RANT: I don't care if you want to sit next to your kids on the airplane

[Mackenzie Click-Mickelson]

I've had it done on smaller planes, though it often happened at check-in. They automatically put us in seats near the back (one class plane) and the only seats that you could choose were also in the back half. The problem is that there is very little luggage/cargo on these flights so the hold (in the back) has very little weight. If passengers are all in the front, the plane is nose heavy and would have trouble taking off (moving around was fine once we were in the air, it was just take-off that would be a problem). Happened more than once, but the planes are propeller plane and only have something like 74 seats.

Yeah that's more what I was thinking was the smaller planes.

I've only been on turbo prop plane once from NH to NJ (where you had to go on the tarmac and use the stairs as the plane and jetway couldn't meet up and they had a front propeller going while we were boarding). I think it was a 2 seat 1 seat configuration and I remember my tall husband having issues since he couldn't stand upright completely on the plane in the aisle itself. That was actually the only flight where they announced just about everyone was going to have to gate check their carry ons due to overhead bin size because the overhead bin space was much smaller and so really only personal items could fit for the most part. On a side note we hit turbulence and that was the only time I was really really nervous because it acted like a roller coaster to me at least.

 

[Mackenzie Click-Mickelson]

It's not unusual on smaller planes. We saw some people moved, for example, on a large prop plane (but smaller than a typical commercial plane) when going from Miami to the Bahamas.

Yeah that's why I asked if it was a smaller plane as that's what made sense in my mind as opposed to larger planes.

 

[kaytieeldr]

to balance the weight of the plane

Had to be a small/prop plane, no?

 

[DopeyDame]

I can honestly say I don't think I've ever seen people move to redistribute the weight on a normal commercial flight and I've been on full flights, half full flights and no where near full flights. There's never been a "folks we've got to have you move here and oh you move there we need to redistribute the weight"

Was this a small plane?

Cargo weight sure they have to adjust that but that is done as they load the luggage.

As others have said, it happens a lot on small turbo props. I used to frequently fly from Chicago to a small midwest town and that flight was always a tiny plane. I'd say at least 50% of the time they had people move to the back of the plane to distribute weight.

 

[Mackenzie Click-Mickelson]

As others have said, it happens a lot on small turbo props. I used to frequently fly from Chicago to a small midwest town and that flight was always a tiny plane. I'd say at least 50% of the time they had people move to the back of the plane to distribute weight.

Yeah, like I've mentioned a few times now, I already assumed they were more talking about smaller planes (which is why I asked them {the original person} if it was a small plane).

 

[neverlandsky]

I can honestly say I don't think I've ever seen people move to redistribute the weight on a normal commercial flight and I've been on full flights, half full flights and no where near full flights. There's never been a "folks we've got to have you move here and oh you move there we need to redistribute the weight"

Was this a small plane?

Cargo weight sure they have to adjust that but that is done as they load the luggage.

Wasn’t a tiny plane or jumbo. A hopper that can hold 78 passengers. It wasn’t at even at half capacity with passengers.

 

[dish rag]

Yeah that's more what I was thinking was the smaller planes.

I've only been on turbo prop plane once from NH to NJ (where you had to go on the tarmac and use the stairs as the plane and jetway couldn't meet up and they had a front propeller going while we were boarding). I think it was a 2 seat 1 seat configuration and I remember my tall husband having issues since he couldn't stand upright completely on the plane in the aisle itself. That was actually the only flight where they announced just about everyone was going to have to gate check their carry ons due to overhead bin size because the overhead bin space was much smaller and so really only personal items could fit for the most part. On a side note we hit turbulence and that was the only time I was really really nervous because it acted like a roller coaster to me at least.

I have had it done several times on large commercial jets. Always Air Canada. Was done once seated, we were told where to move to. Once in the air we could move back to our original seats.
Edit to add that we were reassigned prior to boarding but were allowed to go to our original seats once in the air.

