Those that choose not to pay extra to select seats..

[MissFortune]

Has it ever massively back-fired on you?

I wouldn't mind being in front or across the aisle from OH & i'm certainly not going to throw a fit if we chose not to pay and couldn't sit together.

Just debating whether it's worth the extra £70-120 the airlines charge to avoid possibly being sat smack bang in the middle of a party of 20 in matching fluorescent t-shirts whilst OH is at the complete opposite end of the plane.

I understand booking the window seat & aisle seat leaving the middle free on purpose to try and bag a spare seat is a "thing" nowadays.

[SMAX]

Never paid and never have been separated. We have always had 4 seats together in the middle row of 4.

[Tynxuk]

we've only done one holiday so far and didn't pay to select seats, our seats were allocated by BA 48 hours before flight and we were automatically sat together both ways (2xAdults, 1xover 12 and 2 under 11).

[MissFortune]

Interesting thanks.

Sometimes paying for seats has backfired. I tend to end up next to the most loud/annoying person and I think out of all the seats on this plane - I PAID to choose to sit here. Grrrrr :angry:

[stupet11]

I don't pay, and only got lucky twice in ten visits and got to sit away from family...rest of time we've been seated together.

Seems pointless to me, headphones on, everyone goes in their own zone for the flight / sleeps...quite nice to get up and walk and see them on the occasions we have been separated...not for too long though.

[duchy]

I think that's the best way to view it , what's the worse scenario and can you live with it ? If you couldn't then pay, if it's not the end of the world, then don't.

[toonarmani]

I posted this on another similar thread. One year we couldn’t select seats on the internal indirect leg (normally do it at 72hrs out) and helpdesk and social media teams couldn’t help and said it would be sorted in the airport.

Upshot was Delta split us all over 20 rows (girls were only 6 and 8 at the time and a few rows away from each of us).

A family kindly offered their row of 3 for my wife/girls (which they didn’t have to) but Delta couldn’t care less and said anyone over 5 could sit on their own.

Same issue on way back but manage to get 2x2’s for the Atlanta leg.

[Disneyphile]

I’ve never paid for seats either and we have not yet been separated. My children are young at the moment so as we usually fly with BA we are allocated seats together before check in. Once the kids are older I will have to see how they feel about the possibility of being sat separate from us. I remember flying to Florida when I was 11 and my brother was 3, we were sat together at the back of the plane and my parents were sat elsewhere. Looking back on it now I can’t believe that they did that to us! We were good kids though and we kept each other entertained!

[dippiedawnie]

If it was just DH and I we wouldn't bother as he s scarred of flying so shuts down for the entire flight. He has noise cancelling headphones and just stays in his bubble for 9 hrs. We have a 14 yr old DS and although he would talk to anyone and also be quite happy sitting anywhere I don't think it's fair on others to have to sit with him without a parent. I also feel the flight out is the start of the holiday so want to experience the excitement with him as we take off as he will be gone before we know it!

[princess allie]

I have never paid for seats and always been sat together, but we do have a child under 12. We missed our connection one year and were put on standby. DS was 8 at the time. We were separated by about 6 rows each and all allocated a middle seat. I was a bit worried how DS would handle it, but he never even mentioned it. I checked on him a couple of times, as did DH and luckily the flight was only an hour from Atlanta to Orlando, but it has shown me that its OK to not be sat together.