Sitting with kids - legal right to be adjacent ?
Join Date: Nov 2006
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we at easyjet sometimes have quite a few problems with families boarding (NCE,GVA and FAO mostly if u get what i mean and all the time from istanbul) when families decide to board last still thinking they will get seats together on a full flight then have the cheek to complain they cant sit together, may i point out most of them had group A boarding!!! some are pleasent if u can find a seat for at least 1 parent and child to sit together. U really cant win with them sometimes but just have to keep ur chin up and deal with it and do mention to them there is the option of speedy boarding or special assistance, sometimes u think well if u live in NCE, maybe u can possibly afford speedy boarding? LOL 
Join Date: May 2002
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Personally I think the UK have much to learn from our US counterparts on service. On safety the guidlines/regulations are clear on this subject
The USA and Great Britain will forever be different - we can't help it! As loyal British subjects, we love to engage in the pastime of running ourselves down, but really we aren't that bad!
Americans insist that customer service begins by calling the customer by name - WRONG! I cringe when anyone who hasn't been introduced to me calls me by name - they do it every time I go into the John Lewis Department Store (where I am quite well known) or Harrods in Knightsbridge (where I am known to a select few) and it's Mr T......... this and Mr T.......... that - damn near drives me round the bend!
............and if passengers call you by name when you're behind the desk, well 9 times out of 10 it's only because they are about to pop the "any chance of an u****de?" question!
The trouble with America is that customer service only exists for exactly as long as you're spending your dollars. If you don't believe me, go into any shop in the USA and you will be greeted with a huge, plastic, false smile and a "How Are You Guys Doing Today?" without the assistant waiting for an answer. Now ask for something they don't sell - the smile drops as the assistant says "I can't help you with that." Ask if she knows where you can get it, you will hear an abrupt "No, I'm sorry!" in response, while she purposely busies herself with something else, letting you know your time is up!
By and large, our British service style (away from London) is better. Go to a shop in Harrogate or Exeter and ask for something they don't sell - they will go out of their way to direct you to a shop from where you may obtain it! I havbe even had one shopgirl pick up the Yellow Pages and phone a couple of shops for me in Wigan!
No - it's the Middle-East from whence we can take our lessons - smooth efficiency is my wife's pet name for their service style. The Burj-al-Arab hotel springs to mind - not one of the staff there are permitted to use negative words. Try to take a photograph of a prohibited area and one of the staff will usher you gently to the side "Sir. You will get a better photograph this way - that view isn't quite so picturesque!"
When in Oman, our luggage was lost. When we asked the hotel for the airline's phone number, the receptionist said "Did they give you a reference number? Our concierge will keep phoning for you every few hours and we will find you and keep you informed! We just want you to relax and enjoy yourselves!" Sure enough, every few hours, a waiter appeared by the swimming pool with complimentary drinks and a message about our lost luggage! The hotel staff had no thoughts of personal reward, just about the well-being of their guests.
Sorry - I've taken this well off-topic, but seriously I wonder how our friends, the Arabs, would deal with children not seated together! Anyone here from Etihad, Royal Jordanian, Saudi Arabian Airlines (formerly Saudiair), Oman Air or Emirates?
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With my airline, we don't have allocated seats. We have the "Priority Boarding" which pax pay for, although what some pax don't understand is that the Priority Boarding only gets you to the a/c first, it doesn't actually give you the right to sit in that particular seat you had your eye on ( i had an elderly couple today, the gentleman with a walking stick, ever so polite and nice who was a bit upset that he couldn't sit in the emergency exit row for extra legroom. They bought Priority Boarding just for that, because he had a bad leg. I felt bad but had to ask them to move to another row, but goes to prove Priority Boarding is not what you expected)
Anyhow, back to the children subject. Day in, day out i see families of 4,5 or more members boarding last on a fully booked flight. Some becoming rude when realizing they won't be able to seat together and demanding seats together. What i usually do is kindly ask fellow pax who maybe are traveling on their own to move to other seats (it's easy to spot them, all you need is to have a look in the cabin) There are always the very nice ones who just get their bags and say "i'll just stand in the galley and wait until you guys sort it out and then i'll go to whatever seat you got" (god i love you people!), but if no one offers (you'll be amazed how many times i heard "we were once a young family and no one helped us back then") i try to explain to the family that for take off and landing i need them to take ANY seat available, but during the cruise they are more than welcome to sit in the blocked off rows (9 out of 10 flights we have what we call rule 1, when we have less than 177 pax on board, rows 3 and 4 are blocked off for take off and landing).
In the summer season it's easy because there are more families going on holiday so they do tend to seat together without any problems. But if we do have a full house then it's tricky to find them seats together if other pax refuse to move (you can't actually make a pax move)
It never happened to me, i seemed to have been lucky. IMO all airlines, legacy carriers or LoCo's should board families first. Not only because it's safer to do so (i know i'd like my little one to be close to me not some stranger in an emergency), but it makes sense having mum and dad keeping an eye on the little angel.
