A fuming couple were forced to shell out £126 to sit with their two-year-old on a Wizz Air flight.
Tristan Dudouet was flying from London Gatwick to Lyon, France with his partner Mona, 30, and two-year-old daughter Naia.
The 35-year-old claims he tried to check in and pay to be seated next to his daughter three days before the flight but the website wouldn’t allow it.
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Tristan hoped he’d be able to arrange to be seated next to his toddler at the airport.
When they arrived at Gatwick, he claims that staff told him it would cost £126 for the family of three to sit together.
The horrified couple forked out to make sure they could be sat with the tot.
Tristan and Mona had paid £30 per person for the flight and the extra cost more than doubled the price of their tickets.
“It added a lot of stress to the travelling,” Tristan, from Oxford, told Luxury Travel Daily.
“It’s unbearable to charge that much to sit next to a young child.
“A lot of people are tight on money and would have to take their child home instead of going on holiday.
“I felt like they were looking at me like a piece of meat and wondering how much money they could get out of me.
“I was so frustrated and we didn’t have a choice but to pay. It’s not acceptable to have to pay to sit with your child.”
Logistics manager Tristan says he assumed there was a problem with Wizz Air’s website when it wouldn’t let him check in in the days leading up to his holiday.
He added: “I’d tried to check in online a few days before but it wouldn’t let me.
“Basically, you can’t check in online with your toddler before 24 hours.
“The only window to check in online with your child for free is 24 hours to two hours before departure time which is a tight window.
“So if you try too early then you don’t have the option to check in online for free with your toddler.
“The rules aren’t made clear and it seems like they’re meant to confuse the customer.
“They say it’s your fault because you didn’t read it properly.
“I thought it was a problem with the website and I’d be able to sort it at the airport because we had to sit with our daughter.
“It feels like they’re trying to catch you out.”
They took the flight on 9 March.
A Wizz Air spokesperson said: “The passengers did not check-in online, and were therefore charged for check-in when they arrived at the airport.
“The £126 fee you refer to was not a seating fee, it was instead the total fee for airport check-in.
“The passengers then travelled in their originally assigned seats – one of which was situated next to the child.”
They added: “Wizz Air always automatically assigns seats together for a child under 14 years old and one adult passenger.
“Instructions on how to avoid fees are clearly provided during the booking process, on the Wizz Air website and via email on how to check-in to avoid charges.”
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