[thayne]

There's a difference between "I want to pick exactly where we sit and am willing to pay extra for it", and "I want my family to sit together, but don't care where that is on the plane, and I'm already paying a lot for 4 tickets, so don't have extra budget to pay more to to pick where I sit."

Also, I can't imagine people who end up sitting next to a kid whose parent isn't nearby, or the stewards who have to deal with such children would be happy about the arrangement either.

[kshacker]

Well I am not a marketing guy, but from the little I know, this is price discrimination between a group of 4 who do not mind sitting anywhere, and a group of 4 that must sit together. Sure, your needs may be higher, but each need has a price, and sitting together is one such need. Just need to plan the $$$$s for that.

[thayne]

Well, people generally don't like being on the receiving end of price discrimination. So you shouldn't be surprised when people refuse to fly with you because you charge you more to fly with them just because you have children with you.

Although, I wonder if maybe the real reason for this might be to discourage families from flying with them....