 

[low-key]

when my daughter was little, I took her and her girl friend to Disney (they were about 9), I got at gate a little bit late, and they said they could seat them together but not me with them, I was mad and kept complaining, but t the end of the day it was kind of cool some poor young women had to listen to there non stop chatter and I got to relax in peace

 

[Mackenzie Click-Mickelson]

Wasn’t a tiny plane or jumbo. A hopper that can hold 78 passengers. It wasn’t at even at half capacity with passengers.

Gotcha

 

[tink1970]

Yeah, like I've mentioned a few times now, I already assumed they were more talking about smaller planes (which is why I asked them {the original person} if it was a small plane).

The only time we've been redistributed was EDI to AMS on KLM. It wasn't a tiny plane by far but wasn't full and I guess it really was to distribute weight more equally. Several people didn't understand the English/Dutch explanations so DD and I offered to move since we knew what the issue was. It did get to the point of "we're not taking off unless you move" but since this happens rarely I think there were a lot of confused people wondering why we were playing musical chairs.

Delta is still my favorite...on a flight from DTW to ATL this week, a young man (20s?) told the FA it was his first flight ever and she promised him wings and was very kind to him (he seemed a bit nervous).

 

[DopeyDame]

Wasn’t a tiny plane or jumbo. A hopper that can hold 78 passengers. It wasn’t at even at half capacity with passengers.

78 is definitely a small plane for this purpose. And the fact that it was less than half full was the issue. They can take off with evenly distributed weight, but if you had all of you in the front (where people would generally naturally sit), take off would be more challenging.

 

[FairestOfThemAll37]

I can honestly say I don't think I've ever seen people move to redistribute the weight on a normal commercial flight and I've been on full flights, half full flights and no where near full flights. There's never been a "folks we've got to have you move here and oh you move there we need to redistribute the weight"

Was this a small plane?

Cargo weight sure they have to adjust that but that is done as they load the luggage.

Most likely a smaller plane. Ugh, I hate puddle jumpers or “regional jets” as they’re called. I occasionally have to fly them due to relatives being near a very small annoying airport. Even worse is when the plane is full and straight up too heavy.

As unwilling as people are to move seats it’s nothing compared to trying to get people off the plane!

 

[Bmh4796]

To be fair, didn't she pay for the kid's seat and her seat too? This keeps happening to me. I book flights and put my seats together and pay extra to do so only to be separated. I don't understand why this keeps happening. I don't want to be THAT mom that says "excuse me sir, can you move so I can sit next to my kid," so I never say anything about it.

Example: I paid for my 7 month old baby to have a seat, but the plane was so full that there was no seat for him AND they put my 14 year old daughter with a brain tumor on the front row while I was stuck way in the back with my lapbaby sitting between 2 men. AND I had to breastfeed to keep him quiet. I used my shawl so nothing was showing, BUT my little boy was one of the longest babies the nurses had ever seen when he was born. He's still off the charts in height, so when I laid him down in my lap under the shawl his big long legs were in the lap of one of the guys sitting next to me. He was like 22. He was probably horrified. I was so embarrassed. And my baby kept calling him "da da". I wanted to die. I could not understand why he was saying this. The guy had on a blue button down - my husband always wears blue button downs and he had blue eyes like my husband, but he was 20 years younger! I was broken out in hives by the end of the flight. It was awful. I felt so bad for the 2 guys and my daughter was upset because she said the people were mean to her in the front because they had to make room for her. We were in the last group to board because we weren't early to the gate. But still I paid and I chose my seats, so it made no sense.

 

[Shanti]

I paid for my 7 month old baby to have a seat, but the plane was so full that there was no seat for him AND they put my 14 year old daughter with a brain tumor on the front row while I was stuck way in the back with my lapbaby sitting between 2 men...But still I paid and I chose my seats, so it made no sense.

What airline was this? You paid for a seat for your child, and they denied you that seat? You deserve 100% financial compensation for the purchase of that ticket. Did you follow up? Where did this occur?

