Unfriendly Skies for Family

[Tozzie]

I think some of the regular posters may have missed some points.

The FA in this case had a 2 year old (with a paid seat) sit on a parents lap (violating rules/laws). The claim was there wasn't any available seats on the plane.

I think the FA should have moved passengers so a parent could sit next to a child that young. Obviously letting the child sit on a parents lap was not an acceptable solution.

JMO but a 2 year old should be next to one parent, even if that means moving passengers.

It sounds like we're missing something. I wonder if the family got to the gate late.

Infrequent fliers don't know to keep checking their seat assignments.

A lot of people are focusing on the child that was 2, I have of issues with this A- was the child 2 or younger than 2
B- was there a seat just not one that was acceptable to the family

The compete story is not what was reported, therefore I am not going to condem the airline nor the FA as I frankly don't believe half of it.

 

[goofy4tink]

It is seldom that a family is split up after buying fares with assigned seating. If that family gets to the gate and checks in early enough, it just isn't an issue.
I do know that there was one time when I was flying SW. It was before the current boarding system came along. It was the old system where you had to get there early and sit on the floor in the appropriate line. First come, first served so to speak. So, we were there, about 8th in the A line. There was a woman who was wandering around the gate area with her young son..about 6 or so. She never got into a line, I figured she must be waiting to board another airline.
Imagine my surprise when we were all boarded, no one else was coming, the FAs were getting ready to close the door. A gate attendant came up and told them to wait, there were two more passengers. It was that woman and her son. And, of course, there were not two seats together...plenty of single seats though. The FA made an announcement that they wanted someone to move so that the mom could sit with her ds. No one moved. The FA announced that that plane wasn't moving until that mother was seated with her child!!! Finally someone moved, away from his traveling companion, and sat by himself in the back of the plane. the mother and son were seated in about the 5th row, with that nice man's wife.
For the vast majority of flights it isn't going to be an issue. No one should be worrying about being seated away from their kids. I do know that my dh got to Logan early for his (and our dd's) flight to MCO, only to find that the flight had just been cancelled!!! Jetblue was able to get them seats on a flight that was boarding at that moment. They flew to the gats, barely stopping at security. My dh explained to dd that they may very well have to split up..she wasn't happy but that's life. She was 11 at the time...fully capable of sitting by herself on a plane. Nice thing was there were two seats together so they didn't have to split up. And to the best of my knowledge, no one was asked to move to accomodate them.
I just get tired of the sensationalization of this whole thing. Fly with an airline that allows you to choose your seats. Be sure to continually check on those flights and seats before you are due to leave...I check weekly for the months before and then every day for the last month...just to be sure. Checkin as soon as you can. Use online checkin if possible. If that isn't possible, get to the airport as early as you can and get checked in. It's not rocket science.

 

[DebbieB]

The issue about being late to the gate - they were coming off a connection. They checked in at MCO. I wonder if they noticed on their boarding passes then that their seats were not together on their second flight. I've traveled through Dulles a couple of times this year, the mainlines and the commuters are not in the same terminal. You have to take a shuttle between the terminals, that takes time. In the article, the father mentions not hearing the boarding announcement. As I said earlier, I believe that because it happened to me, that terminal is terrible.

 

[JEWLSVERN]

B- was there a seat just not one that was acceptable to the family

I have been following this thread for awhile, but I have to say that there would be NO seat that would be acceptable for my 2 year old but the one next to me or my DH. There is NO WAY I would sit away from my 2 year old. She is just too young. They should have made accomodations for the 2 yr old to sit with a parent and not on her lap since a seat was paid for.

 

[Tozzie]

I have been following this thread for awhile, but I have to say that there would be NO seat that would be acceptable for my 2 year old but the one next to me or my DH. There is NO WAY I would sit away from my 2 year old. She is just too young. They should have made accomodations for the 2 yr old to sit with a parent and not on her lap since a seat was paid for.

The article states that the FA let a 2 year old sit on the mothers lap because there were NO seats for the child even tough the family paid for a ticket. I have a hard time believing that the ailine gave out more boarding passes than there were seats on the plane and that brings into question how much truth and how much fiction is in the article.

 

[Lewisc]

The article states that the FA let a 2 year old sit on the mothers lap because there were NO seats for the child even tough the family paid for a ticket. I have a hard time believing that the ailine gave out more boarding passes than there were seats on the plane and that brings into question how much truth and how much fiction is in the article.

The passengers got to the gate late. I find it easy to believe the passengers BPs were given to standby passengers. I find it easy to believe the GA didn't realize the child was 2, and had a paid seat.

edited to add there was an equipment change, I'm not even sure the family had assigned seats. Experienced travelers would have know to check their reservation every week or so, to be concerned if their BP didn't have the correct seat assignments and would know enough to get to the gate early (particularly if there was an issue). That said there is no requirement to keep checking your reservation.

 

[LilyWDW]

Honestly, I would take ANYTHING from this "article" with a grain of salt. All the information is coming from a source that was not there who was told about it from the family it happened to. Information could have been changed, quotes could be out of context, stories could have been changed, information could have been reported incorrectly, ect ect. It happens more often then news sources would like to admit. After reading a blog about it, I have looked into it myself. Reporters simply get information WRONG or change it to make for a better read. It is possible that it has happened here. Unless somewhere there is something that confirms what is being said here, then who knows what really happened on that flight.

 

[inkkognito]

Didn't anybody else catch the part of the article that I call BS on? It says they were also split up on their outbound flight because someone had switched seats to sit next to a companion. That is known as "seat poaching," and the airline ain't gonna back up the poacher. It was up to the family to insist on their assigned seat and to get a flight attendant to intervene if the poaching passenger refused. I suspect this story is exaggerated for dramatic effect and maximum victimhood.

 

[bavaria]

Go read the 20+ page thread on the Family board advocating that people NOT be permitted to fly alone until the age of 18. That feeds into the same type of drama that seems to be behind this non-story filled with non-facts.

 

[Lewisc]

Go read the 20+ page thread on the Family board advocating that people NOT be permitted to fly alone until the age of 18. That feeds into the same type of drama that seems to be behind this non-story filled with non-facts.

I don't normally bother with the family board. Sounds like an entertaining thread.

 

[Hannathy]

Only if you haven't read that novel before. Lots of entitlement and passive aggressive threats, including but not exclusive to my child will scream, pee, throw up, spill on you, have a medical emergency, get groped, molested or kidnapped in the air!

The only addition is now there is the addition of we want to hover over our snowflakes until they are 18 so we want to prevent anyone else from allowing their children to grow up and mature so we are advocating for laws preventing kids flying alone.

I wouldn't waste a Saturday on it!

 

[crashbb]

Don't forget the fact that all 17 year olds are immature drunkards who will impede the evacuation of an airplane in an emergency.

 

[Hannathy]

Don't forget the fact that all 17 year olds are immature drunkards who will impede the evacuation of an airplane in an emergency.

Yep! Almost forgot about that one!!!