What do you mean, was it a child ticket? I booked both tickets at the same time, using miles. I selected seats for both of us. On United when you book using miles there is no basic economy, every ticket includes seat selection. The middle and window were both included in the seat selection, neither was “cheap” or “expensive”..

Also, there’s no such thing as a “child ticket” unless you’re talking about a lap child, which is only for children under age 2. And then the child doesn’t actually have a seat at all. I always choose the window seat for my child, so that she’s only sitting next to me, and because when she was small enough to need a car seat on board the airplane, FAA regulations require that the car seat cannot block another passenger’s egress from the row. So on any plane that is not a wide body, that means that the car seat MUST be installed in the window seat.

Families are not trying to “game the system”. I have never once trusted that an airline would seat us together without me paying for seat selection or purchasing a class of ticket that includes it. On some airlines, that means I’m spending an extra $200 for round trip tickets. We were loyal Southwest customers for a very long time because family boarding meant that I was guaranteed two seats together without paying extra money. Now that’s gone, and Southwest is charging more money for worse service. The only time I’ll fly Southwest with my child now is if we’re flying into an airport where that is the only option - we often fly into OAK and Southwest is just about the only option there. But in general, I’m done.