I read it in the newspaper. From what I read, it's American Airlines, and they plan to charge extra for the aisle and window seats~forcing families to either pay extra to sit together or sit scattered about the plane in middle seats. When you go to book online, the color-coded seat availability shows all the middle seats (presumably at the price you selected) as "available," while the window/aisle seats state "available for extra fee."

I think this is a delightful plan for those traveling with toddlers...have a stranger sit next to them and tend to them. Best way to get a rest when travelling with young children and babies.

This would likely lead to policy modification, don't you think ?

I was sitting next to a 6 and 8 year old unattended male children.

I had to babysit them the entire trip. Nothing like crying and wanting their mother.

The FA, who ignored the kids the entire trip, told me at the end that I deserved a free drink. The guy behind me said loudly, "he should get a free ticket for what he put up with".

In retrospect, pretty funny.

To me this is child abuse in one form or another ...let alone adult abuse!!

I'm quite sure someone will think the same thing and airlines are gwanna be sued!

Huzzah!

I was sitting next to a 6 and 8 year old unattended male children.

I had to babysit them the entire trip.

Just be lucky some "concerned citizen" didn't report you

Do you know if the parent was anywhere on the plane? For attending those children you deserve much more than a drink-sainthood comes to mind.

I have asked Fodors to remove the above post because it somehow got corrupted when I hit "submit"

But the main point remains.....

The airline is not raising kids you are. So when you don't pay for the seat then you can't get hysterical....and sue???? Really!!!

Only in The USA do YOU decide take the risk and expect others to pay for your decisions.

This should not even be a situation a parent has to face. It should just be considered common sense that a parent would need and want to sit near their child/children.

A parent should not be pushed into paying extra for this.

I am ambivalent about this. First, I do not like all the fees for various things that airlines have tacked on - it is a result of us all demanding unreasonably low fares. I would rather pay 10-20% more for some leg room, luggage checking, etc.

But if included in this menu of fees is an aisle or window seat, then not sure families should be exempt from paying. Of course it is unreasonable to have free range kids scattered thruout the plane - but there are all sorts of etra costs associated with having kids that we all have to pay.

And I just know that sometime if I pay extra for an aisle seat I am going to have to choose between sitting with a bored, lonely and scared stranger kid next to me or cramming myself into a middle seat so they can have a parent with them. (I would move, but that is not fair either)

Sounds like we're going to need to accept this new fee just like all the other new fees if we want to keep flying. I suppose I'll adjust and pay more so my husband and I can sit together on long flights. We've adjusted to new baggage fees by getting by with carryons. We take snacks with us so we don't have to buy them on the plane. We no longer request the exit row for more leg room due to extra cost. We take our own ear buds because now they cost extra. Still, I won't give up flying as long as I'm able. Too many great places to see in the world.

It looks like it has now started as well on Delta. I went to check in for my flight tomorrow and sure enough aisle and windows are being sold for $29.00 US. My seat is good (aisle - forward in coach) So I did nothing. There are some good seats to get though. (Those seats had been held back, btw) I think this is horrible what the airlines do to us with all these FEES and we have no choice but to take it or not go. Very unfair that the paying traveling customer has no recourse in this

hpeabody-You mentioned that you have an aisle seat. You picked it before the new fees went into effect?

1965...you are right. Too many great places to see in the world...so I too will keep flying.

But I do try to fly directly out of the country on foreign airlines which do not have such fees and also....if I must fly in the US....I use SW.

I try!

1965, Yes I selected my aisle seat when I booked the ticket about 10 mos ago. I actually have all my seats selected for this years vacation flights, 3 more trips this year. A good thing This new fee won't get me until next year

I was thinking of a few scenarios and welcome your comments.

1) I paid for an E+ seat on United. What happens if I get asked to move to accomodate a family who did not pay the fee? Do I get the E+ fee I paid back? Keep in mind my boarding pass will not reflect this change, assuming this is done mid-flight. How am I going to substanciante this occured, not to mention the hassle of trying to get the upgrade fee back. (Of course, this assumes I'm actually willing to move, another matter. Would I have a choice?)

2) You are seated in front of the eight year old. The seat back is constantly being kicked, tray table shaken, headrest pulled on, they are slapping the back of your head and drooling in your ear. You turn around and scold me. Hmmm...sorry, ain't my kid!

3) The kid needs to know where the bathroom, how to close the door etc. Maybe I can help or send them to their parents, but why is responsibility placed upon me?

Of all of the fees being added, I think this one will backfire.

Delta reserves aisle and window seats in the forward portion of the economy cabin for Medallion-level FF members and full-fare ticket-holders. They still let you select aisle and window seats in the rest of economy without a fee.