 

[NHdisneylover]

To be fair, didn't she pay for the kid's seat and her seat too? This keeps happening to me. I book flights and put my seats together and pay extra to do so only to be separated. I don't understand why this keeps happening. I don't want to be THAT mom that says "excuse me sir, can you move so I can sit next to my kid," so I never say anything about it.

Example: I paid for my 7 month old baby to have a seat, but the plane was so full that there was no seat for him AND they put my 14 year old daughter with a brain tumor on the front row while I was stuck way in the back with my lapbaby sitting between 2 men. AND I had to breastfeed to keep him quiet. I used my shawl so nothing was showing, BUT my little boy was one of the longest babies the nurses had ever seen when he was born. He's still off the charts in height, so when I laid him down in my lap under the shawl his big long legs were in the lap of one of the guys sitting next to me. He was like 22. He was probably horrified. I was so embarrassed. And my baby kept calling him "da da". I wanted to die. I could not understand why he was saying this. The guy had on a blue button down - my husband always wears blue button downs and he had blue eyes like my husband, but he was 20 years younger! I was broken out in hives by the end of the flight. It was awful. I felt so bad for the 2 guys and my daughter was upset because she said the people were mean to her in the front because they had to make room for her. We were in the last group to board because we weren't early to the gate. But still I paid and I chose my seats, so it made no sense.

Was this in the US or Europe? If so I am really shocked and hope you followed up (actually I would have been in the terminal insisting on speaking to supervisors)---I thought that if you purchased a seat for a child under 2 you could not be forced to place the child on your lap (actually, the opposite---if the child has a purchased seat you are required to use it for take off and landing and not hold the child in that time frame).

 

[4leobeans]

While I haven't read all 65 pages, I have read enough

On our last DW trip (December 2017), we flew with Delta. I booked our flights online, but opted not to pay for seat selection (the fine print said something along the lines of "while we do everything we can to ensure you have the seats of your choice, it cannot be guaranteed"). With our family of five, and a connecting flight, seat selection was $25 x 5 x 2. I was still worried about this, and while my husband said, they wouldn't seat a three year old without parents, I ended up calling the airline to choose my seats.
Turns out it was a code share airlines, and this other airline told me if I paid for my seats, we WOULD be guaranteed to sit together. She told me unless I paid, there was no way to ensure I sat with my kids (6 & 9 I wasn't as worried about).

I didn't actually ask about seat selection, and whether that was also guaranteed......

Honestly, if I was too cheap to pay for the seats, there's no way I'd have the guts to ask some other passenger (who probably did pay) to switch seats for me.

I just wish that instead of having rock bottom fares, there would be a fare that included seat selection and luggage. Between those two things, with one suitcase each, we'd spend an extra $500 for the travel. I'd rather they just increased each ticket cost by $100 and be done with it.

 

[mom2rtk]

To be fair, didn't she pay for the kid's seat and her seat too? This keeps happening to me. I book flights and put my seats together and pay extra to do so only to be separated. I don't understand why this keeps happening. I don't want to be THAT mom that says "excuse me sir, can you move so I can sit next to my kid," so I never say anything about it.

Example: I paid for my 7 month old baby to have a seat, but the plane was so full that there was no seat for him AND they put my 14 year old daughter with a brain tumor on the front row while I was stuck way in the back with my lapbaby sitting between 2 men. AND I had to breastfeed to keep him quiet. I used my shawl so nothing was showing, BUT my little boy was one of the longest babies the nurses had ever seen when he was born. He's still off the charts in height, so when I laid him down in my lap under the shawl his big long legs were in the lap of one of the guys sitting next to me. He was like 22. He was probably horrified. I was so embarrassed. And my baby kept calling him "da da". I wanted to die. I could not understand why he was saying this. The guy had on a blue button down - my husband always wears blue button downs and he had blue eyes like my husband, but he was 20 years younger! I was broken out in hives by the end of the flight. It was awful. I felt so bad for the 2 guys and my daughter was upset because she said the people were mean to her in the front because they had to make room for her. We were in the last group to board because we weren't early to the gate. But still I paid and I chose my seats, so it made no sense.

