Airline petition to seat families together
Show your support
@Kasia I had no idea! I mostly travel alone with kids and always pay for seats... I'll know not to from now on. Thank you, great info!!
Hi Kasia thanks for that. My gripe is that the whole family should get to sit together. I've just googled this: "There is no UK law that says children have to be seated with their parents on a plane. Airlines can legally separate even the under-fives from their mum and dad, although this would be against Civil Aviation Authority (CAA) guidelines. The CAA says: ‘Young children and infants who are accompanied by adults should ideally be seated in the same seat row as the adult. Where this is not possible, children should be separated by no more than one seat row from accompanying adults. This is because the speed of an emergency evacuation may be affected by adults trying to reach their children.’" Using words like should, ideally isn't great. Why isn't the language stronger to force airlines to have to always seat families together. There should be UK law to protect families and kids in these situations.
@Tea please don’t rely on that! They have to sit you “next to”the child, but “next to” can mean placing the child in the aisle in front, behind or across from you, not literally next to you xx
Well, no. They have to place the child in the same row next to you. Five years of flights, always been sat this way with my kids. Never behind or in front of. That would completely defy the whole idea behind it, wouldn’t it?
We fly as a family every month and have never been separated (even from the grandparents), we book our seats in advance together and have never had an issue. I have however never flown with airlines above like Ryanair or wizzair, by all accounts they dgaf about customers so it doesn’t surprise me
I know kids under 10 have been separated from parents . I believe they try not too but If people have booked seats and no spaces left together when yiu check in with kids then that happens People may move but if they have paid for their seats often won’t
We always check in online at the first opportunity, never pay for seats and have always been sat together.
I’m going away soon (think easy jet) and not paying for seats, I thought surely they won’t allocate my 2 year old to any other seat other than right next to me?! The gov don’t really care sadly and the airlines want to make as much money as possible 🫠
@Munaza we've always used easy jet and have checked in online early (no paid for seats) and have always been sat together
@Munaza they could do, so if you want to guarantee a seat you do have to pay for it. They only have to seat you “next to” your child, but “next to” can mean the aisle in front, behind or across from you xx
If you don’t choose your seats and they are assigned to you randomly, legally (it’s EU law) you have to be and you will be assigned seats with your children under 10 years old (or even 13, I am not sure). The downside is, for the cheap airlines like Wizzair or Ryanair, you will only be able to check in 24h before the trip. But you will get the seats with the kids. I’m not one adult though, they may assign a different seat to a second adult if you both are travelling. I never pay for the seats and let them be randomly allocated and I have always been given seats to get with my three kids. I am not sure what is the legal standpoint for the airlines based outside the EU, but I would assume it’s similar. They just don’t advertise it, because they were forced to do it and they want people to pay either way even though they don’t need to.