The funny thing is, I watch families get split on every airline. Hell, it happened to my family way back in 1988 on TWA!
Working at the airport I saw it happen all the time way back before seat assignment charges were a thing. Kinda like having mad scrambles to check carry on bags in the jetway because people brought on board too much crap happened daily long before bag charges were also a thing.
The loudest anyone screamed at me because their seats weren’t together was a couple flying to FAI one night when I worked at Alaska. I could write a book about all the annoying passenger shenanigans and unwarranted breakdowns and rage directed at the lowly peons I witnessed over my 15 years in airport customer service, but I’m trying to repress that trauma.