We travelled to Lanzarote with Thomson in october last year and due to the motorway being closed, the car almost dying and the bus from the carpark leaving as we arrived! we ended up almost the last to check in. Unfortunately this meant that we were allocated seats all over the plane, my mum was almost hysterical because she was very nervous about flying and did not want to sit next to a stranger or be seperated from her kids (even tho we are 17 and 22!! )
After being seated on the aircraft for about 10 mins my dad could see how upset mum was getting (and probably the poor soul sat next to her! )and politely asked a stewerdess if there were any empty seats together, 5 mins later she had shuffled a few people around and created 2 rows of 2 one behind the other!
I know that on a full plane this would not have been possible but she didnt have to go to so much effort and it really made a massive difference to our flight (my mum breaking my dad's fingers instead of a strangers )

I must admit that I won't pay to prebook seats, I think it's a waste of money and just another way the airlines are getting cash out of us. We just ry to get there early enough to get seats together and so far, we've been lucky enough to get beside each other.

Hi Wilkolo
We never prebook its a complete rip off! Just make sure you get to the airport early and you'll be fine. We always get to check in at least 3 - 4 hours before (have done ever since our 8 year old son was a baby) and are usually at or near the front of the queue then we can request what seats we would like. We always ask for a window near the front of the plane and have never had a problem. In fact last year the kind chap at First Choice check in gave us front row seats which were great - lots of legroom and nobody in front to recline on to you!!

Diane

Travelling to Dalaman last year with Excel, we had pre-booked seats as I need a little extra leg room owing to a knee problem luckily for us we got to the airport early because they had put hubby and I on row 2 and Katie aged 9 on row 5 (yes a 9 year old all on her own!!!!!).

I'd like to present the other side of the 'We have kids and never pay to pre-book because they're going to have to seat us together' story. My mother is disabled and I always pre-book so as to ensure not only that she gets a medical seat but that my father and I will be seated nearby because she needs assistance during the flight with moving to the toilet etc.

This has always worked well for us until a return flight from Tenerife last November when my mother ended up in a very distressed state because the family with 2 children immediately in front of us had not only not pre-booked but didn't arrive early at check-in either. They kicked up a fuss at not being seated together and unbeknownst to us at the time the check-in clerk gave them the block of 3 seats that we had been pre-allocated just to get rid of them and prevent further hold-ups to the check-in queue. The result was that by the time we got to the check-in desk the three of us were not only seated separately and far apart from each other but there wasn't even an aisle seat, let alone a suitable non-emergency exit seat with leg room, available for my mother.

We hadn't made plans to arrive early for check-in because as far as we were concerned we had pre-booked seats and didn't need to. Also, given my mother's condition, sitting around for hours only increases her problems as she starts to stiffen up so we always have to juggle timings to ensure that we arrive in good time but not too early and this is why we always pre-book. The cabin crew tried their best but because disabled passengers get called first, this meant that in the first instance we all had to take our original seats. From where we sat and watched the rest of the plane fill-up whilst the seats we had travelled out in remained empty! It was with a sense of great disbelieve that after repeated apologies from the pilot for the delay in take-off due to the late arrival at the gate of the final 4 passengers that we watched the 'shouty' family we'd stood behind in the check-in queue eventually arrive and take what we had by then realised as a result of hints from the cabin crew had been 'our' seats.

At that point it would have only further delayed the take-off if the cabin crew had tried to ask for volunteers willing to swap with us and so we had to wait until the seatbelt signs went off. During this period my mother got extremely stressed fretting about what would happen if they weren't able to re-seat us closer together. Thankfully the senior steward was able to find 2 volunteers who were each travelling alone but happened to be sat in adjacent aisle and middle seats and didn't mind swapping so that my mother and I could sit together and I did get a refund without quibble from the airline.

