A child seated away from parents on booking

[Quickstatus]

But back to the original post...

The assigned seats were 2 adults together and child separate. If nothing was done in terms of paid selection, would JQ really demand that the child sit separately? Without additional cost it should have been easy for one of the adult to swop seats with the child once on board without attempting to ask other passengers/ cabin crew?

 

[RooFlyer]

The second issue of course is that regardless of how the parent behaves, don’t the rest of us owe it to the child to take their interests into account?

Yep. The child shouldn't suffer due to the (in) action of a parent, if it can be helped.

Oh, and of course sometimes (?often) separation can occur even when the parent has taken all steps to ensure together-ness, including paying for the seat selection. Such as in irrops, where the family has to be accommodated at late notice on a following flight. Then, surely everyone can be sympathetic.

 

[TheRealTMA]

But back to the original post...

The assigned seats were 2 adults together and child separate. If nothing was done in terms of paid selection, would JQ really demand that the child sit separately? Without additional cost it should have been easy for one of the adult to swop seats with the child once on board without attempting to ask other passengers/ cabin crew?

Well, why wouldn’t one of the parents swap with the child?
Why do parents expect others to look after their children and their safety. It’s a fundamental responsibility of the parents. Don’t out source it to others, especially women flying alone.

 

[Quickstatus]

Well, why wouldn’t one of the parents swap with the child

My thoughts too. But the parents did not want others to look after their child.

I think for some reason travelling families all want/expect to be seated together. I this case the child and one adult could have swopped seats after boarding so the child could seat with the other adult without paying $7.

 

[Quickstatus]

Don’t out source it to others, especially women flying alone.

That's generally an airline policy for the seating of UM

 

[Rich]

But back to the original post...

The assigned seats were 2 adults together and child separate. If nothing was done in terms of paid selection, would JQ really demand that the child sit separately? Without additional cost it should have been easy for one of the adult to swop seats with the child once on board without attempting to ask other passengers/ cabin crew?

Look at the 3rd post. Someone is saying they wouldn't let them swap seats and made an infant sit on their own. Ridiculous. Unfair on the child and anyone sitting next to them.
It sounds like JQ were not adhering to their own policies.

 

[GrahamBRI]

That doesn’t address the issue of a parent going against the flow during an evacuation while they’re searching for their child.

Once again, acknowledged, a safe outcome for all travelers is expected. That outcome requires support from both the passengers and the airline. As noted by RooFlyer that adverse outcome (child seated without parents) can occur due to multiple reasons. My approach is that and that the first accountability is with the parents to do what they can to avoid that situation, the second accountability is with the airline to re-dress an adverse outcome and the third accountability is with the passengers to support any re-dress or to highlight to the crew that an unsafe outcome has not been addressed.
In the original post, it was addressed by the parents, and I think that this was great step by them (acknowledging their discomfort with the cost and adverse feelings towards the airline in how this had been imposed on them). We did not get to experience the next scenario in this case, as it was addressed by the parents....... but I believe the next step it would have been addressed at boarding and if this somehow failed, the crew would have addressed it on the flight and if this was a full flight the passengers would have supported a solution. So I have not attempted to evaluate all the scenarios and all the safety implications and possible outcomes, just the first one and what was posted - who should blink first - my thinking is that first step, in which airlines we book with and how we book, sits with us making the booking, so resolve it there first. With respect to other (eg solo) passengers, I believe we will have a safer outcome if the passengers themselves firstly exercise their safest approach (in this case by pre-selecting seats), rather than relying on the airline or its computer systems to re-dress unsafe outcomes.

 

[Rich]

I believe we will have a safer outcome if the passengers themselves firstly exercise their safest approach (in this case by pre-selecting seats), rather than relying on the airline or its computer systems to re-dress unsafe outcomes.

Given Jetstar says they will not sit minors on their own, if it happens then it is generally due to their incompetence.
Yes the issue could be resolved case by case by parents paying to select seats, but in suggesting this, you are saying the customer should have to pay extra to avoid Jetstar's incompetence. They may wish to for peace of mind but the suggestion is a bit of a cop out. It is not the customer's job or responsibility to resolve such an issue and they certainly should not have to pay extra for it.

 

[JohnK]

My thoughts too. But the parents did not want others to look after their child.

I think for some reason travelling families all want/expect to be seated together. I this case the child and one adult could have swopped seats after boarding so the child could seat with the other adult without paying $7.

That's not the case for all families travelling together.

If 3 of us travel together then I will more than likely pay for seat selection so we can sit together.

If only wife and daughter are travelling together then I will more than likely not pay for seat selection unless it's a long haul flight. It's not that I can't afford to pay the $5-$7 fee. I choose not to pay the $5-$7 fee. Up to the airline to seat them together.

If I'm travelling alone I will pay for seat selection as I don't do middle seats and only do window seats if middle seat vacant. Oh and when I have preselected an aisle seat (either paid/not paid) the above conditions apply if anyone wants me to move.

 

[Askance]

Four pages in, yet nobody has used the phrase 'Won't somebody think of the children!'

