Seats together on plane to WDW

[Pooh Crew]

I have heard a couple horror stories about people being separated from their young children on planes and either no one was willing to trade seats with them or the flight attendants told them they could not change seats...not sure about the exact reasons, but the end result was that one or more of their young children was seated alone on a plane. Anyway, I have our e-tickets and seat assignments from American, but my question is how do I ensure that our seats do not change between now and October??? Any suggestions? We have five year old triplets and a four year old and, call me crazy, but I want them seated by me.

 

[Lisa loves Pooh]

I want to say that FAA prohibits children from sitting alone at such a young age.

You really can't ensure much except to arrive VERY early to the airport---and when the ticket agent sees you with tots in tow---they will shift seats around (by swapping those who do not have boarding passes yet).

 

[Colinsmom]

Once I've had seat assignments, I've never had a problem with "losing" them before the flight. Though if you arrive late at the airport, you could lose them, or if your flight is cancelled.

I can't imagine an airline employee separating children that young from their parents on a plan unless it was a dire situation. And even then, most passengers will trade seats either out of compassion or so that THEY don't have to sit by your young child for the whole flight!

Bottom line, I think that the chances of this are so incredibly slim that is isn't worth worrying about (except be sure that you get to the airport with plenty of time to spare)!

 

[Iluvthemouse]

I just wanted to say this has happened to us on many levels.

One of the main reasons I wont fly Usair anymore is because of seating problems.

1.--We (DH, 3yo DD, and I) had seat numbers prior to checking in. We checked in 2.5 hours early and our aisle seat was given to a "frequent flyer" thus separating our trio. (air to Cancun)

2---Called night before and reconfirmed our seats and flights. The next morning we checked in 2.5 hours early and noticed our boarding passes had different seat numbers. We (DH, 4yo and I ) have the same last name but we were each seated separately. I questioned them and he said I would have to check at the gate. Went to the gate and tried to explain that my 4yo was NOT sitting alone and his reply "Usair only guarantees you a seat, not that the seats will be together". Suffice it to say, our seats were together by the time we got on the plane. (air to Punta Cana)

9 times out of 10, if you have seat numbers you will be fine unless you are traveling UsAir then the rate goes to 1 time out of 10. LOL

 

[HappyMommy2]

I agree with Colinsmom--don't worry too much about it. Of course be responsible about confirming your seat assignments, getting to the airport far ahead of time, etc. to reduce the likelihood of having any hassle.
I often fly alone with my two small kids and we have had to do some seating re-arrangement from time to time due to a last-minute change in type of aircraft or similar issue. People are virtually always more than happy to switch seats to allow the kids to sit by me (a.k.a. to prevent the kids from having to sit by them!). One time, no one wanted to move at first (our flight had been cancelled and we were shifted to this flight at the very last minute) but finally the flight attendant offered free drink coupons and a couple of people agreed to move for us. That was kind of embarrassing but it worked out fine.
It sounds like you are traveling with another adult? If so, I wouldn't depend on being able to all sit together as a family, but if you split the kids between the two of you I'm sure no kid will be left all alone.

 

[Cinderumbrella]

I was very worried about this as well. We booked our package through Disney and request seats together at that time. I also called the airline direct that day to ensure that our seats were together for both flights- and they are. We're going on United and I have never lost a seat assignment from them in the past.
Hope this helps!

 

[lorli]

Like HappyMommy2 we had a flight delayed and then cancelled and had to be put on another plane. There were 3 adults and a 3 year old. They said all they had was single seats and a set of two in an emergency escape aisle, which children cannot sit in. The attendant at the gate told me don't worry one of the flight attendants will help you rearrange seats once you are on the plane. Well let me tell you, I didn't wait that long. As soon as we were on the plane I started asking people around me to switch so I could sit with my daughter. There was no way she was sitting with a complete stranger and I wasn't waiting for them to get to me. This too was with USAIR. It worked out on the connecting flight and the return flight.

 

[NotUrsula]

I want to say that FAA prohibits children from sitting alone at such a young age.

Sorry, they don't. The only FAA rule about seating proximity applies only to children who are using carseats, so that they can be gotten out of them in an emergency. Children who are at least 5 yrs old are old enough to fly as "unaccompanied" (and BTW, in airline policy parlance, "accompanied" only means in the same cabin, which they do to keep FC passengers from dumping their kiddies in coach without paying the escort fee. Believe me, people DO try to get away with that all the time, and sometimes they succeed.)

Interesting, the UK's CAA *does* have a proximity rule for children under age 12; they have to be seated within arm's reach of their adult. Their reasoning for this is that if parents are separated from children, the parents will panic in an emergency and try to find their kids instead of going straight to the exits, thereby slowing down the evacuation process. (Interestingly, the drills they did showed that kids *do* go straight to the exits, thanks to fire-drill training at school.) As we know from the Toronto crash, quick evacuation is crucial to survival.

 

[Dani&Pao'sMom]

You can go to www.aa.com, register there with your frequent flyer number (if you don't have one I think you can apply online) and go to my reservations. There you add your reservation (with record locator or name) and you can do and check seat assignments on-line and they are stored in their system. I've used it several times and they honor your seats when you check in and you get the boarding passes with your seats. You shouldn't have a problem. You can actually check once in a while to get your preferred seats, closer to the front for example. the closer to your travel date, the most changes you can do, I don't know why, maybe reservations droped? We are also traveling by American and already have seats assigned. Two different reservations because my ticket is an award ticket but I got seats for DH, DD's and me all together. Good luck!

