Ah. That may be a problem. You see, in Australia we believe that flying to Australia from the UK is a serious undertakeing and parents should be free to enjoy themselves on the plane without the encumberance of their little ones. We normally have them farmed out around the plane, generally next to crotchety people who will keep them in check. Works wonders for future self reliance. I favour putting the 4 year old in 106G near the toilets and the unhappy businessman with the last-minute ticket whilst I luxuriate on my Skybed in 6A.

However you can identify yourself to Qantas at check-in and explain that you don't wish to "go Aussie" and they will almost certainly jump at the chance to seat you together. The earlier you check in the better if you are a large family group.

If you are all on the same booking file (ie same booking reference) then a family would normally be pre-assigned seats together before check-in even if there is no seat numbers in your flight booking file. If there is more than one booking for the total group, then make sure each booking contains a cross reference to the total number of passengers travelling together on each flight and the names of all the other passengers in the group.

So long as any airline knows who is travelling together, they will try to seat you together. Often passengers don't realise that changing just one flight for one of a family means there will automatically be different booking files and then get upset when they discover on a full flight that they can't sit together because the airline didn't use a crystal ball to determine that out of the 400+ passengers Mr Smith and Mrs Smith on different bookings are actually travelling together.

Just a quick check in...

You have to be seated with the kids..otherwise they are unaccompanied minors...something Qantas attendants hate..

Fudge

Another great piece of advice I got from GW was not to wear an underwire on the journey.I have a little notebook that I keep all of the tips in.

M.

That message didn't look right---I meant when I see a good tip on the forum I put it in a notebook.

Hi Guruswife thanks for that.....was geting worried we wouldn't be sat together. I like sitting next to my kids so i can keep my beady eye on them!!! *LOL* Hope you are having a nice holiday!

Thanks fir the advise about the underwire......why is that????

Hi Fudge

I guess it would be very uncomfortable trying to sleep with it on,especially on such a long journey.

Fudge...did you book your Qantas flight through a travel agent?

We are going to the USA (2 adults and 2 kids) in Nov flying with Qantas and I asked to travel agent since we are traveling with kids can we organize our seats in advance. He said it was no problem so we chose the seats we wanted and had our seats confirmed that afternoon......give it a go.

Qantas is a full service airline and will do its best to sit all passengers on the same booking together. Only "Budget" airlines with "Budget" service do not do this. If you are doing any domestic flying - particularly with Jetstar you will have to remember to check in early. First to check-in is usually first on board... Enjoy our country!

just a note on the last post i have noticed jetstar advertising that they check families in first so that they can sit together- so no problems there.