What if family is not sitting together on a flight?

Speak with an agent If you don't heed our advice and find yourself at the airport with a less-than-desirable boarding group, Southwest advises that you speak with a gate agent or flight attendant. They will see if any passengers are willing to move to accommodate your family if you aren't able to get seats together.



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After takeoff, passengers are free to move about the cabin without fear of disrupting critical weight distribution. But that doesn't necessarily mean it's OK to take over empty seats without warning.

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A parent who purchases airline tickets for a family should receive a guarantee from the airline that it will seat the parent and child together without fees or a last-minute scramble at the gate or having to ask other passengers to give up their seat to allow the parent and child to sit together.

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Most U.S. airlines will permit children who have reached their fifth birthday to travel unaccompanied. Kids ages 5 through 11 who are flying alone must usually travel pursuant to special “unaccompanied minor” procedures. On some airlines, these procedures are required for unaccompanied children as old as 14.

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Tammy Nelson was flying on Delta Airlines from Cincinnati, Ohio, to San Jose, California, when she was asked to swap seats with a woman who wanted to sit next to her two children.

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British Airways, Tui and Virgin Atlantic all guarantee that children under 12 will be seated with at least one adult from their booking – although the rest of the group might be split up. British Airways also lets you choose your seat for free if you're travelling with a child under two.

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If you don't choose your seats in advance, we always do our best to seat your family together based on flight seat availability. This may mean that you'll be seated in adjacent rows or across the aisle. All children under 12 will be seated with an accompanying adult. Anyone over 12 may be seated separately.

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Whilst our seating system will always try to seat families together, seats are allocated on a first come first served basis so the earlier you check in the more likely you are to be seated together.

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What about Ryanair? Ryanair has a slightly different system. They do guarantee children that under 12 will be seated with 1 adult in their booking party but that adult must pay £4 to reserve a seat and the children are then automatically given seats next to them for no extra charge.

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If you want a window seat, then suppose you choose from left to right (looking toward plane's nose): kid, kid, parent (aisle), parent (aisle). if in the middle then it's parent, kiddo, kiddo, parent. Mirror image it if you want the other side of the plane.

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The back of the plane, where many young families like to sit. I personally prefer to sit up front as it's easier to get on/off the aircraft with carry-on luggage and the front seats may come with extra legroom.

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U.S. Customs and Border Protection recommends that any child under the age of 16 traveling without both legal guardians should have a notarized Child Travel Consent signed by both legal guardians. Having your Child Travel Consent notarized decreases the chance of travel authorities questioning its validity.

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