Hi Lesley ... you may get a better response from the airline experts in the ThomsonFly Q&As thread of our Airlines & Airports forum ...... please click here.

David

Lesley

I wouldn't worry too much. In all the years we have been travelling with our children we have always been sat together and we have never pre-booked seats. It is a condition of airlines that each child has an adult with them. Our children are 14, 16 and 20 now and we still all get sat together without pre-booking.

Regards Jackie

Jackie
Its not certain that an airline will sit families together. I'm sure that this family with a one year old and a two year old will be OK but for older children you are taking a chance. BA refused to find us seats together for a transatlantic flight when my son was 10. He gets airsick so I really wanted to be with him but they wouldnt budge.

Bridd

In your case, having a ten year old seperated from you on a flight must have been quite distressing for you all, but to be honest my kids at their ages now are quite distressed when they are sat with us. They would rather sit away from us.

Regards Jackie

I've never pre-booked flights either and we've never been seperated from our children, my children are now coming 12 and 14, good luck Lesley, I hope you get it sorted

They wont separate you when your children are as young as this for safety

The two of us flew to Menorca 21st June with Thomsons at check in desk I asked to be seated togother and the lady said we always sit people together?Which she did.

The lady behind me was seated with her young child separately from her husband and her other child when we came back from our holiday, this was unfortunately because of someone with excess baggage holding up their check in queue so they were one of the last checking in. This meant she had her child on her lap all journey unable to share the duties with her hubby and she wasn't very pleased about it.

Perhaps consider arranging a private transfer for your return journey so that you can get there before the check in opens - Menorca being a small island I'm sure a taxi won't cost you much - just let your rep know what you are doing.

i agree,with sandc,arrange your own transport,to the airport,when coming home.it will be worth it,for peace of mind.
we always do this,otherwise, you could guarantee,we'd be at the back,of the queue!
tracy

Thanks for your replies. I agree with your comments about arranging a taxi transfer for the return journey, at least I'll be near the front of the queue! Cheers!

Lesley, they'll have to sit you with the kids anyway as those under 2 yrs have to have a lapbelt for take off/landing and they can't exactly sit them on a strangers lap can they?

I'd just advise you to get there early. I've just been away with my best friend and her 20-month old daughter and I was very impressed with check-in. At Newcastle they came and moved us to another check in desk so we were one of the first to check in and at Faro the bloke was so nice - we had a bit of long wait to check in and Georgia was fretting a bit as it was her nap time. I'd asked for 2 seats together and he took ages to get us our seats but he said "I've given you an aisle and a middle seat and left the window seat free as it's less likely I'll fill that" and sure enough we had three seats for our home flight. How kind was that?

Good luck.

Sorry but there is no way an airline would allow a young child to sit without at least one parent!!!!!

Not least becos' in the event of emergency landing etc the parent would be required to evacuate the child which would be incredibly difficult if they weren't sat together!

In this instance the child is 2 years old and putting a 2 year old on it's own next to strangers without a parent close by - let's be honest it's just NOT going to happen is it!

Hi Lesley,

Why did you not ask the agent when she stated you were not allowed to pre-book?

Like a previous post though there is no way that they will separate you and your children. If you find yourself at the back of a queue seek a rep and do what my friend has just done, explain to him/her and your concerns of being separated. The rep went to the desk and bought her back her seat numbers as her children are very young also.

Worth a go don't you think?

Kazee

There is no way they would make a child sit alone but they might separate Lesley from her husband so each adult would be alone with a child. I think this is what Lesley is worried about. Unfortunately this is a possibility so check in early.

To be honest she may end up separated from hubby purely becos' of the oxygen mask situation.

We travelled in 2002 when our twins were 7months and eldest 4yrs and we had to sit in different rows as there was only 1 infant oxygen mask per row so could be that they say you can't sit in same row.

It was a real pain (my DH was behind us but of no use when it came to helping when one of the kids needed the loo/nappy change and we had to rely on fellow passengers and crew to help out (I HATE asking anyone for help) plus all the baby stuff was in one backpack so I would just say do an equal split of your hand luggage just in case.

last year we paid the extra to sit together with thomsons,,,,,,,, well me and one son sat at the back and hubby and other son sat at the front!!!!!!!not exactly what i had in mind as we wouldnt have been separated anyway like you say ,, one parent to one child!!!

Thanks for your comments. Obviously I wasn't talking about my 2 and a half year old sitting on her own, but me managing her and my 16 month old together, whilst my mother was seated elsewhere. Tricky when I need to nappy change one or the other! Both the Portland rep AND the Thomson Fly rep told me I couldn't pre book anything on my particular flight, when I asked why she just said it wasn't an option on the flight, even when I explained why I wanted to do it. I always get near the front of the check in queue going on holiday but it's out of my hands when being transported from your hotel back to the airport, as I said before, I always seems to be last in the airport for check in. I am thinking of taking a taxi to ensure I'm there earlier but am not sure on car seat laws in taxis for minorca (I'll need 2) plus room for 2 cases, 2 pushchairs, 2 adults and 1 child/1 infant!! Comments about that welcome too!

Just a thought - if your mum and one child check in separately, then you and the other child check in, you'd at least be assured of each child having an adult next to them.
Assuming everyone has an individual ticket.

i thought under 2's didnt have a seat anyway so were on the lap of the parent. I think the worry here is the two adults being separated. I would make sure i was there early and hire a taxi for the airport back.