[kelipso]

I remember it being a problem in the US in the 2000s when airlines would group families together and if you have different last names, they wouldn't do it. I guess now they don't group or go by tickets instead of considering last names.

[foogazi]

This doesn’t check out - If you had a common last name would you be grouped with a rando ?

It makes more sense to group by ticket group: buy 4 tickets then this keep them grouped

[jrockway]

As far as I know, it's always been grouped by reservation / record locator. Like... the airlines do know how to sell more than one ticket at a time and remember that fact.

[grues-dinner]

These days they're more likely to a splitting groups up on purpose to encourage juicy "known seat" upgrades.

A 20 euro-plus per seat each-way tax on people with insecure partners.