If you paid for a seat for your 7 month old, didn't you have a car seat for them to sit in? What did you do with the car seat?

 

[sam_gordon]

While I haven't read all 65 pages, I have read enough

On our last DW trip (December 2017), we flew with Delta. I booked our flights online, but opted not to pay for seat selection (the fine print said something along the lines of "while we do everything we can to ensure you have the seats of your choice, it cannot be guaranteed"). With our family of five, and a connecting flight, seat selection was $25 x 5 x 2. I was still worried about this, and while my husband said, they wouldn't seat a three year old without parents, I ended up calling the airline to choose my seats.
Turns out it was a code share airlines, and this other airline told me if I paid for my seats, we WOULD be guaranteed to sit together. She told me unless I paid, there was no way to ensure I sat with my kids (6 & 9 I wasn't as worried about).

I didn't actually ask about seat selection, and whether that was also guaranteed......

Honestly, if I was too cheap to pay for the seats, there's no way I'd have the guts to ask some other passenger (who probably did pay) to switch seats for me.

I just wish that instead of having rock bottom fares, there would be a fare that included seat selection and luggage. Between those two things, with one suitcase each, we'd spend an extra $500 for the travel. I'd rather they just increased each ticket cost by $100 and be done with it.

Well, first of all, there is a fare that includes seat selection. Actually there are multiple fares that include seat selection... Economy, Comfort +, Business Class (if offered), and First Class. There's only one fare that DOESN'T include seat selection, and that's "Basic Economy".
Second, First Class offers free luggage. There are a number of itineraries that offer free checked luggage. Click here to see the breakdown.
Last, not forcing everyone to pay for items they don't need (seat selection, bags, etc), does give people the chance to save money.

I don't understand why people don't just look at the total amount for everything they want/need as the cost of the flight.

 

[RedAngie]

I just wish that instead of having rock bottom fares, there would be a fare that included seat selection and luggage. Between those two things, with one suitcase each, we'd spend an extra $500 for the travel. I'd rather they just increased each ticket cost by $100 and be done with it.

The legacy airlines all offer such fares. But they're more than $100 higher than the basic economy fare.

 

[DopeyDame]

To be fair, didn't she pay for the kid's seat and her seat too? This keeps happening to me. I book flights and put my seats together and pay extra to do so only to be separated. I don't understand why this keeps happening. I don't want to be THAT mom that says "excuse me sir, can you move so I can sit next to my kid," so I never say anything about it.

Example: I paid for my 7 month old baby to have a seat, but the plane was so full that there was no seat for him AND they put my 14 year old daughter with a brain tumor on the front row while I was stuck way in the back with my lapbaby sitting between 2 men. AND I had to breastfeed to keep him quiet. I used my shawl so nothing was showing, BUT my little boy was one of the longest babies the nurses had ever seen when he was born. He's still off the charts in height, so when I laid him down in my lap under the shawl his big long legs were in the lap of one of the guys sitting next to me. He was like 22. He was probably horrified. I was so embarrassed. And my baby kept calling him "da da". I wanted to die. I could not understand why he was saying this. The guy had on a blue button down - my husband always wears blue button downs and he had blue eyes like my husband, but he was 20 years younger! I was broken out in hives by the end of the flight. It was awful. I felt so bad for the 2 guys and my daughter was upset because she said the people were mean to her in the front because they had to make room for her. We were in the last group to board because we weren't early to the gate. But still I paid and I chose my seats, so it made no sense.

Oh heck no. You paid for a seat for your infant (which was the best and safest thing to do) There is no way in the world I would have been taking off with a lap baby in that scenario. Did they understand that she had a real ticket and not a lap baby ticket? Something went really wrong there and you absolutely deserve the full amount of a non-voluntarily denied boarding situation there.