jon&kate

Booked flights on friday with air newzealand but after going through everything when it cameto paying the guy at the travel agents said that we wouldn't be able to sit together as people had reserved there seats.Thing is they said they could put 2 of us together but the other 2 would be on there own.As there are me and the mrs plus 2 kids aged 3 and 7 this is no good as we cant sit 1 of the kids on there own.I was under the inpresion that although you can reserve a seat it does not mean it is certain you will get it so a call direct to the airline monday morning may help.Anyone else had this problem?

Fly Away

The airline do not usually allow children to sit on their own! I think they might have guidelines about this too??? So I can't see how this has happened. I would advise you to ring the airline again, ask to speak to a supervisor and explain the situation. If this doesn't work, get to check in REALLY early. Then create a big fuss about one of your children sitting alone on a 24 hour flight. The check in staff have the power to rearrange seats.

Good luck!

jon&kate

We have not spoken to air new zealand yet but i m not paying for the flights till it is sorted.The flights are over 6 grand and am not paying that not to sit together.As far as im aware the airline has the final say on seat allocation so hopefully common sense will come through on this one.

rodandhayley

I thinks its great idea
Sit as far away from the kids as possible

Fly Away

I don't blame you for not paying. Good luck - I hope they see reason and if not, they don't get your money!

The Bloke

If you feel that strongly, book on another flight, because if you wait for it to be sorted, you will probably miss out and have to go on another anyway. It may have turned out that the number and groupings of other passengers on the plane caused the seating arrangements to be allocated that way.

BTW, why has it got to be the kids that has to sit alone? Why can't you and you OH sit with one child each and swap around during the flight? Too easy, problem solved!

jon&kate

how can we sit with the kids if its 2 seats together and 1 alone and another alone??????????????????????????????????????????wif e sits with one kid i sit alone meaning other nipper alone .

No Idea

We were told the same thing (and in business class) when our kids were 12 mnths and 3yrs old. We also had "priority" seating as well. However when we checked in the staff very quickly rearranged the seating.....so that we could sit together 2 by 2. (12mnth old had own seat booked). I just mentioned to the staff that I was more than happy for someone else to breastfeed my baby and change nappys etc and I have a rest sitting on the other side of the plane Amazing how quickly it was sorted out.

Worse comes to worse if you are boarding and the seating is not changed, I'm sure that the person sitting next to the 3yr old will definitely want to change seats so you can sit next to her/him. Dont know many people willing to sit on a 24hr flight with someone elses 3yr old. So book and be assured it WILL work out OK.

Deedee13

put the kids together and u and wife sit alone...!

how far in advance have u booked ur tickets? because it seems really strange to me that the seating is already sorted out for other pax ....thus proving difficult to put 4 pax together..

You will find that the crew will normally put families together especially kids with at least one parent!

All else fails book another airline! Why call monday morning? airlines operate 24/7..There is not a lot of policy on kids sitting with parents....i could tell u stories of parents in first class and kids in main cabin.. bloody amazing. Oh and change the travel agent.. sounds like a right idiot.. Why not book direct with the airline ? they honor the price u have been given in most cases i know of...

liverpool12

Hi,

We booked with Emirates and were sitting together on the Manchester to Dubai flight and just assumed that we would be together on the Dubai to Perth leg of the journey. Father-in-law checked us all 8 of us in together at Manchester and saw that we were all in the same row on the first flight, it was only when we checked in for the second flight that the stupid Tw@t in the Manchester check-in had split us all up and never said anything. Me and the wife and 2 kids aged 3 & 5 were expected to just sit where we were told scattered all over the aircraft and leave 2 young kids sitting next to total strangers for 11 hours.

The cabin staff told us to sit down for take-off and they would sort it out once we were up in the air. My little girl was having none of it and kicked up a big fuss that she wanted to be next to me, so the cabin crew had to go around and ask if people would move for us. It took 30 mins and nearly held the plane up, because nowone would move and we wouldnt take our seats. They ended up upgrading some old couple to Business Class to let us take their seats. We were still split up, but at least I sat next to my daughter and the wife sat next to our son somewhere else.

The cabin crew couldnt do enough for us then during the flight, to help make up for the trouble.

We made sure that we booked online for the return journey so that we had seats together on both flights.

jon&kate

If you want the number for air new zealand maybe you can get through better than me as they are not 24/7.We are in prem ecomony so less seats in that cabin.Cant get on another flight as i did think of that aswell but no seats available.

Nickie

I think its outragous that the airline expect a small child to sit alone next to a complete stranger. When we went in march we flew with malaysia and i did ask if my son, who was 3, would be sat with us and they said that airlines dont expect children to sit alone. I know then there were only 3 of us to seat but when we come to book flights to go for good there will be 6 of us so i expect to be sat apart in groups of 3. I absolutly refuse to let any of my children sit with a stranger on their own and the girls are 14, 11 and 9 and my son is 4. I would expect to sit with 2 and kev sit with 2. (i will have the older 2 haha) At least now i am prepared and will defo make sure when we check in to get seats together.

good luck everyone.

Nickie

The Bloke

Ok, fair comment, but in the wording of the original post it was stated "Thing is they said they could put 2 of us together but the other 2 would be on there own", by which I took to be one group of two and a seperate group of two. I still contend, why not try for another flight and have everyone sit together? Why has it got to be this particular flight?

jad n rich

Sounds like in that case they are offering you the last seats in the limited premium cabin, might be far more difficult to switch around than in ecomony where there are hundreds of seats.

Usually if not seated together once on board the staff will get someone to switch seats, but people in premium will have paid more and I'd bet they would get right snotty and refuse to move if they have the seat they want.

Premium seats are always hard to find and if thats all they have you might just have to accept it doesnt suit you.

Deedee13

seems to me the ship is full in the cabin u want, and thus the limited allotments of seating. What about switching down to economy? there are obviously more seats available? I think this is a case of booking unfortunately too late to get a choice. which sort of sucks. although ur right to contact air nz... they will have contact numbers of the other pax and see if there are people who want to change.