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You’ve likely heard, “You get what you pay for.” I’ve learned that this is usually true, especially when you try skimping on products. Trying to save a few bucks could very well spoil your experience — especially if you have high expectations.
For example, buying an airline’s Basic Economy fare is about as no-frills as it gets. If you travel with children, it can become downright stressful.
Here’s why. (Before we go any further: yes, I’m a parent. And no, airlines don’t pay me to encourage you to spend more on tickets.)
Family Separation
Basic Economy tickets get you a seat on the airplane. That’s it. But you can’t pick your seat. One will be assigned to you, usually based on what’s left after everyone else is given a seat. You probably don’t earn miles or points. You may be eligible for a credit if you need to cancel your trip.
But it’s the first part that we really need to focus on.
If you and a companion are on a Basic Economy reservation, there’s a decent chance you won’t sit next to each other. Airlines technically won’t guarantee that anyone — including people paying expensive First Class tickets — will sit next to each other. Though people who pay fares higher than Basic Economy and choose their seats ahead of time generally end up sitting with their companions.
That really becomes an issue when families with children travel together — and get split up.
Here’s our latest installment of this problem, courtesy of Reddit.
Just wanted to share my experience flying Delta yesterday and see if others have dealt with this.
I booked two Basic Economy tickets for myself and my 5-year-old daughter. I understand that Basic has restrictions, but when I checked in online, I saw that for our second leg, we were placed in separate middle seats across the aisle. She would’ve been sandwiched between two strangers.
Luckily, I reached out to online customer support and they helped us get seats together. But that wasn’t the end of it.
Our first flight out of San Antonio was delayed, and we missed our connection in Atlanta. A helpful Delta agent (shoutout to Mia) got us on the next flight and assured me we’d still be seated together.
When I checked in for the rebooked flight, though—same problem. We were again assigned separate middle seats across the aisle. I went to the gate desk to ask for help and was told, “That’s what happens with Basic Economy.” The agent wasn’t interested in helping until I pushed the issue—and my daughter started crying. Only then did she call up another passenger to ask if he’d switch with me (thankfully, he did).
Even after that, the gate agent told me, “Next time, check what kind of ticket you’re buying so this doesn’t happen.” I asked her if she could see how absurd it is to separate a 5-year-old from their parent on a flight, and she just doubled down: “That’s the policy.”
And then I overheard another mom at the gate saying she was seated in a different row from her 3 or 4-year-old son.
This is ridiculous. Delta knows the age of each passenger when tickets are booked. No child should ever be seated away from their guardian just because they didn’t pay for a higher fare class. The burden shouldn’t fall on parents—already juggling all the stress of travel—to fix something that should be common sense.
This policy needs to change. Curious if anyone else has been through something similar?
I’m not trying to publicly shame this person, like some of the Redditors did in their comments under her post. But families need to know that Basic Economy is not a good option when traveling together.
If you want to sit with your kids, buy a fare class that allows you to select your seats in advance. In our Delta example, that means Main Cabin or higher.
Not being able to choose your seat is one reason Basic Economy is priced lower than the rest of the plane. I never buy Basic Economy when traveling with my family because I don’t want to risk us being split up. (Truth be told, the closest I get to Basic Economy is the cheapest fare on Southwest Airlines and the carrier’s open-seating policy, which is about to end. We’re careful to check in exactly 24 hours ahead of departure time so we get a decent boarding position. Sometimes, we’ll even pay up for Early Bird check-in.)
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It’s not up to the airlines to ensure your kids sit with you. I doubt the federal government would step in and issue some kind of regulation saying as much (especially with the current administration). I know air travel can be expensive. But the peace of mind is worth the extra money to buy a “regular” coach fare and get your family sitting together.
What’s your take on families and Basic Economy? Please share your thoughts in the below Comments section.