 

[Laurabearz]

I keep hoping to be seperated from my kids, but even if I dont ask to be put together, a lot of people fuss around so we are forced to.

Sucks.

 

[crisi]

LOL, Laura,

On our last trip to WDW we were a party of six - with two kids ages 4 and 5 and only two of six seats together. The stewardess had me and the kids board early and take the row of three where the two seats were together. When the guy who had the seat came I said" this is your seat, you can sit with my kids, or you can take mine." He took one look at my adorable angels and said "that's ok, where is your seat?"

Almost never is anyone so stubborn about their seat assignment that they want to sit next to unattended small children.

The rest of the party was split up.

 

[Pooh Crew]

Thank you all for the reassurances. I had planned to make the children practice falling down and throwing a fit to ensure that no one else would want to sit by them. Good to know I should not have to resort to such measures!

 

[angel7655@comcast.ne]

I too had a similar situation last year. We flew ATA from Orlando to Chicago. Our seats were completely different than the ones we had originally purchased. My two year old son was assigned to a seat alone...no where near my DH and I, whose seats were also seperated. Thankfully though...someone switched and I was able to sit with my DS. It wasn't to big of a deal to the person who switched but as a mother you just have that panic at first.

 

[Zoesmama03]

I usually fly SW and they always allow preboarding for families. You might see if your airline has preboarding.


Or if you can get boarding passes online. I know SW you can get on at 12:01 am and get a boarding pass so you don't have to worry about a later boarding.

Busy busy with 3 5 year olds and a 4 year old. You are my hero. I wish I could have ours close but financially not an option right now. I think #2 and #3 will be close though.

 

[Lisa loves Pooh]

I usually fly SW and they always allow preboarding for families. You might see if your airline has preboarding.


Or if you can get boarding passes online. I know SW you can get on at 12:01 am and get a boarding pass so you don't have to worry about a later boarding.

Busy busy with 3 5 year olds and a 4 year old. You are my hero. I wish I could have ours close but financially not an option right now. I think #2 and #3 will be close though.

I was going to try printing boarding passes--but after consulting with the airline, I decided not to do this. They only allocate a certain # of passes per zone per flight--so you could be on at 12:01--but if the rest of the flight is doing the same thing, you are not guaranteed that first zone. Once you print the passes--you are stuck with whatever you get.

My bil works for NWA so I was reassured (and later confirmed with SWA) that families with kids under 5 do get to pre-board. However---you do need to get to the gate early...b/c I did see at a couple of places on our trip where the pre-boarding line can get long between the families and passengers needing special assistance.

 

[golfgal]

I know several airlines have online seat assignements now. You can go online pretty much anytime, but the sooner the better, and pick your seats. We did that for our flight to Orlando and got the seats we picked. As for printing boarding passes online, your tickets should be under the same reservation so you should either be able to print them all or none. Also, the last NWA flight we took, the pre-boarding message plainly said "families traveling with children 2 years old and younger can pre-board at this time".

 

[musicmama]

My sister, b-i-l, and their 2 DDs (8 and 3) left Saturday morning on a 6:35 am flight. On Friday, their seat assignments were in row 6 - all 4 together. So, sister (not being a frequent flyer, girls have never flown before) checks in at gate Saturday at 4:45 am and doesn't look at boarding passes until they enter the cabin during pre-boarding. (she doesn't get that from me...I told her to go online and print passes.)

Lo and behold, all 4 of them are sitting in completely different areas of the plane. And, to their surprise, they are not alone - there are 5 other families in the same boat! (guess none of them are FFs either)

2 "nice people" offered to let the 2 girls sit together and b-i-l got to be across the aisle from them. Other "not-so-nice people" were grumbling that people were in their seats and they would not move. Sister, sadly, ended up 15 rows away, with part of another family that was split up and couldn't get all together.

Moral of story -- fly somebody else or get your boarding passes online the night before.

 

[triplefigs]

I have heard a couple horror stories about people being separated from their young children on planes and either no one was willing to trade seats with them or the flight attendants told them they could not change seats...not sure about the exact reasons, but the end result was that one or more of their young children was seated alone on a plane. Anyway, I have our e-tickets and seat assignments from American, but my question is how do I ensure that our seats do not change between now and October??? Any suggestions? We have five year old triplets and a four year old and, call me crazy, but I want them seated by me.

Me too! Crazy triplet mom's!

 

[scrapperjill]

We booked with AA...on line and did pick our seats...but then found out by chance that they changed our flight number and flight time when I was booking the same flight for a friend. Anyway when I asked about the seats and any changes to what we had picked...I was told that... "AA sells transportation to get you to your destination...but will not guarantee you'll get the seats you pick". Ohhhh...I was pissed. But then quicky checked our "new" seat assignments..and to our surprise they were exactaly the same. Now we haven't flown yet.....so there still could be some changes. Were not frequent flyers...so what are the tips I should have? What's with printing your boarding passes at MN?

 

[safetymom]

It is your responsibility as a flyer to keep an eye on your flights. I have flown many many times and never had my seat assignment changed. But I also get to the airport early in case anything comes up that I need to handle.

I fly USAirways and have never had any problems. I have found them to be very friendly and helpful.

I check us in online and check the website several times for departure information before I leave the house for the flight.

I wouldn't count on preboarding for small children. Many times there are so many families the whole plane would preboard.