turn for someone, not everyone is genuine & deserving.

Hilarious!! You're right, not everyone is genuine. I overheard a couple at DHS while we were getting in line for TSMM. Wife was saying to Husband that he should get in line with their son for TSMM and she wanted to go ride Star Tours then she'd find them in line making the excuse she was using the washroom.