Advertiser Disclosure: Eye of the Flyer, a division of Chatterbox Entertainment, Inc., is part of an affiliate sales network and receives compensation for sending traffic to partner sites, such as CreditCards.com. Some or all of the card offers that appear on the website are from advertisers. Compensation may impact how and where card products appear on the site. This site does not include all card companies or all available card offers. Opinions, reviews, analyses & recommendations are the author’s alone, and have not been reviewed, endorsed, or approved by any of these entities. Some of the links on this page are affiliate or referral links. We may receive a commission or referral bonus for purchases or successful applications made during shopping sessions or signups initiated from clicking those links.
Responses are not provided or commissioned by the bank advertiser. Responses have not been reviewed, approved or otherwise endorsed by the bank advertiser. It is not the bank advertiser's responsibility to ensure all posts and/or questions are answered.
If there are 2 people traveling, one could fly basic economy and the one flying regular economy can switch seats easier.
Not going to work if there are no seats to switch to. With BE you don’t get seats until you’re there. Usually the flight is full at that point or close to it with nothing but middle seats left.
Airlines could easily support families traveling with young children by ensuring they’re seated together, even if it’s not in a premium section. A simple checkbox—like “Adult traveling with child under 18”—could help automate the process. While I personally pay extra to sit with my toddler, I still find it unfair. It feels like airlines are nickel-and-diming passengers, especially when many families genuinely can’t afford those additional costs. Basic accommodations like this shouldn’t be considered a luxury.
The best way to go is when you book your tickets and there’s a minor on the ticket the BE goes away because they don’t want the headache waste of time dealing with the angry parent that is not willing to pay to sit together. At that point you are trying to get assigned seats without paying for seat assignments aka cheating the system which is the foundation of BE seat.
You commented that “Families need to know that Basic Economy is not a good option when traveling together.” I agree, but airlines also need to know that seating children apart from parents is not a good idea either. When we lived overseas, even low-cost airlines would guarantee seats together between kids and parents. On British Airways lowest cost, basic economy tickets, when you purchase a seat for a parent, you can seat the kids next to them for free, without having to pay a seat selection fee for each individual. That seems a reasonable compromise to me.
I just booked basic economy seats for my family on Delta to fly to go see family who we haven’t seen in years. It was an extra $80 roundtrip, for a domestic flight, per person to go from basic economy to main cabin. $400 total for our family to have the luxury of sitting together for 3 hours of flight. No thanks.
Charging $400 for the chance to sit together (we’ve been moved apart even when we booked seats together in the past) may be policy, but it’s a stupid policy.
Just make it so parents can’t book BE seats if there’s a minor attached to the reservation. Parents can’t game the system and Delta makes more money with less headaches. Yes I have two kids I spend the extra or figure out a way to get all of us seated together. Lately it’s been status for a day via Hyatt to AA. 5k points gets you 4 preferred seat coupons which sits the family together or 8k points gets you Main Cabin Extra for 4 with included seat coupons. Pretty good deal considering how much MCE or even the preferred seats cost
Booking basic economy is not unlike booking a $50 hotel via an OTA without knowing the kind of hotel will be assigned. If you are indifferent between a youth hostel and a shitty Model 6, then so be it.
Simple. Take out a Mileage Plus membership – your checked bag is free and you get to pick your seats in Basic Economy. I fly LAX-HNL frequently and always Basic Economy because I can stand it for 5 hours. Its always been quiet, never chaotic.
You are correct. If you want to choose seats, don’t choose a fare that doesn’t allow it. That being said, maybe there should be a rule that when you buy more than one seat in the same reservation, you DO get to choose seats. After all, it is obvious that two people on the same reservation would want to sit together.
But then people would buy Basic Economy instead of Main. Basic’s other rules generally aren’t as good as Main’s, But for people who don’t care about that, they’re essentially gaming the system and I don’t think airlines would go for that.
You are right, but it’s expensive for families to travel and we should get breaks if we wish to travel with our families. Exceptions should be made to allow families using basic economy to select seats, or at least the airline should do its best to accommodate them at the airport (which they do anyway).
That being said, I would never buy a basic economy ticket for myself or my family because of the other restrictions.