Is it my right to sit next to my young kids on a plane?

Have a question? Ask our expert Simon Calder

Some carriers see seat assignments as a profit avenue (iStock)

Q Can you help with the rules on aircraft seating when travelling with very young children? My husband and I are flying to Sri Lanka with a two-year-old and an 11-week-old. The airline appears to have seated us on different rows. Do we have any rights to push for them to sit us together?

Chloe H

A Until about a decade ago, airlines applied the philosophy of Jeremy Bentham. They tried to maximise the sum of happiness of individuals by seating as many passengers as they could in an appropriate location – starting with families being assigned adjacent seats.

British Airways, to its considerable credit, still does. But other carriers have started to see seat assignments as a profit centre, and therefore people like me who prefer not to pay are at the back of the queue.

The Civil Aviation Authority has something to say about the matter: “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.

“This is because the speed of an emergency evacuation may be affected by adults trying to reach their children.”

This is, I appreciate, of no comfort to you and your husband with an 11-week-old and a two-year-old. In theory, the airline could assign you and the infant on your lap to 21D, your husband to 29E and the two-year-old to 30F.

But my experience is that airport staff will be sensitive to the needs of very young families and will ensure that you are sat together. And if that doesn’t happen, the cabin crew on board will take one look at your situation and shuffle other passengers around to sort out a suitable arrangement. So just ask.

Every day our travel correspondent Simon Calder tackles a reader’s question. Just email yours to s@hols.tv or tweet @simoncalder