 

[drron]

So a simple solution for the airline is to ask a couple in the middle and aisle seats in the back row if they minded moving forward in the plane so a parent and child could sit together.

Of course if it is an airline that loads from forward and rear doors the offer should be made to a couple in a row furthest from either door. Of course exit row’s automatically out as a child should not be seated there.

 

[kyle]

I wouldn't like it happening to me, but I see no issue in a FA moving a 'paying' or 'organised' pax to put a minor next to one of the adults in their party if somehow the minor has been split off. (Again, note, not having the family sit together).

And then inconveniencing the pax to get their seat selection refund?

 

[Gremlin]

And this is entirely possible if you select your seats at booking, as a responsible parent would do to ensure not separated from their child.

On a LCC will this cost extra, but that is the LCC model. If you want seat selection included in the ticket price then fly a full service carrier and bu a ticket type that includes it.

Sorry - in my case I was travelling on a supposedly 'full service' carrier (QF) and had selected seats at time of booking and I still ended up seated apart from my 2 year old. Are you suggesting I'm not a responsible parent?

 

[kyle]

Yes the issue could be resolved case by case by parents paying to select seats, but in suggesting this, you are saying the customer should have to pay extra to avoid Jetstar's incompetence. They may wish to for peace of mind but the suggestion is a bit of a cop out. It is not the customer's job or responsibility to resolve such an issue and they certainly should not have to pay extra for it.

Don't know about you, but in other everyday situations, I would pay extra to avoid possible unpleasant experiences whether due to company incompetence or not.

 

[Duffa]

Sorry - in my case I was travelling on a supposedly 'full service' carrier (QF) and had selected seats at time of booking and I still ended up seated apart from my 2 year old. Are you suggesting I'm not a responsible parent?

You're not a responsible PERSON, hahaha 2yr-olds should not be allowed on aircraft. Full stop!

 

[Rich]

Don't know about you, but in other everyday situations, I would pay extra to avoid possible unpleasant experiences whether due to company incompetence or not.

Sometimes I do. I guess with airlines it might be a matter of once bitten, twice shy. Yet to be bitten on this subject.

 

[TheInsider]

Sorry - in my case I was travelling on a supposedly 'full service' carrier (QF) and had selected seats at time of booking and I still ended up seated apart from my 2 year old. Are you suggesting I'm not a responsible parent?

The child could've possibly been booked as an adult then. Exit row is completely blocked off for anyone booked as a child. Not possible for even staff on the day to select it, it just wont work, even with whatever overrides.
Making the title of a child MSTR or MISS won't automatically make the person a child.
No one is suggesting you are not a responsible parent.

 

[bam71]

We dont have children, but we do fly with my elderly in laws, both domestic and international. If we can’t get seats together, and we have to pay to do so ( looking at you BA J when we didn’t qualify for free preseating), we do. If we’re on a carrier that does not charge for seating, and we can’t get seats together, we change the flight. Quite frankly I see no difference between a child, and an elderly frail ( with a tad of dementia ) adult. Cannot be bothered putting up the fight to an airline, better things to do with my time.

 

[bladeau1981]

No one here is saying that it is okay, I think were saying that it could've been sorted when the booking was made by selecting the seats. Or on the other hand, move people who have selected or paid of their seats because someone didn't want to do it?

I think a more reasonable way would be the same as it used to happen, you book tickets at the same time in the same transaction and the seats are generated sitting together, wherever that may be on the plane. If there isn't enough seats together it is a pretty simple programming thing to have pax under x years old must be seated next to pax over x years old and place them together or flag to call support / enter the chat system to sort out. This isn't about getting the best seat on the plane, it is about a group booking together sitting together.

 

[GrahamBRI]

I think a more reasonable way would be the same as it used to happen, you book tickets at the same time in the same transaction and the seats are generated sitting together,.

Yes, certainly reasonable, but also noting the flip side of this, is that in a low-cost model, airlines believe it is reasonable to charge extra for this outcome. This is the same in other ticketing environments eg. if you if you purchase "general admission" seats to a game of sport for instance. you are not seated together. You get what's left in the general admission section when you arrive, and you work with the grace of the people around you to accommodate a solution so you can sit together as a group. If you have a minor with you, a single adult will always (in my experience) be accommodated to sit with the minor. This is what you are ultimately buying when you by the no frills fare on a low-cost airline - a general admission ticket - once again, I would always expect a safe outcome for minors and other passengers even with a general admission ticket, but on occasion (I think) it will be inevitable that you will put yourself in an unhealthy (stressful) situation as you navigate a path to being sat together. My recommendation to new travelers, reading this thread and considering low-cost airlines and travelling with families - don't buy just the "general admission" ticket, acknowledge the service model and pay the $7 upgrade to get a guaranteed seat together and minimise the stress on you and your family.
Note: I am not saying you have to agree with the LCC model, and it is good to see a healthy debate here on that topic, but I for one, don't want this debate to encourage new readers of this forum, to take action and put their families through the stress of establishing a new norm. Okay to hear from our experienced travelers who take this on......... because I will miss the first-hand experience of your boarding debate and resolution, as I will be on a full-service airline (for as long as they exist).