Narrative:

Just before flight attendant boarding a passenger came up to me and asked about his seats. He was traveling with his wife and 3 young children. His 2 youngest were twin girls approximately 4 months old and were lap children. He asked me if his seats were correct and I told him no he could not be seated in a single row because there were not enough oxygen masks and took his seats to the customer service representative. I then relayed what happened to the crew when the captain said; actually for this flight this is fine. Since we are only flying 16000 feet and below the oxygen masks will never deploy and therefore they can all sit together. I then asked him if he was sure. He said he was absolutely sure so I let the agent and the family know that the captain said that since we were flying below 16000 feet [they] could sit together. I am still not certain I did the appropriate thing in this situation. This procedure is not in our manuals and we need clarification if this is correct.

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Original NASA ASRS Text

Title: Flight Attendant informed a family with three small children they cannot all sit in the same row due to oxygen requirements. When the Captain was informed he stated that actually it would be OK on this flight since they would not be flying above 16;000 feet. The family traveled in the same row.

Narrative: Just before Flight Attendant boarding a passenger came up to me and asked about his seats. He was traveling with his wife and 3 young children. His 2 youngest were twin girls approximately 4 months old and were lap children. He asked me if his seats were correct and I told him no he could not be seated in a single row because there were not enough oxygen masks and took his seats to the customer service representative. I then relayed what happened to the crew when the Captain said; actually for this flight this is fine. Since we are only flying 16000 feet and below the oxygen masks will never deploy and therefore they can all sit together. I then asked him if he was sure. He said he was absolutely sure so I let the agent and the family know that the Captain said that since we were flying below 16000 feet [they] could sit together. I am still not certain I did the appropriate thing in this situation. This procedure is not in our manuals and we need clarification if this is correct.

Data retrieved from NASA's ASRS site and automatically converted to unabbreviated mixed upper/lowercase text. This report is for informational purposes with no guarantee of accuracy. See NASA's ASRS site for official report.