Todos
← Back to Squawk list
Airlines urged to let parents sit with kids
Sen. Charles Schumer is urging airlines to allow families with young children to sit together without paying extra. The New York Democrat is reacting to an Associated Press story last week detailing how families this summer are going to find it harder to sit together without paying fees that can add up to hundreds of dollars over the original ticket price. "Children need access to their parents, and parents need access to their children," Schumer said in a statement. "Unnecessary… (www.sfgate.com) Más...Sort type: [Top] [Newest]
I just traveled with Delta alone with my four young children and was a little upset when I was almost the last to board. Apparently, Delta only allows early boarding if you have children under 2. I was embarrassed that my children had to climb over the aisle occupant while I tried to help move their backpacks. Not that they were bad, but I know can be annoying to a non-parent.
I'm not sure I understand some of the comments here. If I buy 6 center seat tickets (presumably without the add on fees), the airline will move people out of their premium seats so we can sit together? I doubt that very much. Every flight I've flown this past year has been overbooked, so I'm not sure how the gate agents can rearrange so many seats together.
Airlines are certainly encouraging people to avoid flying. I consider road trips more often now.
I'll book the cheapest seats and let the non-parents complain about sitting with a bunch of children without parents as they talk to each other over them. I'm sure these fees won't last long.
I'm against government control, but when the airlines start acting like this, they bring it on themselves.
I'm waiting for the day when there is no airfare charged. Everyone flies free, just have to pay for a seat cushion fee, flotation device fee, fuel fee, boarding fee, drink fee, air filter fee.....
I'm not sure I understand some of the comments here. If I buy 6 center seat tickets (presumably without the add on fees), the airline will move people out of their premium seats so we can sit together? I doubt that very much. Every flight I've flown this past year has been overbooked, so I'm not sure how the gate agents can rearrange so many seats together.
Airlines are certainly encouraging people to avoid flying. I consider road trips more often now.
I'll book the cheapest seats and let the non-parents complain about sitting with a bunch of children without parents as they talk to each other over them. I'm sure these fees won't last long.
I'm against government control, but when the airlines start acting like this, they bring it on themselves.
I'm waiting for the day when there is no airfare charged. Everyone flies free, just have to pay for a seat cushion fee, flotation device fee, fuel fee, boarding fee, drink fee, air filter fee.....
Why am I not surprised that this was started by a politician from New York and a Democrat.
Let's take airlines out of the picture. You're taking your family to Disney and you want adjoining hotel rooms or at least rooms next to each other. What do you do? 1)You start booking rooms early before the hotel is full. For some resorts that might be a year or more in advance. 2) You use travel points to upgrade or receive preferential treatment/service.(extra fees) 3)You pay (extra fees) for a premium room/suite that has the higher chance or providing your request.
What you don't do: 1)Expect the hotel to move someone from a room just to accommodate you. 2)Expect adjoining rooms with a discount rate or room booked from a discount ticket broker. 3)Expect the government to create a law telling a business how to do their business.
Get the government out of it.
Let's take airlines out of the picture. You're taking your family to Disney and you want adjoining hotel rooms or at least rooms next to each other. What do you do? 1)You start booking rooms early before the hotel is full. For some resorts that might be a year or more in advance. 2) You use travel points to upgrade or receive preferential treatment/service.(extra fees) 3)You pay (extra fees) for a premium room/suite that has the higher chance or providing your request.
What you don't do: 1)Expect the hotel to move someone from a room just to accommodate you. 2)Expect adjoining rooms with a discount rate or room booked from a discount ticket broker. 3)Expect the government to create a law telling a business how to do their business.
Get the government out of it.
yeah, what if the airlines sits you child next to a child molester. My grandson would drive them nuts. He is good but very curious. Maybe they should bring back buisness class, this would solve everything.
A few airlines are bringing it back.
People here are overwhelmingly against government telling airlines what to do, even with relatively small things like this, and that is of course understandable. It's ironic to me though, because once upon a time (prior to 1978) the entire industry was deeply regulated by the federal government and this was just accepted as a fact of life. Of course regulation had a lot of drawbacks, and personally i can't say that i'm a supporter of that level of regulation, but many in the US airline industry felt that it was stronger and healthier prior to deregulation. Again, i'm not endorsing regulation.
These days, as a business traveler and father, I'm already getting screwed out of: 1) Reduced number of flights in-general; 2) Increased difficulty in attaining award seats for just myself, let alone the rest of the family; 3) Fare increases, and; 4) no flexibility on fares for children over 2 years of age. 5 years ago on Northwest, I was able to fly a total of 4 adults from Kansas City to Hawaii and back for 120,000 miles, got upgraded to 1st class, and even earned miles for the trip. Now, we can't even get 2 people to Florida for that, and that's adjusted for "miles inflation"! You can bet there was some serious loyalty in return for NWA's generosity in those days, plus the flights/connections made my job more efficient while keeping the airline profitable. I'm sure lots of us PAX can "insert the same story here" for any number of airlines, just a short time ago.
I understand that a lot has changed in the last several years. What hasn't changed is the need for people to fly places without either the airline or passenger going broke doing it.