The check-in staff just wanted an easy life and did what they did to get rid of a family that were holding up the rest of the queue and refusing to move until they got what they wanted. But their actions resulted in them shifting the problem onto someone else and the cabin crew certainly did their best to try and remedy the problem they'd been landed with - I couldn't fault them - but it wasn't a problem of either their or our making. What particularly angered me was the thoughtlessness of the family concerned and would ask that people remember that it is not only parents with children who like and need to be sat together as a group. Other passengers have special needs too and in this instance I was appalled that the needs of an able bodied family who were unwilling to pay to sit together and were too selfish to make sure that they arrived early enough at check-in, were put above the needs of a frail, elderly, disabled woman and her family. My mother was put through needless distress as a result of this and we felt powerless to do anything about it. It merely added insult to injury that the family concerned were also responsible for keeping an entire planeload of passengers waiting on the stand until the last minute with the result that we lost our take-off slot into the bargain!

SM

As there are 4 of us, one of us is always going to be apart, but no way would it ever be one of the children. Me and hubby always take turns to sit apart, but it would only be by at least and isle, and he would have to be infront or behind us.

We are always at the airport on time, to guarantee that we are together.

I don`t think the check-in staff really care, its not their problem once you are on the plane. If we had not checked the boarding pass numbers on our flight at check-in then we would have had a problem on the plane.

I always make sure I check-in early now, would rather have another cup of coffee and know we are sitting together than take a chance.

Hi. I have never pre-booked seats and we always end up sat together (6 of us). As someone said earlier, just another way to get more money from us

We are a family of 5 and never pay for pre-bookable seats - we always get to check in a while before it opens so we're as near as damn it, if not at the front of the queue so we can ask for our preferred seats.

i always pre book seats so we can sit togeather and i like to be by window

Hmm..I agree that having to pre-book seats is another way of getting money from you as is paying for in flight meals for airlines....I have a little story to tell about Thomsonfly..we flew out to Paphos last Saturday..I didn't pre-book seats as that was another £10.00 each (more if I wanted extra leg room seats) and neither did I book an in flight meal as that worked out at another £12.00 each....we thought we'll get to the airport early which we did..only to be told by the check in lady when asked for seats together and by a window that as we hadn't booked in flight meals, our seats were automatically pre-allocated by Thomsonfly and that we were sitting at the back of the plane and across the aisle from each other and that was the policy....I was utterly flabbergasted as this info was NOT printed out on the ticket anywhere (I checked it very thoroughly after the nugget of info!) neither did I see this on the Portland website where we booked the holiday..if this info and policy were clearly visible somewhere I may well have coughed up some extra money as my hubby and I like to sit next next to each other on the plane.....this did not exactly start off our holiday in the best frame of mind..I was actually quite upset.... however, on the return leg, we were then allocated a window seat and were sitting together but this had also been automatically allocated so it probably didn't matter what time you arrived at the airport!....

omg!! how naughty of them. im going with thomsonfly in sept.

see my reply in the thomson fly thread

wizard

so basically if you don't have a meal they already automatically seat you on the plane so you're more or less guaranteed to be sitting together? or only an aisle from each other?
If thats true then as we never have the meal there is no point us paying to sit together!

Hi Chivas69....what the check in lady said it was their policy to pre-allocate your seats if you don't pay for your meal, but she didn't say whether this would work out together or not..so we weren't together on the way out but across the aisle and we were sat together on the way back.

We have never pre booked a seat and since the choice of meals has come into effect we don't have those either (yuk). We always get seated together and there was originally five of us but now the eldest does his own thing four. We normally get three seat one side of the aisle and one on the other. I normally have the seat the other side of the aisle, because although still near enough that I can chat with hubby the kids are that bit further away

We Got To The Airport At 12:00 Pm For Our 16:25 Departure =D

Yes We Got Seats Together.

And We Spent About 15 Mins Chatting To The Check In Person =D

She Was Really Nice To Us!

She Let Us Have A Look At The Seating Plan And Everything!

I've had this done a few times on Thomson and Thomas Cook. I've got to the airport early, requested a window seat, but because I wasn't having a meal, they allocated me an aisle seat at the back of the plane and said that this was allocated beforehand.

I don't like the aisle seat either. They don't let you know this beforehand.

So if you're not having a meal and you havent pre booked your seats then you'll get the same seats if you get there 3 hours before as if you get there 2 hours before?
Is this 100% correct does anybody know?
Cheers