As for the person who suggested that if they don't get seats together, CC should then look after the kids... well it's not only harsh and unfair, but it is sort of impossible (except for when one has a sky nanny on board)
You see, taking the a/c's capacity (in our fleet, anyway) into account, there is 1 CC looking after the demands of 50 pax. The same CC can't possibly look after the children. They can keep an eye on them and check up on them every so often, but it's impossible to focus only on them. That would leave 49 other pax (paying customers just like mum and dad) with no one to look after them (be that service, medical emergency or just a chat with a nervous flier)
My two pence anyway
Anyhow, back to the children subject. Day in, day out i see families of 4,5 or more members boarding last on a fully booked flight. Some becoming rude when realizing they won't be able to seat together and demanding seats together. What i usually do is kindly ask fellow pax who maybe are traveling on their own to move to other seats (it's easy to spot them, all you need is to have a look in the cabin) There are always the very nice ones who just get their bags and say "i'll just stand in the galley and wait until you guys sort it out and then i'll go to whatever seat you got" (god i love you people!), but if no one offers (you'll be amazed how many times i heard "we were once a young family and no one helped us back then") i try to explain to the family that for take off and landing i need them to take ANY seat available, but during the cruise they are more than welcome to sit in the blocked off rows (9 out of 10 flights we have what we call rule 1, when we have less than 177 pax on board, rows 3 and 4 are blocked off for take off and landing).
In the summer season it's easy because there are more families going on holiday so they do tend to seat together without any problems. But if we do have a full house then it's tricky to find them seats together if other pax refuse to move (you can't actually make a pax move)
It never happened to me, i seemed to have been lucky. IMO all airlines, legacy carriers or LoCo's should board families first. Not only because it's safer to do so (i know i'd like my little one to be close to me not some stranger in an emergency), but it makes sense having mum and dad keeping an eye on the little angel.
As for the person who suggested that if they don't get seats together, CC should then look after the kids... well it's not only harsh and unfair, but it is sort of impossible (except for when one has a sky nanny on board)
You see, taking the a/c's capacity (in our fleet, anyway) into account, there is 1 CC looking after the demands of 50 pax. The same CC can't possibly look after the children. They can keep an eye on them and check up on them every so often, but it's impossible to focus only on them. That would leave 49 other pax (paying customers just like mum and dad) with no one to look after them (be that service, medical emergency or just a chat with a nervous flier)
My two pence anyway
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As for the person who suggested that if they don't get seats together, CC should then look after the kids... well it's not only harsh and unfair,....
I once traveled from Johannesburg to Brussels (Sabena) and had an unaccompanied, very demanding, minor (5 yer old boy) seated next to me. If I hadn't helped the CC would have been run totally off her feet.
But in 2009 do I want my under 12 daughter/son sitting next to a stranger who I know absolutely nothing about? NO!!
MidMarMile
>But in 2009 do I want my under 12 daughter/son sitting next to a stranger who I know absolutely nothing about? NO!!<
Leaving aside the question of whether we are OTT, on this, let me turn the question round. Do I want someone's 12 year old son/daughter of whoim I know absolutely nothing sitting next to me, bearing in mind the number of false accusations made against teachers?
The answer is definitely NO!! Men travelling alone need protection against any possibility of false accusations by children.
>But in 2009 do I want my under 12 daughter/son sitting next to a stranger who I know absolutely nothing about? NO!!<
Leaving aside the question of whether we are OTT, on this, let me turn the question round. Do I want someone's 12 year old son/daughter of whoim I know absolutely nothing sitting next to me, bearing in mind the number of false accusations made against teachers?
The answer is definitely NO!! Men travelling alone need protection against any possibility of false accusations by children.
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im very unlucky with screaming little kids sat in front of me-the last three return legs ive been on there has always been one sat infront of me!!! Legal wise im not sure of the situation as we as yet do not have an idea of the childs age.
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On a Emirates flight I was on in Feb, an Indian gentlemen was screaming blue murder at the CC because he was not sitting with his wife and child. To him, the only acceptable solution was for the three of them to be sitting in one block of three together - nothing else (eg. the seat across the aisle) would do. He had apparently been assured that that all three would be sitting in such an arrangement by his travel agent...
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Children & Etihad
Flew Man to BKK via Abu Dhabi with Etihad a while ago - self, wife & 3 kids.
Etihad is a first class airline with kids. Although we booked online via Expedia, and were given seat numbers upon booking, 3&2 each side of isle.
On board experience was very good. Kids given welcome pack, good meals, and Etihads entertainment system is superb. Transit at Abu Dhabi good - both ways. Outbound we were awaiting boarding, a security guy complete with machine gun approached me, and spoke in perfect english "you have children - please follow me", apprehensivley we did, straight to the front of the queue - first on board.
I enjoyed flying Etihad, I hope they keep these standards up.
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Etihad is a first class airline with kids. Although we booked online via Expedia, and were given seat numbers upon booking, 3&2 each side of isle.
On board experience was very good. Kids given welcome pack, good meals, and Etihads entertainment system is superb. Transit at Abu Dhabi good - both ways. Outbound we were awaiting boarding, a security guy complete with machine gun approached me, and spoke in perfect english "you have children - please follow me", apprehensivley we did, straight to the front of the queue - first on board.
I enjoyed flying Etihad, I hope they keep these standards up.
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