A mum was left horrified after she booked a flight only to discover her young daughter hadn’t been seated next to her.
Jennifer Keller was travelling with her three-year-old daughter after a trip to Delaware in the US.
However, when she and her daughter arrived at the airport she was shocked to discover that they had been ‘assigned seats in separate rows’ - meaning the youngster would be sitting next to a complete stranger during the flight.
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Writing for Insider, Keller explained: “I'd tried unsuccessfully to fix the seat assignments online. Then I'd struck out with the airline's customer service rep on the phone. The rep had passed the buck to the gate agent.
“The gate agents then passed the buck to me. ‘We couldn't get anyone in your rows to change seats,’ they said. ‘You could get on the plane and try yourself’ was the extent of their assistance.”
Keller said that once she’d boarded the plane, her daughter ‘grasped what was happening’ and ‘burst out crying’.
In the end, another passenger did agree to switch so the two of them could sit together, but they weren't exactly gracious about it.
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Keller says the other passenger said: "Well, I'm not going to listen to that for the whole flight. I'll change seats with you after all."
Keller says she was given $75 for her trouble but is calling on legislation to be introduced to stop it from happening to anyone else.
Somewhat surprisingly, Keller explained that in the US there’s no standard procedure for ensuring parents are seated with their kids.
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Back in July, the US Department of Transportation urged airlines to introduce policies that would ensure families were seated together during flights - but, Keller says, not all airlines have taken that onboard.
The Department’s website offers several suggestions for parents, including checking the airline’s seating policy prior to booking, booking tickets early and checking in with airline staff at the airport. However, Keller insists she did all of that and still ended up in the same situation.
Last month, one man sparked debate after he shared footage of himself aboard a 29-hour flight, where a baby on board appeared to be crying for the entirety of the journey.
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After sharing the clip, several people claimed they would ‘pay extra’ for ‘kid-free flights’.
Responding to the clip, one person wrote: "Honestly there should be kid free flights and kid flights."
Another said: "I would pay EXTRA for kids free flights."
And a third added: "They shouldn't let kids on flights longer then 4 hours."
Topics: Parenting
Claire Reid