Rumor: Paid FPs imminent

Except back then all those smokers on the plane made this allergy sufferer very uncomfortable!

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Of course they weren’t free, that’s just easier to type.:wink: I always remind my kids about that when they talk about “free stuff” at college. That’s not free- it’s prepaid!

And I generally agree about carving out the options- I think that it does make it possible for more people to fly, and to buy the perks they want. It’s just that if you’re not expecting it, or haven’t seen the long-term progression of how things have changed like I have, it can really tick someone off.

The point about the purpose of travel vs. WDW is a good one, but I think more applicable in the beginning when air travel really was a luxury. Yes, there was a lot of that that really wasn’t necessary to the central purpose of flying. But that excess has been trimmed out. It is getting to the point where vacationers will simply not fly, and business travelers will choose videoconferencing. That’s how bad it’s getting, not all of it the airline’s fault of course, because of TSA.

At least the airlines are keeping the cost of that basic, central purpose ticket low, which Disney definitely is not. https://azdailysun.com/business/national-and-international/domestic-airfares-hit-a-record-low-but-fees-help-airlines/article_1e641a37-ce09-5fef-847f-caa8ec74d594.amp.html

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Yep. Like, “Oh! I get free access to the gym and rec center!”

Yeah. Free. For the low-low-price of $10,000/semester! :wink:

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Exactly! Like"Free FP" for $159 a day!

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This shocked me when I flew last January. My friend and I sat separately. It was disappointing.

How do families deal with it? If I fly to MCO with DDx4 in November will my children just be stuck anywhere? How do strangers feel about this? Anyone know?

When my kids were very little, we could count on putting them in an empty seat. We brought car seats on the plane without ever having paid for the seat they went in, because the kids were under 2. Things have definitely changed since then!

Families just have to come up with the extra cash, I guess. It’s not easy. But also, they just don’t know about the changes. I think there was a family who got caught up in this very issue on this forum not long ago, and didn’t know it until they got to the gate. IIRC the mom spent hours and hours on the phone while at WDW trying to get seats together on the way back.

When our kids were little and we flew annually I just bought them a seat. I liked buckling then in place in their car seats. Plus we needed them for the rental car.

I am horrified to think of my girls flying with strangers. Maybe I’ll dress them grubbily and give them dirty faces and let them wear their brothers’ stinky gym socks and people will move so we can sit together.

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It used to be people were nice and would move, but now, depending on the airline, even a seat right next to you could cost $30 more than the one you’re in. There’s no more straight-up economy, economy plus and first class anymore. It is VERY confusing.

I had to do that myself, recently. It was an adult mother/daughter pair who asked me to change to move up one row. Wellllll- nope. There’s no underseat storage up there, and my computer was in my tote bag. I felt bad, but I paid a small fortune for that darn seat and was not changing. If it had been a little daughter, though, rest assured I would switch. :grinning:

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The issue here is that so many people have paid to upgrade/select their seats that they don’t want to move for someone who chose not to pay to select their seat. I’m not saying it’s right, but the thought process is “If it was so important for a family to sit together, then they should have paid the fee to pick their seats like I did”. You may get lucky and someone will switch, but if you end up with an undesirable middle seat and want someone else to give up an aisle or window, you may be out of luck.

There is a fee/upgrade/discount-refusal for getting to pick your seat. It’s about $30 per person on most airlines. With small kids (9,7,5) it’s a must for us. As they get older (and are
able to entertain themselves) we may start forgoing it on some portion of the family.

Hmmmm
Maybe I’ll teach them to yell, “Don’t touch me again!”

(Just kidding… but if I had someone else’s child seated next to me I’d be horrified.)

I think it depends on the airline you fly. We flew Delta to MCO and were able to sit with our kids. We had to split up though, 1 parent to 1 child.

For other airlines, One of my kids can get motion sickness. I use that as a bargaining tool. “Hey do you mind holding the bag for him?” It works every time someone didn’t want to change seats. :joy:.

Editing to add that DH handles all the flight planning so I don’t know about extra fees to pick your seat etc.

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It’s me and four kids. All girls.
15, 13, 9, 6.
The 13 has OCD, too.
This may be the end of my vacation planning.
I didn’t realize they’d separate kids.
I have to look into this more.
I was planning on Southwest for luggage freedom.

It is cheaper to drive. Plus lots of family together time. (Unless you’re coming from out of the country, of course.)

We drive down from Michigan. It is about 18 hours total drive across two days. Usually stop and find a hotel in the Chattanooga area.

The drive down isn’t so bad, since we’re looking forward to the destination. But gotta admit the drive back isn’t as fun.

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If I had 4 kids (though I recall on another post of yours, there might be an additional older one too), that would be the end of my vacation planning. My wife and I have 2 kids and it’s hard enough to plan a vacation (or anything else)! When my wife and I were in WDW struggling to manage with 2 toddlers, we looked admiringly at people with more kids in tow and wondered how they are able to do it.

Back to the original topic, the rumor mill has me wondering if Disney plans to keep everything with regards to FPPs exactly as it is today, with a minor change: That is, to offer a MaxPass-like option. You know how today, some of the main rides will have day-of drops of FPPs? Well, what if rather than do that, some genius at Disney realized they could make money off of those day-of FPPs by not dropping them, but incorporating them as part of a new MaxPass-like option. So, Disney makes money off of what is currently free (to those who take advantage of it), while allowing FPPs to continue for everyone else.

Just a thought.

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We normally always drive. But as the only adultand in November I’m not comfortable going NY to FL alone.

That may be a smart model to incorporate.

We have six as a whole. The oldest two (sons) will be in college classes in November so they will sit this trip out. As will DH.

We travel a lot. I go as cheaply as possible. We drove NY to SoCal and back last year. It was awesome. My kids are well traveled and good kids in general. It’s a pleasure to do life with them. That said, larger groups are more expensive. My plans are often curtailed by the price tag.

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Doing from 1 to 2 kids was hard. Going from 2 to 3 kids was less hard, but still harder. But after 3 kids, adding on a fourth or fifth really isn’t that hard. And, as the older ones are, well, older, it actually becomes a little easier because they can help with the little ones to some degree.

Personally, I think it would be harder to only have 2 kids than, as was our case, to have 5 kids. But then, I suppose you just kind of get used to it.

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