If "preferred" seats are still available 24 hours before the flight, anyone can purchase them. The fees depend on the length of the flight.

For a short trip (max two hours) I want a window seat so I can lean against the wall. For a longer trip I want an aisle seat so I can get to the toilet without climbing over someone else. If I have paid extra for a window or aisle seat I am not going to move to a middle seat.

I am not going to take responsibility for someone else's child. I have made the choice to remain childless for a reason. I have NO patience at all. Max five minutes of bad behaviour, then I will call a flight attendant to deal with the problem.

I am certainly NEVER taking someone else's child to the bathroom.

A quick note of clarification: When I say I could "help", I mean, "The washroom door is there, be sure to close the latch." I'm with you anyegr, no way am I taking someone else's child to the toilet!

alanRow, can you give some details on how you babysat? I'm curious as to how much attention you felt you had to give, what happened, and so forth.

Meanwhile, lots of chatter about this on Overhead Bin

http://overheadbin.msnbc.msn.com/_news/2012/05/23/11816540-want-to-fly-next-to-your-child-prepare-to-pay?lite

Me again... Flew yesterday. terribly uncomfortable totally packed plane. I was unfortunately behind one of few ALL THE WAY MAX recline people. So rude!. I had the seat behind an economy comfort seat, although I could not tell that when I reserved my seat as it just showed reserved. Space ratio feels like he gets 10 feet, I get 2 feet, something not fair about that. He got to have a nice comfortable flight while I was miserable. He had no clue either. I just hate that trapped in, head in my face, can't breath for 5 hours feeling. The bad thing I have the same seat on the same plane (It's a turnaround) on my return. Dreading it. I officially hate flying now

Darnm darn, darn. My kids are now 21 and 24 but I wish they had done this years ago. One kid is severly ADHD, keeping her in her seat was like tying down the Energizer Bunny. The other kid is severly OCD, obsessive compulsive about routine, needed to stroke her "Lovie" as we took off. I would have had a good laugh at the FAs who would have had to deal with the 2 of them while I sat many rows away enjouing an alcoholic drink. You reap what you sow! This will not last long.

hpeabody, I have found that eating a nice garlicky lunch and breathing heavily over the seat top works well in such situations.

We recently traveled on United Airlines and they expected my three-year old son to sit alone. We booked the flight 8 months ahead and paid extra to upgrade and secure seats together, but at the last minute they cancelled our flight and booked us on an overbooked flight. While you might think people will willing switch seats, that's not always the case. We had to beg people to switch so my three-year old wouldn't be forced to sit alone, get scared and cry so hard he would throw up on people... NOT so family friendly. The ticket agent just kept saying, "sorry, there is nothing we can do".

What do you expect the airline agent to do in your case? How would you feel if your own assigned seat is taken away involuntarily so a family can sit together?

@rkkwan - the airline took their assigned seats, so I think it's reasonable they take someone else's assigned seat so a THREE TEAR OLD is not sitting by himself.

Can I pay extra to not have kids seated next to me?

Whose seat should the airline take then? How many of their customers do UA need to anger before everybody is satisfied?

Much of the flying public chooses airlines/flights based on cost. Period. Cheapest flight is the best flight. Airplanes are now the buses of the sky. Have you ever traveled any distance on a bus? You get on, you find a seat and you go. You don't expect food and drink, you bring your own. You don't ask people to change seats because you want to sit with your friend or spouse or child, you just take the first available, happy that you have a seat at all.

Airlines are businesses and they need to cover their costs in order to stay in business. Who can blame them for trying to keep their ticket prices low enough to attract travelers who select the lowest priced flights? And then they add on extra charges for things that some people are willing to pay extra for and others are not. Sure, the people who aren't willing will gripe and complain and want the same things for free that other people pay for, but that's life. And some of them will do whatever they can to make sure everyone else is punished because they don't get what they want for free.

The ones I feel for are the FAs, who will have to mediate the problems and disputes that arise. The parents who won't take on the responsibility and extra expense of ensuring they are seated with their children and monitoring their children's behavior so they don't create problems for others get no sympathy from me. Sure, 'it takes an village to raise a child' but more than that it takes parents who care enough to do the right thing.

Small kids (but not babes in arm) when their parents haven't purchased their own seat, those I feel sorry for!!!

"We had to beg . . ." sounds like there were more people than just you and your 3yo. Right? Were you traveling w/a spouse or other (older) children? Couldn't you move the 3 yo and let one of the others sit alone?

