My family used to book our tickets way in advance and pick seats together only to have the airline consistently lose our seat assignments and scatter us all over the plane. We'd have to beg strangers to swap for a middle seat to be by our kids.
Doesn't sound like this guy was even remotely fussed about it, though. Didn't ask to swap seats. Also didn't bring a tablet or headphones or any of the usual stuff people bring these days to entertain a kid on a flight.
Because shithole airlines sometimes won’t allow you to pick seats . And sometimes you get separated late in the booking because some asshole with higher status paid to have a seat choice. Clearly this dad is an asshole but don’t give modern airlines a pass either.
Like they check-in crew wouldn't have gone, err hang on - You can't sit separately from a 5 year old - when they were booking them in? Or did this get engineered by the Dad as a deliberate respite using online check-in and avoiding all interaction with airline staff?
Enshittification of airline travel. And all of them, basically. At least most (US) domestic airlines. It’s so effing stressful if you haven’t booked your tickets months in advance. And god forbid there’s any travel snafus, you miss a connection, get moved to a different flight, change of aircraft ..
I don't know what airline this was, but Lufthansa a few days ago upgraded my 4yo to business class solo on a transatlantic flight, we had to spend about 30 min at gate trying to fix this because they had put other people on her seat. 1/
Their fix? To put a 4yo alone in a middle seat FOUR rows behind us. I was in tears at the flight attendant on board who managed to convince the person next to me to take 4yos seat, swapping a bulkhead aisle for a middle seat 4 rows back. 2/
You have to make sure you're sitting together when you book the flight? Outside of Southwest, which means he didn't check in on time and got the last boarding group. So either way, he sucks.
Modern airlines don’t work like that anymore , you can get separated and switched around for absolutely no fucking reason sometimes( usually cuz woke asshole with higher status has decided to pay / change seats late) .
I fly frequently as does my entire family and I have never ran into this issue so Idk. But it doesn't sound like this man planned at all and boarded last and just stuck his daughter wherever. Not sure how that's the airlines fault.
Depends on airline. See my thread above with random upgrade. Also, let's say you have a multi leg flight and have to change airlines, even if within the same Alliance, the other airline won't let you choose seats until check in if ticket didn't originate with them (e.g. Lufthansa) 1/
Also, Lufthansa Policy only says they will "try" to seat families together. No guarantees. A lot of begging people to swap usually involved. We fly a lot as well (>100k Miles/yr with associated status), and hit problems all the time. 2/2
Okay I get that but does it sound like that was this man's situation? Because based on the thread I read, he boarded last and stuck his daughter in the first seat and didn't think about her again. I guess I'm not following how airlines are responsible for this situation.
Pretty much all of them. I can't count the number of times United tried to split my son into an entirely different row from his father and me even when we were all traveling together, and had reserved seats together, when he was this age or even younger.
It's sort of astounding to me how Bluesky leans liberal yet in situations like this, completely blames individuals (like parents), instead of a systemic problem / a large corporation.
Airlines in the US are not required to seat kids as young as 2 with their parents. The Biden admin suggests it /
It was probably Southwest and he should've boarded in the family call between groups A and B so they could sit together, but being an irresponsible asshole he either wasn't paying attention or did this on purpose so he could nap.
That's how they book them when you first buy the tickets. Last flight we took, I had to call morning of to make sure myself, my wife, and my kids were all in the same row
Yep but sometimes , like some airlines have it as policy and depends on country you book the flight in, but they almost always try to sneak in a separation of the family somewhere, especially if you’re a larger family.
There is a distinct possibility that both the father AND the airline seating policy are irresponsible. Ultimately responsibility lies with the father ofc. And, according to the account, he managed not even to do what little was possible given the circumstances.
So again, no excuse, just wondering as this (separate seats) has not happened to me yet. Maybe across the aisle or behind each other, but not in totally different places...
It happened to me while traveling with my son when he was younger. He was obviously not comfortable not being next to me. The airline didn't care. I asked other passengers if they were willing to switch seats so my son and I could sit together and was eventually able to work something out.
Yup, generally the airline leaves it up to you to ask people to switch seats. Once in a while a flight attendant would ask for us but not normally. My husband and I would also get split up all the time. I chalked it up to me not changing my last name to his but it shouldn't have happened regardless.
Comments
Airlines in the US are not required to seat kids as young as 2 with their parents. The Biden admin suggests it /
Seat fees are expensive, a big source of revenue, and airlines do this on purpose. And actual requirement would stop this problem.