NEWS Airlines’ take-off rip-off

AIRLINES are attempting to extort extra money from parents by allocating their children seats between strangers.

An investigation by News Corp Australia reveals the worst offender is low-cost carrier AirAsia, which claims to do its “best to seat families together” but then assigns them split seats when entire rows are vacant.

Parents of children as young as two have complained of separated allocations by the Malaysian airline, which flies from all mainland state capitals except Adelaide.

The additional cost to be sure of being united can be as much as $100 per flight for a family of four.

Tigerair’s system also automatically splits parents and children while Scoot says the only way to be sure of being together on its flights is to pay to select seats.

Separating family members is not standard practice.

Jetstar, for instance, does not break up group bookings.

Trish and Vick Doolar, of Pakenham in Victoria, faced paying AirAsia hundreds of dollars extra to be seated with their children across several flights to, within and from Thailand until News Corp Australia intervened.

Mrs Doolar had tried to get the airline to seat her family together at no extra charge but had no success. “I don’t want this to happen to any other family,” she said. Perth father Danny Lewis was also told he needed to fork out more to be with his four-year-old on an AirAsia flight.

He firstly complained over the phone then on Facebook.

“I was left feeling like I was unreasonable for not paying the extra fee,” Mr Lewis told News. Only at the airport did AirAsia relent. Its website says “we do our best to seat families together when we allocate seating but we can’t guarantee this, so it’s best to select your seats when you book”.

A spokeswoman said “it is never our intention to split families or groups apart in order to generate revenue. On the day of departure, our check-in staff and cabin crew will always try to assist if guests wish to make changes”.