Paying for seat reservations on flights

[MidnightPatrol]

I have just booked a flight and as increasingly seems to be the case, they want me to pay to reserve a seat.

I have a young child so I can’t ’risk it’ on the day, and the trip will be more enjoyable (by which I mean less of a nightmare) if we are seated together in one row (me, DH, DC).

The cost of this? 66 euros.

I just want to ensure I am seated with the other passengers in my booking, specifically my toddler. Feels grating to incur an additional expense for this ‘privilege’.

But not with the (ultra) low cost airlines airlines largely the subject of this thread or with TUI!!!

Or to put this another way: the flight was delayed because people were refusing to sit in their allocated seats

Absolutely! They didn't like the allocation so refused to sit there. It caused lots of delays, and stress for all.

Honestly the airlines have enormous cheek doing this. I don't have to pay extra to choose 2 seats next to each other when I book a train or a cinema or theatre (even if it's two adults who would be fine opposite sides of the room). Heck some places GIVE you a free carers seat if you need to be seated next to someone who wouldn't normally need you. How on earth do airlines justify charging extra for this?!

Pricing was deaggregated on flights as that was what the customer wanted. The legacy airlines followed suit in order to stay in business.

If you want to go back to the prior situation where everyone payed a price that included seat allocation, luggage, food etc. I would suggest booking business class, bearing in mind that prices for business class today are cheaper than economy was (in current value) before the deaggregation.

Personally, I prefer to pay for what I want/need.

It’s so bloody annoying but I want to be able to sit beside the people I’m going on holiday with so to be guaranteed that , I need to pay for our seats to be reserved.

just another money making scheme by airlines.

That's not what it's about though. On a train I can pay the same to reserve a seat as not. We could both buy tickets now for the for the same train tomorrow, you could opt not to reserve a seat and I could chose to reserve a seat and we'd be charged the same. We could potentially both get tickets tomorrow for our train and the same thing could happen. The specific seat choice is just no extra. It's not that you've chosen not to book it and so spent less, anymore then I've chosen to get it and spent more.

just another money making scheme by airlines.

But of course it is, that’s what they do, that’s what they are for.

I know many people think of them as mass transport, a sort of fancy bus, but they then often fall into the trap of thinking travel should be delivered at below cost (with the added bonus of potentially three figure comp if the flight is >3 hours late, regardless of price paid for the ticket).

I’m sure many think seat price charges go straight into the likes of MoL’s pockets but it doesn’t work like that..it goes to help the airline make any profit at all.

FWIW last set of annual Ryanair figures published spring this year

Revenue €13.44 bn
Operating costs €11.38 bn
Profit After Tax €1.92 bn

“ Ah, see, look at the profits, you’ve made my point” I hear from some…but then consider this:

Total passengers: 183.7 m

So the company made an average of about €10 per passenger across the year…do posters really think that gives the company enough financial headroom to remove seat charging without recouping the money elsewhere in the fare structure?

I get people don’t like the idea of paying for seats but don’t kid yourselves that doing so will result in even cheaper flights…

Oh, and the airline/travel business is v cyclical..for once Ryanair and others are doing relatively well - it’s needed to put money in the bank to help for the next downturn….

BTW Talking of the travel industry and needing to make a profit …..the third largest tour operator in Europe went under a day or so back…

https://www.fti-group.com/en/press/fti-group-press-releases-and-information/detail/news/companies-of-the-fti-group-file-for-insolvency

really interesting post @notimagain thank you.
So basically they make a loss on you if you don't book extras. You're not even "just paying for what you need" because your seat is being subsidised by the people who want the full package. No objection to this it's sensible to pull people in with a low headline rate.

Do any price comparison websites have the facility to register that you want to take a medium size suitcase each and have a reserved seat, and give you the prices aftee these extras are added? I imagine that would change the rank order of which airline is offering best value for money.

So basically they make a loss on you if you don't book extras. You're not even "just paying for what you need" because your seat is being subsidised by the people who want the full package. No objection to this it's sensible to pull people in with a low headline rate.

Roughly speaking, generically, yes.

Some have a really weird/unrealistic view of how the industry works and (understandably) often no idea of the costs involved…

MoL at some point said (I paraphrase) that things had gone wrong when passengers thought it was reasonable to pay more for a train from London to Stansted than it was to pay for a flight from Stansted to Dublin.

Problem is for years he was one of those reinforcing that sort of mindset.

And people would just go on Skyscanner and pick the cheapest 🤷

Rail travel is ridiculously expensive to start with and air travel ridiculously cheap!

The train is another silly comparison... you can only book what seats are left. If that's two at opposite ends of the carriage... thats what you get. Or across the aisle. Or behind each other. There is no regulation that says the train company has to give you a seat next to your 5yo either (or even give your 4yo a seat!)

Your point makes no sense. Air travel uses, with most companies, a deaggregated pricing structure. Most rail companies do not. Comparatively speaking, rail is more expensive than air in a lot of cases.

I’d much prefer to pay more for my flight with the seat allocation included in it.

And I’d rather pay the lowest cost option when flying with a low cost airline because I don’t care who I’m sitting next to or where I’m sitting.

Then you are getting what you want with the current system - you want to pay more for seat selection, and you can!
I can choose not to pay for seat selection and I am getting what I want too.
It’s win/win, isn’t it?

they also don’t follow their own policies as I couldn’t book extra leg room seats for my over 6ft kid and it said they had to be over 16 and for safety reasons. My kid was 14 at the time. Fine. No problem.

get on the plane and there’s two kids under 10 in there bouncing around

Some of the extra leg rooms seats are emergency exit seats and must be manned by an able bodied adult. Other extra leg room seats are t and are free for anyone to sit in happy to lay the premium

I’m more than happy to pay for our seats, 2 travellers usually paying for 3 seats, just to ensure I get someone else’s screaming brat next to me

When they first brought this in I was flying on my own with 2 children aged 2 and 4 (ish) and I refused to pay to sit together. Got on the plane and the lady who greeted us was horrified “oh, you haven’t booked tickets together!” I just said no, but you might like to warn who ever gets sat next to them…that one will steal your snacks and the other one doesn’t stop talking. She found us seats together!!!

If I had been sitting next to your children that you couldn’t have been bothered to pay for seats next to you …
I would have not shared the snacks I had purchased together with my seat I had bought. And I would have ignored your other talkative child.
It really is quite simple. If you can’t be bothered to pay for your child to have a seat next to you, I can’t be bothered to disrupt my flight due to your refusal to pay for seats that I have.

Why did you refuse to pay for the service you wanted?

I have 7 year old twins and I don't pay for us to sit together. The airline won't sit young kids away from you so whats the point? And I'm not an "entitled parent" I've never asked anyone to swap. If they're across the aisle or in the seat in front of me that's totally fine. I'm not sure I'd do this with a toddler though but maybe. Across the aisle would be fine but maybe not in front or behind. I do tend to find that airlines usually sit me with the kids and DH gets sat on a nice peaceful seat on his own though which is a bit sexist. Obviously we switch it up if that happens and one goes with the kids on the way out and the other on the way back.

"screaming brat" is a really horrible way to describe a kid btw. I'd rather sit next to someone else's kid than an arsehole.