Our seats to Hawaii were changed after we had booked them months ahead, all sitting together.
Left my daughter, my nephews sitting without a parent anywhere near them. The airline would not fix it, even when I called and tried to have our seats moved. They had changed the airplane and moved us around without any effort to keep us together even though we were all on the same booking.
The gate agent wouldn't fix it.
Finally, on the plane, a few passengers traded when my nephew started hollering and crying. Too bad it took that to make some people act like the adults they are.
The airlines are going to get into some trouble with this.

Families with kids should just stick with Southwest and stay away from airlines that have assigned seats. I am not kidding - the CEO of United recently said that while they don't mind taking leisure flyers, their focus are on business travelers.

Sorry parents but it's your responsibility to ensure the welfare of a child. If I have paid for a preferred seat and the airline puts your separated child next to me do not expect me to tend to the child.

I can't wait to charge the airline my babysitting fee. It's not cheap.

We have flights on Lufthansa in May. Have chosen our seats. I talked to an agent the other day to confirm our seats. She said to check periodically in case the plane is changed. In that case a "robot" picks our new seat assignments. Her word was robot, not computer. I'd wondered now and then why my DH and I were sometimes seated not together even though it's obvious we're married. Now I know. It's the robot's fault.

@rkkwan - Southwest doesn't fly everywhere nor do they fly internationally.

If airlines are going to let someone choose seats at booking they should honor those assignments. OR else do like BA does and charge to pick seats .

BA also follows a rather civilized procedure for families traveling with children ages 2-11:

If you don't qualify to select seats in advance for no charge, and you decide not to pay to select seats in advance, BA will assign your seats three days before departure. If your family can't all be seated together, all children in the booking will be seated with an accompanying adult.

If traveling with an infant under 2 years of age, you can select seats for everyone in your booking free of charge at the time of booking.

Of course you usually won't get the rock-bottom fares with BA...

mztery - Yes, airline should honor seat assignment, but it was YOU who suggested in a post above that the airline should move other passengers to accommodate the family in that cancellation/rebooking case.

I have some great suggestions - cancellations should be made illegal. Planes should never be booked more than 2//3 full. Middle seats should always be left unassigned. Thunderstorms should be eliminated. Airlines should have backup plane and crew at each airport they fly to and from.

Where's the 'Like' button? Rkkwan is certainly on the right track...

I don't have an answer, but why should a family lose their assigned seats over a single person? Or at least, lose the seat that would put one of them next to their 3 year old. SOMEONE has to get booted for that not to happen.

That family lost their seat because their flight was cancelled, and they had to be rebooked on a already full flight. That was a bad situation, no question. But the only thing that could be done was done - which was for the family to ask for volunteers on the plane to switch.

Yes, that would require some "begging", but they did get the desired result. My issue was that poster complained that the airline was not "family friendly". So , let's move somebody else out of their assigned seat? I call that "single-traveler unfriendly".

Maybe this sounds harsh, but if the situation was THAT bad, they could have requested to only be rebooked on a flight with open seats together - maybe days later, I know. Or not go on that trip and get a refund.

rkkwan-I totally agree with you. My hubby and I love to travel, which includes international flying 2-3 times a year. We've raised our child, so don't expect and accept someone elses child's travel needs to impact us or inconvenience us. I choose way in advance our seat assignments, for our comfort and conveniece. We taught school for years, so actually do like children. But when it comes to travels, we like ourselves more.

@1965 - you're talking about two different scenarios - I agree, if a family books a flight where there are no seats available except to be booked at the airport or at checkin, they need to live with what they get. But if they, like you, booked in advance and chose seats, which are then changed by an equipment swap, then it should be the AIRLINE's responsibility to find them a seat next to their 3 year old. Even it it means inconveniencing someone else. No child that young should have to sit next to strangers.

"then it should be the AIRLINE's responsibility to find them a seat next to their 3 year old. Even it it means inconveniencing someone else. No child that young should have to sit next to strangers."

OK -- I guess I just don't get it. A couple is flying w/ their 3 yo. 3yo's seat is reassigned. No available 3 seats together. One parent trades seats w/ the 3yo. The 3yo sits next to the other parent. I just don't get all this angst.

@janisj - Maybe I misunderstood but I think the family in question had 3 seats of which no TWO were near each other.

"We had to beg people to switch so my three-year old wouldn't be forced to sit alone ..."

mztery-I agree that having a 3 yr. old sit next to strangers is a very bad situation,especially knowing this family had booked and chosen seats well in advance, but how would the airline go about choosing who will be inconvenienced if no one volunteers to switch? Maybe if the airline offered compensation for volunteering to switch seats-I can see that being a good, fair, friendly thing for the airline to do.