that airlines charge you extra to sit together!?!?

[Dollygirl2008]

I mean, after a totally shitty year, I have scraped the money together to take my DC away for a weeks holiday to Menorca- possible the last foreign holiday we will have for a long time. And now, the sodding, well reputable tour operator want more money for us to sit together!?!? I mean, do pepper early do this!? Are they really going to split us up (DC is 7)??

Interested in others views or experience, thanks

[ThumbWitchesAbroad]

No I didn't call BA as I too believe this is a money-grabbing exercise, and I know full well what they would have said was "well you don't HAVE to pay, you can check in 24h prior to take off and do it for free". Which, of course, I could have - but as I said in my first post, the vagaries of the BA website at that point are such that the chances of it staying live long enough for me to actually book 3 seats together in a window row (to trap the 3yo) were low enough that I felt that I HAD to pay the premium to ensure we were together. And there were plenty of rows further back for me to choose from. There was absolutely no need for BA to have allocated us the seats they did - the plane was largely unallocated. I truly believe it was done to force me to either take my chances or pay, and as I keep saying, a 22.5h flight separated from my children just was not a risk I was prepared to take.

[LeaLeander]

All commerce is "a money-grabbing exercises." Neither airlines nor any other businesses exist for your pleasure. They exist to make maximum profits for their owners and investors. Casting that as negative is as silly as blaming the sun for rising.

[Andrewofgg]

budgiegirl How do you feel about choosing seats on long train journeys?

[ThumbWitchesAbroad]

Oh don't be so silly, Lea. There is paying a fair fee for a service, which will still give the airline some profit, and then there is profiteering, which I still think this was in my situation.
Nothing to do with the sun rising, FFS.

[LeaLeander]

Nonsense.
The marketace clearly considers the fees fair since enough people avail themselves of the opportunity to make it standard practice. I don't notice many empty or half-full planes jetting around these days.

And as many have tried to explain, some of you wouldn't be going anywhere under the former fare schemes.

Just bacause you can't afford something or don't like the price doesn't mean the service provider is gouging or profiteering. That's a rather uneducated and juvenile POV.

[notonyurjellybellynelly]

I don't notice many empty or half-full planes jetting around these days

How can you tell?

Do you have special powers or something?

[EBearhug]

How do you feel about choosing seats on long train journeys?

I know I felt short-changed when I requested a window seat, only to find myself next to plastic-covered carriage wall. It should surely only count as a window seat if it's next to an actual window. Otherwise, it's just an inside seat.

(It was okay - after the first hour or so, enough people had got off that I could move to a proper window seat with a window that I could look our of and wTch the world go by.)

[EBearhug]

our -> out
wTch -> watch

[LeaLeander]

Stats such as passenger load factors are easy to find - for those interested in actual facts about aviation economics instead of entitled emotions.

[notonyurjellybellynelly]

Lea I don't believe for a minute your statement was based on figures you've researched.

You were just being silly.

[Boolovessulley]

Well if planes fly half full then unless you need extra leg room or want a specific seat, there would be no need to pay to pre book flights.

[Boolovessulley]

Theatres have been operating on a "pay for what you get" for a very long time.
Eg if I want to sit in row j in the middle of the stalls, I will pay more than if I sit in the back row of the upper stalls.

I'll also pay more to go on a weekend or in school holidays.
Very similar to holidays and travelling when you look at it that way.

[InspRemorse]

If I'd paid for my seat and some entitled penny pincher with a kid asked me to move I'd tell you to get fucked.

[Roussette]

Well if planes fly half full then unless you need extra leg room or want a specific seat, there would be no need to pay to pre book flights

And if that's the case, the chances are that route will be pulled in the not too distant future. Airlines cannot afford to fly on routes that are half empty.

[Puzzledandpissedoff]

Don't wind me up about the half-full flights!! I've just returned from Egypt after paying for an exit row seat, only to find the thing a third full since it's the end of their (badly damaged) tourist season

And all the other exit seats were empty except mine ... waaahhhhh!!!!

[LeaLeander]

Passenger load factors 1954-1980:
www.rita.dot.gov/bts/sites/rita.dot.gov.bts/files/subject_areas/airline_information/air_carrier_traffic_statistics/airtraffic/annual/1954_1980.html

Passenger load factors now are above 80 percent.
www.iata.org/whatwedo/Documents/economics/IATA-Economic-Performance-of-the-Industry-mid-year-2015-report.pdf

Planes are flying very full indeed and that's why they can charge what the market clearly will bear, for specific seat assignments.

Purchase what you need, folks, don't expect the rest of us to subsidize you. I don't expect you to pay my luggage charge or for my beer aloft; I don't want to pay for your need to have adjacent seats.

[exLtEveDallas]

And if that's the case, the chances are that route will be pulled in the not too distant future. Airlines cannot afford to fly on routes that are half empty

Thomson/First Choice have just cancelled their Manchester to Hurghada summer flights for this reason - a friend has been caught up in it and told she has to fly from Gatwick now.