A mother was left distraught after her husband’s mistake led her to believe that she won’t be able to sit with her children on a long-haul flight.
According to the young woman in question, her husband was in charge of booking plane tickets for their upcoming trip. While the husband reassured his wife that everything was “taken care of,” it later turned out that he forgot to reserve the seats.
As a result of the dad’s mistake, the entire family was assigned seats in different rows, meaning that the 3-year-old and the 6-year-old would have to sit on their own away from their parents.
The mother was only made aware of her husband’s error at the check-in when the airline staff told her that there was nothing they could do because all of the seats were already taken.
“Husband did not pre-book seats for our holiday or check in early, although I was led to believe he had. We have just checked in after I realized he hadn’t and there are no seats together, traveling with a 3 and 6-year-old that have never flown before,” the mom wrote in an online plea for a solution.
“Called the airline and there’s nothing they can do. I’m so angry!! It’s just traveling basics to me to pre-book seats or check in when prompted.
“I feel awful that our kids will be scared and there’s nothing I can do to make it better.”
After the emotional message went viral on BabyCentre’s forum, several readers attempted to comfort the mother and reassure her that everything would likely turn out ok.
“I’m torn on this one, if it’s a big deal to you why would just assume he had done it? Wouldn’t you check or more so just do it yourself? I work in travel and we were split up as a family in Feb, only across an aisle mind so wasn’t bad, but I do understand how stressed you will be feeling,” someone wrote.
“Saying that, aviation rules mean any child under 12 must be sat close by an adult traveling companion, but this can also mean across aisles, in front or behind, basically not necessarily next to but close enough to assist should you need to put on oxygen masks/make sure seatbelts are on etc for example. I hope you get sorted but I also think it’s a joint error.”
Another person commented: “This is a nightmare but rely on the kindness of strangers – somebody will swap and make this work.
It’s absolute madness that an airline would allow a 3 and 6-year-old to sit away from their parents. Imagine sitting next to an unsupervised 3-year-old for a flight – they will be swapping for sure!”
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