Seating maps show low availablity - can we sit together?
 

I have a bit of a silly question. ;) The seating maps of the flights I am looking at are quite full. We are a family of 3 (2 adults and 1 toddler) and there are no 3 seat all together. Would there be any way that they would sit us together in the end? I'm wondering if those seats are showing as unavailable because of the booking class or because they are truly taken. It's a long flight, I get motion sickness, and did I mention we have a toddler? ;) I guess we could just book 2 seats, but I was really willing to spend the extra money to have more space, even if she doesn't want to sit in her seat.

They will not seat toddler alone (in the end) - so at least 2 of you will be together. That seems perfect arrangment to me - you sit alone in peace and traveling companion gets the kid.

Sorry, I forgot to say that there are 2 seats together on most of the options I have checked. DD would end up with me for sure, not Daddy! That would be his dream as he hates dealing with me when I am sick on flights and he's worried about DD since this will be our first flight with her. Anyway, I would rather have only two seats and sit together than be apart.

You don't say how old your daughter is, but I think on most airlines you are going to have to buy three seats, even if they are not all together. You could check the specific airline to find what their policies are. Often the child's seat costs less, but I think that varies with the airline.

In any event, most airlines do not allow all seats to be assigned when tickets are bought. A certain fraction of the seats will be held for gate agent booking, so sometimes when people buy a ticket, they are told no seat is being assigned now; assignment will be made at the gate. It doesn't mean that the flight is overbooked, only that they want to gate agent to have some flexibility when people with special needs show up. Actually, even if seats have been assigned, the gate agent can still reassign those seats; if you read all the fine print you will see that the airline reserves the right to reassign a previously assigned seat, but it does not happen frequently.

My suggestion would be to arrive early at the gate, and be among the first people to talk to the gate agent when they show up. Ask if you can be assigned three seats together to enable you to keep your child unrowdy, I mean to care for your child. I would try for three seats together, because changing seats during the flight is a hassle, and with three seats, you could probably raise the arm rests between the seats and create a lot more room for yourselves.

Oh no!

I can't get my seat assignment!

The world is going to end!

DD is under 2 so she qualifies as an infant in lap. So basically I'm trying to decided if the money would be better spent on direct flights (two seats) or on flights with connections and three seats, but possibly not sitting together.

Cosmic -- I sometimes get motion sickness and we're travelling with a toddler, so it's important to me that we sit together. Do you want to sit next to my DD and me and take care of us? ;)

My (now)3 yr old daughter is becoming quite the cross country traveler- PDX/EWR 4 times already..I always bought her a seat and kept her in her car seat-much safer for all involved,and she sleeps through a large portion of each flight.Trust me, I am not one to be able to throw money around,but her safety is first. Also, this trip she is currently on (without me!)I wasn't able to confirm 2 seats together for her and my sister.I was slightly panicked at the thought of nobody changing seats for them, so I sent a nicely worded e mail to Continental asking for any help they could offer. The rep ended up unblocking seats in the front of the plane for us right away. I was thrilled..perhaps you could try the same approach?

I hope your beautiful little girsl has a CO FF card? :-D

girsl = girl :-)

Definately...we're both close to a freebie! BTW, she's receiveing Chase credit card offers because of the FF account! Dare I guess that they'd give a 3 year old a credit card?

These days? I wouldn't be surprised...

My wife and I ran into this on a recent flight to and from Springfield, MO via Dallas on American...on each leg we were able to negotiate seats together by talking to the gate agent or just asking other passengers to swap.