‘We paid for seats but Virgin and Jetstar STILL separated our family’
“I was shocked,” the Sydney mum reveals. “I thought paying extra meant we didn’t have to worry but we were very wrong. This isn’t fair.”
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On all the travels Emma has done with her husband, David, and four-year-old son, James, there is one important thing she always pays extra for.
“I’ve always selected our seats on flights,” the Sydney mum says.
“I’m a nervous flyer and we don’t bring a screen for James, so it’s necessary for us to have two parents next to him to keep him occupied, and give him a window seat to make the flight so much easier.”
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Since James was born, the family has travelled multiple times a year on flights, with all going as planned with their seat selections being the same ones they ended up being allocated at check-in.
That was, until last month, when not one but two airlines did something Emma never expected that left her angry and completely shocked.
In mid May, the family ventured to Cairns for a long awaited break. Just as she always did, Emma booked all three seats together on both legs of the journey - the outbound flight with Virgin Australia and the inbound with Jetstar.
For Virgin, she opted for a Choice fare, which was “about $50” extra per person that provided ‘standard seat selection’ and a checked baggage allowance.
For the Jetstar leg, she paid a total of $24 on top of the fares to have all their seats confirmed at the time of booking.
When they boarded the Virgin flight, their excitement soon turned to shock when they were informed of their new seat allocation.
Instead of being all together in 23 A, B and C, one parent was now seated with James in row 25 and the other behind in 26.
“When they told me, I said, ‘What?!’” the 44-year-old says.
“‘We have paid to have seats all together. We don’t care where we sit, as long as we are all together and have a window’. But all she said was, ‘There’s nothing I can do now, please take your seat’.”
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"He was so upset"
Emma says at the check in counter, she was not made aware that any changes to her seats were made.
“We didn’t even think about checking the boarding passes because it has never happened to us before.”
As the frustrated parents went to their assigned seats, their worst fear was coming true.
“James knows what to expect when we travel, so as soon as he saw that we weren’t together and that our window seat was gone, he totally lost it and started screaming down the plane,” Emma remembers.
“People around us were staring and he was so upset.”
Thankfully, a number of kind passengers offered to move after take-off, and Emma’s family was able to have connected seats with a window, just as she had paid for.
“It made our holiday start off on a rough note, and it would have been so much worse if it wasn’t for those generous people.”
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"I've always selected our seats on flights"
After a week in Cairns, the family checked in for their return flight with Jetstar. This time, Emma was on alert so history didn’t repeat itself.
“I asked, ‘Are we all sitting together?’” the mum-of-one recalls.
“And I was told, ‘Yes, you are’. So we went to the gate believing everything would be fine and didn’t think I needed to double check my boarding pass.”
When they boarded, however, their relief was short-lived.
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Once again, instead of being allocated the seats they selected, Emma and her family were given a completely different row (13 changed to 19), and they were split up (A, B, C changed to C, D, E), with two seats on one side and one on the other side of an aisle.
On all the travels Emma has done with her husband, David, and four-year-old son, James, there is one important thing she always pays extra for.
“I’ve always selected our seats on flights,” the Sydney mum tells Kidspot.
“I’m a nervous flyer and we don’t bring a screen for James, so it’s necessary for us to have two parents next to him to keep him occupied, and give him a window seat to make the flight so much easier.”
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Mum pays "$50 per person" for seat selection
Since James was born, the family has travelled multiple times a year on flights, with all going as planned with their seat selections being the same ones they ended up being allocated at check-in.
That was, until last month, when not one but two airlines did something Emma never, ever expected that left her angry and completely shocked ...
In mid May, the family ventured to Cairns for a long awaited break. Just as she always did, Emma booked all three seats together on both legs of the journey - the outbound flight with Virgin Australia and the inbound with Jetstar.
For Virgin, she opted for a Choice fare, which was “about $50” extra per person that provided ‘standard seat selection’ and a checked baggage allowance.
For the Jetstar leg, she paid a total of $24 on top of the fares to have all their seats confirmed at the time of booking.
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"They said nothing could be done"
When they boarded the Virgin flight, their excitement soon turned to shock when they were informed of their new seat allocation.
Instead of being all together in 23 A, B and C, one parent was now seated with James in row 25 and the other behind in 26.
“I said to the cabin crew that we were reassured we were together, and they replied that we were, just separated by an aisle,” Emma says.
“They apologised, saying it was a full flight and nothing could be done. We didn’t care about the row, we just wanted to be together and had paid for that. It didn’t seem fair.”
James’ reaction was just as emotional as the first flight, and concerned passengers once again came to the family’s aid in switching seats.
“I can’t help but think they didn’t want a child having a meltdown any longer on their flight, but they were very kind nonetheless,” she says.
“It really restored my faith in humanity from both experiences.”
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"You could pay for something that isn't guaranteed"
On their return home, Emma and David contacted both airlines to request refunds for the funds paid for their seat allocations and difference in fare types.
While Virgin denied the claim, saying it “reserves the right to make changes to seating requests at any time” and that “allocation is never guaranteed”, Jetstar promptly refunded the full $24.
“I was actually really impressed with Jetstar how easy it was to do on Live Chat.”
As for future trips, Emma will be proceeding with far more caution than before.
“It doesn’t make me trust the airlines with these optional extras, because it wasn’t clear to me that you could pay for something and it’s not guaranteed,” she says.
“It does make me want to choose Jetstar over Virgin, though, as I thought they handled it better.”
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Airlines respond to mum's claims
Kidspot has contacted the airlines concerned, and a spokesman for Virgin Australia said the change was permissible under the airline’s terms of carriage, outlined on its booking portals.
“While we always do our best to accommodate seat requests, seating may occasionally be reallocated when required for operational or safety reason,” he said.
“We have apologised to our guests for their experience.”
Meanwhile, a Jetstar spokesman said seat selection was “subject to availability and our seating conditions” and referred to its terms of carriage which states: “We will try to accommodate your seat selection, however Jetstar does not guarantee you will be allocated any particular seat.
“For safety, security or operational reasons, we may change your seat at any time, even after you have boarded the aircraft. If we move your seat for a reason within our control and do not provide an equivalent seat, we will provide a full refund of the seat selection fee upon request.”
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