Poster: A snowHead
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Amazing - bought a ski package some weeks ago, just recently received the travel docs - apparently, if I would like to sit together with my wife on the plane, we have to pay £20...
Dun get me wrong, its not a must that we sit together but it is a bit uncomfortable if i'm with another big bloke or something given my size... but isn't £20 kind of a ripoff? its not like you can choose your seats, its just that you get to sit together... to choose your seats..... wait for it...... its another £20!!! - £40 in total!
Do any of you SHs ever pay for these options? If I don't pay, would I be deliberately seated apart? Is Thomas Cook free seating like all the other budgets?
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Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
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Teckie, Sounds a complete con? Not sure even Ryanair have got that low yet, though this might give them ideas
Did you book a last minute deal?
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Well, the person's real but it's just a made up name, see?
Well, the person's real but it's just a made up name, see?
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Teckie, If you haven't been allocated seat numbers then don't bother, chances are you just check-in as normal at the airport and ask to be allocated adjacent seats if possible.
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You need to Login to know who's really who.
You need to Login to know who's really who.
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Anyway, snowHeads is much more fun if you do.
Anyway, snowHeads is much more fun if you do.
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Most tour companies (with charter flights) do this to make more money.
I never pay and more often than not end up sitting next to the missus.
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You'll need to Register first of course.
You'll need to Register first of course.
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My wife would pay not to sit next to me
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Bode Swiller, ... I think a similar option exists on 'Lardyjet' flights .....
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Linds, I didn't realise you'd broken your arm - been on the shorts again.......? TAXI
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You'll get to see more forums and be part of the best ski club on the net.
You'll get to see more forums and be part of the best ski club on the net.
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Iit's a rip-off, but I think it is to guarantee seats together even if you are amongs the last at checkin - if you are reasonably early you'll get sat together anyway.
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Don't pay it....we travelled as a group of six with Thomas Cook just a couple of weeks ago. We didn't pay any of the optional extras and we put together in two rows of three there and back again. If you are worried about it just make sure you check in sooner rather than later while there's still a choice left!
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snowHeads are a friendly bunch.
snowHeads are a friendly bunch.
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What are you all thinking of??? don't tell the wife and check in late..you get a couple of hours peace and quiet..perfect start to the holiday...
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And love to help out and answer questions and of course, read each other's snow reports.
And love to help out and answer questions and of course, read each other's snow reports.
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..... recent initiatives by the government to improve numeracy & literacy appear to be falling short of expectations then .... ?
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You know it makes sense.
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Teckie,
we paid flythomascook (or something) to sit together. On a 4 hour flight we weren't taking chances. We were in c and d. Which is to say we were next to each other, with only the aisle intervening! I had a calm and reasonable discussion at check-in, pointing out that this was not the normal everyday English use of the word 'together', but was trumped because it is, apparently, the standard definition in 'the airline industry' and we could like it or lump it, but we couldn't change. The flight staff were much more understanding, and offered us different seats after the doors closed.
Never again, on both counts.
David
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Otherwise you'll just go on seeing the one name:
Otherwise you'll just go on seeing the one name:
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We've had two problems with this.
The first time, travelling with my brother, we didn't pay the extra. He ended up the row infront of me. Both of us sat blocked in on either side by other people (2-4-2 arrangement). Nice chap swapped with us which helped as it was a 9 hour flight.
The second time, we did pay extra as my partner and I had his 11 year old daughter with us. Again 2-4-2 arrangement. Did they put us in the 4 seats? Did they thump.
My partner and I were sat on one of the 2 (window and aisle), the 11 year old was allocated the window seat behind us!
Luckily we were in a party of seven (the other four had booked extra leg room), so we had a shuffle round and one of our party effectively sat on their own for the 8 hour flight.
Complained then, complained afterwards, but they assure me that two seats, one in front of another, does class as 'together'!
Serves me right for not checking when they handed the boarding cards over. I won't be caught out like that again. A lot easier to complain at the check in desk than once you're on the plane.
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Poster: A snowHead
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You pays your money, you takes your choice....
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Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
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It's yet another sneaky way of the airline/tour operators to get more money out of you. I never book sit together seats, the in flight meal or the tour operators insurance, preferring to take my chances on who I wind up sitting next to, taking a packed lunch or eating a decent meal before getting on the plane and arranging my own insurance.
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Well, the person's real but it's just a made up name, see?
Well, the person's real but it's just a made up name, see?
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BernardC, On Aer Lingus flights as well! How is the season going for you? Hope you are having fun!
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You need to Login to know who's really who.
You need to Login to know who's really who.
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On a long flight, fair enough, but I do find it difficult to understand why people feel so desperate to sit together for a short hop to Geneva, or wherever. However, I'm always happy to swap with people who can't cope with the separation anxiety. I really don't care where I sit, though I prefer not to be next to people who should be asked to pay for 2 seats because they overflow....I would certainly not pay extra for early boarding, choosing seats, or anything else which gets me to destination in the same class of seat, at the same time. The "early boarding" premium is possibly the biggest con of all. In the days when you could do weeks at a time in the tropics with only carry on bags, it was worth being in a seat where you got off quickly. But not going skiing. Packed lunch and a good book is the way to go.
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Anyway, snowHeads is much more fun if you do.
Anyway, snowHeads is much more fun if you do.
