One mum has hit back at easyJet over their seating policy.
Budget airlines can offer some great deals on flight tickets, but if it's too good to be true, it is usually because it is.
While the ticket is cheap, as you make your way to check out, the add-ons can add up. With the likes of easyJet and Ryanair, customers then need to add the cost of luggage, cabin bags and have the option to choose where they want to sit, for a fee.
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It appears that passengers you find on planes can be divided into three types - one that doesn't want to pay extra and chance it, another who will happily swap seats, and others who refuse to give up their seat if they paid for it - like one woman did on her TUI flight.
But one mum took to parenting forum Mumsnet to vent after she noticed that people would have paid for their seats, even though, she claims, the plane wasn't full.
Writing in the forum titled 'Am I being unreasonable', the mum who remained anonymous ranted: "Took a flight last week with DC [dear children], who are four and seven. Chose not to pay extra to select seats, but checked in early enough to ensure there would be quite a lot of unallocated seats and I could go back and pay the extra to change if necessary.
"Got given two seats together (window and middle) plus the window seat in the row behind and decided that was good enough."
"But when we got on the plane, the flight wasn't full and the seat next to my kids was empty, along with several other entire rows.
"Same thing happened on the way back, except that this time the flight was pretty full. But the guy who had the seat next to our two was delighted to swap, as it meant he could be next to his girlfriend in the row behind.
"Now I realise that if I wanted to be sure we would be together, I needed to pay, but it feels as if easyJet were just deliberately making everyone's life difficult, presumably in the hope that we would pay the extra the next time. AIBU [am I being unreasonable] to be annoyed by this?"
The comments flooded with people who had similar experiences, while others stuck up for the airlines, saying it was 'just business'.
One replied: "Ryanair do the same. My aunt wrote them a letter to thank them. She said her holiday was much more relaxing not having to travel with her husband!"
"It’s a business and seating isn’t organised by a malevolent person in an office somewhere: it’s an algorithm. If you want seats together you pay for it. EasyJet has no feelings for you or any other customer. It wants to maximise its profits, especially after the last two years", argued another.
A second echoed: "If you think about their revenue model it’s all about keep the flight price low and make money through the add ons. If people don’t buy the add ons they’ll end up increasing the price of the flights so it’ll all come out in the wash eventually."
"I find that strange. We have never paid for seats on easyJet and have always been seated together when we check in online -in a row. Their policy is to keep under 12's seated within at least one parent for safety and practical reasons. It causes more work for cabin crew if a kid is left without a parent", one interjected.
And a fifth bluntly added: "Its a choice.
"If you want to be guaranteed to sit together you pay a premium. If you are not bothered/happy to roll the dice then you don't."
EasyJet state on their website that if you don't choose a seat before booking, they will pick one for you for free.
They explain: "You can choose where you’d like to sit for a fee. Seats can be selected at the time of booking, or at any time before you check-in, via Manage bookings on our website or mobile app.
"On bookings with more than one passenger, allocated seats must be selected for all passengers on the booking otherwise we cannot allow any allocated seats to be purchased."
If flying with children, easyJet state on their website: "You can choose your seats in advance (for a fee) to ensure you sit together."
And for infants: "Infants (children under two) need to sit with an adult either on their lap or in an adjacent seat. On all of our aircraft we can allow up to one infant on a lap for each row of three seats."
EasyJet have been contacted for comment.
