Seating Arrangement Fee

I'm currently looking at the possiblility of going away for a week in late April and I've come across a new fee being charged by the holiday companies. There is three of us (myself, wife, and 2 yr old) and companies want to charge us €8.50 each way for arranging to sit us beside each other. Now this is a joke. This isn't a service thats new. If we didn't pay it then would the 2 year old have to sit on his own three rows away from his mother and 15 rows away from his dad.

Last year we were hit with a credit card payment fee. What are they going to think of next. I'd volunteer crazy suggestions, but I'm afraid I'd see them on my bill next year. I won't pay this fee. My problem is that there are so many idiots out there who will pay this fee that the two year old will have to shout and scream loudly until he's put into a seat beside his parents.

Any thoughts?

all in a row

almost 30: ( lucky u) this is one of those things that has crept into travel lately. In my time travelling with children we were almost always able to get 3 seats and the opposite isle seat when travelling on charter flights. For what its worth on my last 3 or 4 flights with Ryanair ( easyjet have a slightly better set up in that the flight is boarded in the order of the boarding card numbers issued at check in) after the flight was called there was a rush to the gate. Cu couldn't be bothered and was almost last to board on each occassion. Even allowing for this the worse Cu wound up with was two isle seats adjacent to each other. on all other occasions there was no problem getting seats together. there was alway enough single passengers travelling, thus leaving 2 seats together or the isle seats were left vacant. I think if you turn up early for check in you should be ok. very worst is you will be seperated from wife and child. but they wont be sepetated from each other. Cabin crew would scream blue murder!

.

If you ask the other people on the flight I am sure they would swap seats, at least to let either you or your wife sit with the child. It does sound like the travel company is just trying to screw money out of people.

I feel that enough people on board will be nice and sensible about it, but it's just another attempt to swindle a few extra quid out of the great unwashed.

here I go again

isle = small island

aisle = gap between rows of seats

there you go

I'LL have to watch out from now on! How small is a small island anyway and what do you call a big ( or even bigger) island?

there you go

Don't know about a small island but a big one is a continent.

Update

Just back from the holiday

On way over servisair rep placed us in the same row in seats C, D and E. i.e. two seats either side of the aisle plus one beside the aisle seat. According to the agent there was no three seats available on the same side of the plane i.e. ABC or DEF. The girl who was booked into seat F was only too happy to swap with me fair play to her.

The only thing was that the girl stated that she had been late for the flight, and couldn't understand why seat F had still been available to her an hour after we were told that it wasn't. It seems to me that Servisair/Budget Travel are being deliberately obstructive and are trying to ensure that punters are forced to pay this extra charge.

On the way home the staff in Las Palmas Airport had no such problems and we were booked in to be seated together.

Almost30

Re: Update

Hi Almost30,

Any trip report on Gran Canaria? I'm thinking of going there next year but heard mixed reports.

I was in Lanzarote at Easter and loved it. Next year I'd like to try another one of the Canary Islands as I'm told they're the only place you can be sure of decent weather at that time of year. I'm looking for a family-friendly place, with interesting places to visit by car but without the larger louts. Any recommendations?

P.S. I also objected to paying the fee for sitting together on the flight. We had no problems (three of us sat together) but a couple sitting behind us were separated by the aisle even though they had paid the charge.

Extra Fee

Not sure I'd share the outrage you all have expressed above. When you say you are being swindled, what are you comparing this to?

In my view, the travel companies are simply splitting the overall charge into its component parts e.g. you might normally pay €500 for a package holiday. Alternatively that might split out as follows:

€150 for the flight
€200 for accomodation
€20 for the bus from the airport
€20 for the specified booking
€20 for food on the plane
etc.
etc.

Whichever way you look at it, it's the same deal! So I wouldn't suddenly make the leap and conclude you are being swindled etc.

If you still think you really are being swindled, then go with another company!

Re: Extra Fee

Karim,

The difference is that there is a marginal cost to providing each of the things you list except for the 'specified booking' which I take to mean the seating fee.

It costs money to provide the bus, it costs money to provide and fuel the plane (and provision it with seats), it costs money to prepare the food, etc . . .

It doesn't cost money to give 2 people seats 7A and 7B rather than 7A and 4F.

z

Re: seatign arrangements

On seating arrangements, last June I booked two returns to New York/Newark over the internet with ebookers.ie. I got a good deal and had no problems on the way out. On the return, even though we were one of the first to check in, they had already allocated us seats but way apart. When I asked why we couldn’t sit together the airline (Continental ?) said that as my wife was travelling under her own name they had assumed that we were not a married couple and had allocated us separate seats. When I pointed out that only a few passengers had checked in at this stage and could they not change the seating arrangements they said that they had already allocated all the seats. Luckily when I got to the gate I was able to turn on all my Irish charm and convince the ground staff there to move another passenger so we could sit together. I never took this up with ebookers or with Continental and I don’t know if this is something specific to the particular airline, but it is something to bear in mind if you wish to sit together. This was a single booking and one would think that airlines would realise that people who book together would like to sit together.

Re: seatign arrangements

Hmm, yes for some reason some airlines allocate seats based on family name. Seems a bit weird in this day and age. It's as if they haven't copped on to the fact that some couples, not only don't have the same name, but *shock* *horror* mightn't even be married even though they are travelling with kids.

We had this before with JAL - Mrs (or Ms) Zag (with a non-Zag surname) was stuck in one place and myself and mini-zags were in another. I got the impression from conversations that they manually assign the seating the day before each flight. I guess they just sort the names in alpha order and then go from there. Don't know why they can't sort on booking reference.

Still, better than Qantas who assigned micro-zag (under 2 years) a seat in a totally different part of the plane than the rest of the family.

z

Canary Island

Moneybags

Mrs C and I went to Fuerteventura a few years ago, it is the island next to Lanzarote. It is a wonderful place and very family friendly with loads of nice restaurants etc. Would not recommend somewhere like Playa Del Ingles on Gran Canaria as that is too commercialised and full of loud pubs.

So would strongly recommend Fuerteventura. Actaully going to Lanzarote for the first time this weekend with C junios (age 2) so will report back on how we got on.

C

holidays in the Canaries

The Canaries are the best and nearest destinations for Winter sunshine. We have found Tenerife a little warmer than Lanzarote - lesswind. If you would like to contact me I will give you information re: location and quiet, good accommodation. Aer Lingus fly direct on Saturdays now. Willow

Re: holidays in the Canaries

Thanks - I'd love some pointers on Tenerife. Perhaps you could post them in a new thread (Tenerife without tears?).

Gran Canaria

Moneybags,

Sorry for not replying sooner, I hadn't checked back to this topic for a while.

Gran Canaria is quite nice, we've been there this year and last year. I must admit I preferred Lanzarote which we were in the year before. Because we tend to go away in April the restaurants aren't that busy, the promoters are slightly more persistent (agressive would be the wrong word) in trying to encourage you to eat at their restaurant. The food was in general very good, El Gauchos in the Metro Centre in Playa Del Ingles was the best steakhouse I found. The weather was great, very warm with one overcast day. We stayed in a place called Tisalaya Park apartments - it was pretty good.

We'll try somewhere different next year, Fuerteventura or Tenerife.

Almost30