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You'll need to Register first of course.
You'll need to Register first of course.
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You live and learn don't you?. Hop over to Gothenburg recently we sat in the departure lounge at stanstead watching the scrum to get through the gates laughing at how the silly people would be sat on the hot plane in tiny seats for an extra 15 mins....it wasn't until we boarded that we realised the numbers on our tickets were just ticket numbers not seat numbers.....doh!.
Not to put us off, on the way back we checked in very early, one of the first in fact. Had a little sit in the spacious airy departures and bar area before deciding to brave the departure lounge....the point of no return. Found a nice little seat directly opposite the small line for the check in desk. Almost immediately our flight is delayed by 4 hours upon which a seeming throng of people decided they all needed to sit in / on / around the desk and virtually on our laps, making a queue which stretched around the lounge to the back and the furthest point from where we sat..were it not for a real life fisticuff fight in the yellow ticket boarding queue we may not have even got away with our continental style barge to the front. Already drawing up battle plans for this years tactics.
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Tactics :
ScaryJet use a numbering system SB (Speedy boarding (costs extra)) A (The first 30 to arrive) B (the rest). Arrive late and get a B check in. About 10 minutes before the flight is called, stand up and walk deliberately to the desk. this is usually enough to make everyone else join, and create a scrum. Get in the queue about 10 - 15 people from the front. Let the SB's go, and when they call the A's just go through. I have never been stopped yet.
If traveling with a family on an airline that does not allocate seats, dont pay, as they are not allowed to seat children on their own. If they insist, just get the children to cry and wail loudly. Works a treat.
If the flight is not full, and there are two of you, but you want to make sure you get a row of three to yourselves, sit one in the window seat, and one in the aisle, and place your bags on the center seat in the pretence you are letting others board before blocking the aisle to put the bag away. If someone wants the seat, just move over, and you are together anyway.
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You'll get to see more forums and be part of the best ski club on the net.
You'll get to see more forums and be part of the best ski club on the net.
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Sleazyjet: depending in where the entrance is, walk to the opposite end of the aircraft. Always plenty of seats. Don't clap when the thing lands unless you want to labelled a chav. That is unless it's a Boeing 777 with double engine failure
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Quote: |
Already drawing up battle plans for this years tactics. |
how about sitting in a quiet corner of the lounge reading your book and letting the scrummers stand up, jostle around, stand around for 20 minutes with their bags, then barge onto the plane, shoving their stupid great bags into the overhead bins and fighting over not being in the middle seat. Then, when the scrum is aboard, stroll on, book in hand, sit down, carry on reading your book. Save your breath, your temper and your money. For an additional scrap of quiet satisfaction, ask politely to sit in the middle seat between two people who have scrummed and fiddled their way into having an empty seat between them and are sitting there looking triumphant and slightly defiant. Quite often, the outside one, rather than stand up and have you between them, will just lump over into the middle seat. The single most important thing about air travel is to have a really good book; not something bought at the last moment in desperation at the airport. The opportunity to read for 3 or 4 hours can then be seen as a luxury.
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snowHeads are a friendly bunch.
snowHeads are a friendly bunch.
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pam w, smart.
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And love to help out and answer questions and of course, read each other's snow reports.
And love to help out and answer questions and of course, read each other's snow reports.
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ringingmaster wrote: |
Tactics :
ScaryJet use a numbering system SB (Speedy boarding (costs extra)) A (The first 30 to arrive) B (the rest). Arrive late and get a B check in. |
And if you have the luck to be bussed to the plane, Group A get on the bus first, last on plane.
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Quote: |
And if you have the luck to be bussed to the plane, Group A get on the bus first, last on plane. |
so, "the first shall be last and the last first...." Nothing new under the sun!
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You know it makes sense.
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When we were dropped off for our charter flight back from Geneva last year (can't remember the airline) We being me, my husband, our 3 year old and 6month old baby. The check-in staff allocated us 3 separate seats in entirely different parts of the place. We just looked at her and stood there glaring until she realised this was not really an option (miraculously a row of 3 became available!
Also last year my parents were in a huge group (about 50/60 people) flying with Thomson, they had not been told about the paying to sit together thing by the organiser as I think it was assumed that as they were such a huge group they would be taking up half the plane anyway. They were all liberally spread throughout the cabin. When they asked they were told that people who booked together would have been seated together (obviously a complete lie)
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Otherwise you'll just go on seeing the one name:
Otherwise you'll just go on seeing the one name:
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tizzyb, flying with such little kids, I can see that it's essential for the family to be sat together. If it means splitting up older people and asking them to just cope with the separation for a few hours, in order to let the families sit together, I can't for the life of me see why they should object. How do people who make such a production about sitting together for a short haul flight manage when one of them goes to Tescos, or the dentist?
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Poster: A snowHead
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janette wrote: |
ringingmaster wrote: |
Tactics :
ScaryJet use a numbering system SB (Speedy boarding (costs extra)) A (The first 30 to arrive) B (the rest). Arrive late and get a B check in. |
And if you have the luck to be bussed to the plane, Group A get on the bus first, last on plane. |
AT East Midlands, they have a section of the bus cordoned off for Speedy Boarders. The doors in that section open first, and the remaining doors aren't opened until the Speedy boarding section is empty.
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Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
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For me "speedy boarding" means wot pam w said. get on, sit down.
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