Get Premium
Dark mode theme is available exclusively for premium users. Learn more about the benefits of subscribing.
No fees, cancel anytime.
Dark Mode 
No fees, cancel anytime 
then open in external browser
and click "Open in External Browser" 
Traveling with kids requires planning for everything in advance. But Reddit user Medium-City-2094 claims his family’s recent trip was thrown into chaos at the last second due to a sudden aircraft change.
In a post on r/UnitedAirlines, the man says the carrier reassigned their seats, placing his four-year-old alone, away from the rest of the family, and repeatedly refused to fix the issue. So, he was reportedly forced to take matters into his own hands.
(Bored Panda has reached out to both the traveler and the airline for comment.)
RELATED:
For air travel to go smoothly, every detail needs to fall into place
Image credits: EyeEm / freepik (not the actual photo)
But this dad claims that instead of helping him, United Airlines made his family’s journey even more unnecessarily stressful
Image credits: benzoix / freepik (not the actual photo)
Image credits: Medium-City-2094
Many airlines promise not to split up families with young children
Image credits: dmytro_sidelnikov / freepik (not the actual photo)
According to the U.S. Department of Transportation, a parent who purchases airline tickets for a family should receive a guarantee from the airline that it will seat the parent and child together without fees or a last-minute scramble at the gate or having to ask other passengers to give up their seat to allow the parent and child to sit together.
On February 1, 2023, Secretary of Transportation Pete Buttigieg announced the Department’s plan to launch a dashboard that displays which airlines guarantee family seating. Since then, some airlines, including Alaska, American, Frontier, Hawaiian, and JetBlue, have stepped up to guarantee adjacent seats for children aged 13 and younger traveling with an accompanying adult at no additional cost.
For the most part, United also does this.
Its Customer Commitment says, “If you’re traveling with children under 12, they won’t have to sit by themselves,” and that, “The first adult listed on the reservation can sit next to up to two children in their party for free.”
However, the airline adds, “Sometimes, seat assignments change because of unscheduled aircraft changes. If this happens on your flight, and your children are separated from an adult, you can switch to another flight with open seats in the same cabin for free.”
The story has received a lot of strong reactions online
Poll Question
Total votes ·
Thanks! Check out the results:
Total votes ·
Newsletter
Subscribe to Access
Exclusive Polls
By entering your email and clicking Subscribe, you're agreeing to let us send you customized marketing messages about us and our advertising partners. You are also agreeing to our Privacy Policy.
Thank you! You've successfully subscribed to newsletters!
What do you think ?
Anony Mouse 8 months ago
United stole stuff out of our bags once. Delta just flat out hates their customers. There isn’t a good airline anymore. I wish we had trains.
Uncle Schmickle 8 months ago
This is a story of plain incompetence and uncaring. Obviously there was a lack of communication between staff. That one man who refused to move was just being an arsehole. Wouldn't have hurt him to move. Also the refusal of being seated in 1st class because " it's too expensive " was BS. They weren't earning anything from empty seats anyway. Yes, I wouldn't have anything to do with United after that experience.
JB 8 months ago
What the bananas is going on with airlines nowadays? A four-year old NEEDS to be seated next to one of their parents! And if there’s two empty business class seats available, then that’s what you use. If they haven’t sold, they are worthless except as a solution to a problem. There’s near zero chance of those seats being sold once boarding has started.
Margie Dalton 7 months ago
Google ' united breaks guitars' , laugh and see how United has been negligent in Customer service for years
Inservio Smurf 8 months ago
Stop. Using. Airtravel. Just stop. There is no reason WHATSOEVER for a human to cross an ocean in anything other than a boat. Your convenience does not trump the climate crisis.
Ravioli 1 month ago
Are you trolling? If this is sarcastic it kinda does a bad job
Load More Replies...
ADDchallengedINFP-T 8 months ago
United? Delta etc. reputation sucks. too many crashes, incredibly poor service and problem solvings, as this OP and family experienced. Lucky to get home. Any honest lawyers there to sue? or are they all $$$$$ for the rich.
Kat 8 months ago
I don´t understand this. So the family paid, so they would sit together, aircraft changed so their seating changed as well...but did everyone else paid as well? I don´t live in U.S. but here in Europe, if you don´t want to pay for a specific seat, you get your seat at check in...like, couldn´t they work with people who don´t have their seats allocated yet?
Mark Childers 8 months ago
This was a horrible situation. I hate flying anyway, and this would have pushed me over the edge. But things are only going to get worse with flying in general. Boeing's poor decisions are catching up to them, planes are getting older, climate change will force more flight cancellations due to huge storms and outages, and this administration has fired a lot of air traffic controllers (making it much less safe to fly) and has begun deregulations, among other things.
Anony Mouse 8 months ago
United stole stuff out of our bags once. Delta just flat out hates their customers. There isn’t a good airline anymore. I wish we had trains.
Uncle Schmickle 8 months ago
This is a story of plain incompetence and uncaring. Obviously there was a lack of communication between staff. That one man who refused to move was just being an arsehole. Wouldn't have hurt him to move. Also the refusal of being seated in 1st class because " it's too expensive " was BS. They weren't earning anything from empty seats anyway. Yes, I wouldn't have anything to do with United after that experience.
JB 8 months ago
What the bananas is going on with airlines nowadays? A four-year old NEEDS to be seated next to one of their parents! And if there’s two empty business class seats available, then that’s what you use. If they haven’t sold, they are worthless except as a solution to a problem. There’s near zero chance of those seats being sold once boarding has started.
Margie Dalton 7 months ago
Google ' united breaks guitars' , laugh and see how United has been negligent in Customer service for years
Inservio Smurf 8 months ago
Stop. Using. Airtravel. Just stop. There is no reason WHATSOEVER for a human to cross an ocean in anything other than a boat. Your convenience does not trump the climate crisis.
Ravioli 1 month ago
Are you trolling? If this is sarcastic it kinda does a bad job
Load More Replies... ADDchallengedINFP-T 8 months ago
United? Delta etc. reputation sucks. too many crashes, incredibly poor service and problem solvings, as this OP and family experienced. Lucky to get home. Any honest lawyers there to sue? or are they all $$$$$ for the rich.
Kat 8 months ago
I don´t understand this. So the family paid, so they would sit together, aircraft changed so their seating changed as well...but did everyone else paid as well? I don´t live in U.S. but here in Europe, if you don´t want to pay for a specific seat, you get your seat at check in...like, couldn´t they work with people who don´t have their seats allocated yet?
Mark Childers 8 months ago
This was a horrible situation. I hate flying anyway, and this would have pushed me over the edge. But things are only going to get worse with flying in general. Boeing's poor decisions are catching up to them, planes are getting older, climate change will force more flight cancellations due to huge storms and outages, and this administration has fired a lot of air traffic controllers (making it much less safe to fly) and has begun deregulations, among other things.
You May Like 66 Of The Most Savage Roasts From Ryanair's Social Media 96 Useful Family Travel Tips For An Enjoyable Vacation
Austėja Akavickaitė
Neilas Šurkus
Related on Bored Panda
35
31