Seat Selection
I expect that this has been discussed before but couldn't find a thread.
Friends have just returned from a holiday in the USA,flying from the UK. They booked economy flights in January for an August holiday flying with an American airline, they were told when booking that they couldn't select seats but that families would always be seated together. On the outward journey they were seated apart and on boarding many passengers had the same problem and were all negotiating with each other,with disinterest by the flight attendants, to try and get themselves sat closer to each other. On the return journey it was even worse, friends five year old was two rows from his nearest parent and other families had similar problems. Again by passenger negotiation the worst problems were resolved by the passengers with no crew input. Friends problem with the five year old being sat separately was pointed out at check in and were told that nothing could be done until they got on board.
Now it is two years since i travelled across the pond in economy with my family and we were all allowed to select seats when booking and i didn't see any problems.
Is that still normal or have things changed to the apparent free for all that my friends experienced?
Are their any rules about sitting small children away from their parents??