Adult and 8 year old child not sat together

[Nick G]

As above really. Checked in for our return CE flight from IST to LHR tomorrow and found that my 8 year old son is seated elsewhere from my wife. They are currently both in 8A and 8F. I am sat several rows in front of the pair. Only option MMB is for our son to sit elsewhere at a window.

I understand not paying for seat selection and being split as adults which we fully accept. However BA policy states “All children under 12 will be seated with an accompanying adult” clearly isn’t on this occasion. Tried contacting BA on twitter to no avail.

We will be at IST several hours early tomorrow due to our connecting flight from Izmir. Any ideas/suggestions other than speaking to BA staff at IST? I didn’t think BA allowed children to be split up like this? Never had this before on any BA flight.

THANKS

[Rob]

Strictly speaking, the definition of ‘together’ does not mean side by side. BA is allowed to sit your child in front of you or across the aisle from you. 8A/8F isn’t allowed though.

I assume this is all that was left and that the BA system cannot move people to accommodate you. You’d need to fix at check in.

[Jonathans]

I thought BA’s “systems” automatically allocated families with children seats a few days before the flight? Ie after status holders but before general public?

[JDB]

The CAA guidance is:- “Young children and infants who are accompanied by adults should ideally be seated in the same seat row as the adult. Where this is not possible, children should be separated by no more than one seat row from accompanying adults.” Not exactly ideal, but BA has complied in this case, but hopefully can be fixed at the airport.

[The Savage Squirrel]

Last resort: train your 8yo to either cry loudly or sob heartbreakingly once they’ve sat “alone” in the cabin. People will move themselves round fast enough…

[NorthernLass]

A and F aren’t actually that far from each other in CE – also the person in the aisle seat next to your son is likely to swap to sit in your wife’s window seat. I know it’s not ideal and there’s a lot wrong with the way families can be seated in general, but in this scenario I don’t think you need to worry.

[Richie]

Don’t ignore that BA, and other airlines, fund the CAA and that’s why this utter stupidity of a policy persists. I’ve seen a young child in tears on a BA flight because there was a possibilty they weren’t going to sit with their parent, until passengers collectively solved the problem. Shame on you BA and the dumb CAA.

[Richie]

The Savage Squirrel wrote:

Last resort: train your 8yo to either cry loudly or sob heartbreakingly once they’ve sat “alone” in the cabin. People will move themselves round fast enough…

Have seen a child cry in this situation, they weren’t acting.

[Richie]

The CAA guidance should say:- “Young children and infants who are accompanied by adults should be seated next to their accompanying adults. They must not be separated by aisles nor rows. Seating re-arrangements must take place prior to any passengers boarding at the gate.”

[NorthernLass]

It certainly should – the current “guidance” is a recipe for disaster should evacuation be delayed by parents who obviously wouldn’t leave an aircraft without their children.

[Nick G]

Apologies for the late reply. Been travelling TK in biz from Izmir to Istanbul. OT…worlds apart from BA. On an hour flight meal served and bused from the lounge to the aircraft, free seat selection at time of booking etc but I digress.

Thank you everyone for the replies. I’ve been sent all over Istanbul departures to find no BA sales desk. I’ll try again at check in open time.

Our son is fairly well travelled since 6 months old sometimes in Y mainly J on BA, QR etc and we’ll behaved. Even so, at 8 years old on an 8pm departure he wants his mummy next him. I get that totally. He’s not afraid of flying but wants a parent next to him. Whether I fly economy or business I expect to be seated elsewhere but a child not next to their parent is a shit show too much in my opinion.

Hopefully get resolved at check in or worse still I’ll ask on board. If all else fails is it worth complaining to BA they breached CAA policy and their own??

Thanks folks!

[Nick G]

Thank you all for your prompt replies! I’ve been travelling for sometime today in TK biz class from Izmir which by the way both ways from Istanbul has been great!!

Back to our issue. It’s not the end of the world and our son whilst is upset, not visibly, does still want his mummy with him not bothered about his dad 😂. He’s flown BA loads since he was 6 months old and lots of other airlines. We’ve never ever been split like this in both economy and business so took me by surprise!

I’ve literally walked all over Istanbul departures trying to ask for a BA ticket office not surprisingly there isn’t one! The best I can try is at check in. Failing that…and I hate to ask but maybe ask some kind person on the flight to swap aisle to aisle seats.

I do find it odd…if all that fails is it worth a complaint to BA?

And we’ve tried ringing and twitter to zero gain!

Normally I’m very relaxed and calm as long as we make it home safely but I think todays shit show from BA has done me! Having flown Qatar in J several times and now TK in J they are worlds apart. Shame and sad that BA has swooped to poor levels. Rant over and thank you all once again

[Rob]

I really wouldn’t have spent a single second of your holiday on this.

It is unthinkable that your fellow passengers would not have been happy to jiggle around. The nature of 2×2 seating is that it is mainly single passengers or childless couples who are flexible.

Most adults are also uncomfortable about sitting with someone else’s kid.

[NorthernLass]

@Nick G – see JDB’s comment above, BA hasn’t actually breached the CAA’s policy, flawed though it is.

[Tracey]

I wouldn’t worry about this. Few passengers will want to sit next to someone else’s kid and most people would swap for any travelling group provided their new seat was no worse than the original one.