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’.

I booked a holiday for me and my two children with Wizz Air. Closer to the flying time when I tried to check in and pay for seats there were only single spaces left. I thought I'll speak to the staff at the airport.
However, when I did the online check in I was automatically allocated a row of three. It seemed like it had been reserved anyway.

I didn't have to pay for the allocation.

And flights are way cheaper as a result

So would you be happy to go back to the old model where it cost £200 to go from Ireland to London return? That's the equivalent of €800 today. I'm paying €40 return for a flight from Ireland to London this week. I'm happy to pass on the "freebies".

Seats, luggage etc were never free. They were just built in to the cost and tough crap if you didn't need/want them.

If people want to go back to the "old" levels of service book business class. It does unfortunately include the "old" level of cost

That’s because children have to be seated next to a parent/carer.

If they have non reserved seats, and flight not full, they may try to do this. If seats are booked an paid for, and flight full, then NO.

No, I would not, because technology has improved since then and made it much cheaper and more efficient for the airlines to do their own administration, including allocating seats. They do not need to charge for reserving seats, they do it to make more money, pure and simple.

Legally they cannot separate a minor, under 12 from their responsible adult.
What that normally looks like for our family is DC1 DH DC2 in one row and me across the aisle or Occasionally infront or behind.

We've had the odd flight spilt 2 & 2 but normally its DH (the lead name on the booking) between the kids and me elsewhere.

Save your money. You'll hear the odd horror story but have you heard anyone you actually know been separated from their under 12.

Easy jet doesn't do the intentional split in my experience even with a group of adults.
Ryanair and wizzair did it to me this year .

Anyway, it would make sense to distinguish preference for WHERE people sit (front/back/extra leg room/exit row/close to toilets/far from toilets) and "when the rule says you should seat me close to my toddler, do we really have to play the game of what-does-close-mean?".

“including paying extra to reserve a particular seat. Then they put it across as the doing you a favour when the whole point of it is to get more money from you”

They need “more money” as you put it, because they’ve often cut headline price of the basic package to the point they may make a loss on it….one look at operating costs will show you that if you’re paying much sub £100/€100 for a short shorthaul sector to/from Europe from the UK the chances are airline is making very little to nil from carrying you ( the exact amount can be very airport and route dependent - I’m also speaking from a relatively informed position).

If the airline is offering sub-cost fares they then need to find another avenue to make a profit…either from that individual who got the cheapie or from others. Seat price charging is one of those other avenues.

Fundamentally I think the idea that some seem to have, and express on a regular basis, that seat price charging is simply done to make extra profit, and that it could be removed without any consequence is well wide of the mark.

Some airlines do have a policy that you must be sat with child so worth contacting them. British Airways were very reassuring when I checked in online and realised my two year old or five year old would have to sit alone 😂 there were no more seats available online to sit together but they sorted it out when they gave us boarding passes at the airport.

If you want to guarantee you sit together, you’ll need to pay.

Years ago, my husband and I were the last to check in with our 2 year old. We ended up all sat separately. I could just about see my son waving his arms around, sat between 2 older people. I’m sure they were overjoyed with their journey. No one offered to swap places.

They are offering a discount for people who don’t care where they sit.

If everyone pays the same price and is allowed to choose where they sit, then the people who don’t really care will now feel like they have paid for it and so might as well take advantage of it.

That means that all those passengers will now be going for the more attractive seats, the same seats that the people who do care want to sit in. The people who care now have less chance of getting the seat they want!

Much better to incentivise people to be flexible by offering them an additional discount, so the airline can slot them in to empty spaces that other people are less inclined to book.

What I'm struggling with is WHY it's more expensive to have a specific seat.

People keep pointing to the cheaper ticket prices now as the reason why it's worth not having reserved seating.

But I don't see why that makes it cheaper.

When I book theatre tickets, there's an online seating plan. I'm automatically allocated seating but I can change it if I want. It's all done online and with no manual work required. Why can't airlines just use this kind of system? There's no added cost.

I don't think reserving your seat has any bearing on why ticket prices can be offered for a lower price. Less baggage I understand because weight = more fuel used. But I haven't seen anything at all which explains WHY it's more expensive to book a seat. There's no logical reason why it should save money.

I think the fact is that everyone has just gotten used to being asked to pay for the privilege. And I do think it's a case of swallowing the bullshit marketing because we don't look past it any more - we know that to get a convenient seat, we have to pay. So we do. And everyone just repeats what they're told about the reasons why it's cheaper without any real thought about the fact it doesn't actually make much sense.

There are lots of reasons why air travel is cheaper today. Planes are more efficient with better engines, they use less fuel, can fly further without stopping. Technological advances. There's more competition which pushes down prices, and of course, there's higher demand = economies of scale. And there have been legal changes too, with Civil Aviation Authority rules changing to allow more airlines to fly in and out of certain airports.

I don't think for a second that the reason why air travel is so cheap today is anything to do with the non-allocation of seats.

Of course they do it to make money. They are for-profit companies, not charities. If everyone went with the very basic ticket (no bags, no seat reservation, don't purchase anything on board), they would make a loss. They are able to offer the basic fare to those who want it because there are enough people who want the extras to make it a viable model.

Basically, airlines are either full-service, where you pay a much higher price with everything included or low cost carriers where the price is deconstructed and you pay for everything over and above the right to be carried from a to b. The prevalence of the LCC model and the fact that airlines that were traditionally full service have moved to an LCC model suggests that is what the customer wants.

@SpidersAreShitheads - see my post above- if you incentivise people to be flexible it benefits the other people who are less flexible as they are now more likely to get the seat they want.

Your toddler they will have to sit beside one of you- the other adult gets no consideration unless you pay

Oh, I am so sorry I am such an inconvenience to those who want to pay extra. I'll take a bell with me next time I fly and chant "unclean"!

Interesting.
Ive never been to a theatre which has a variety of seating types and just been allocated a seat.
We always chose to either sit in the stalls, circle or the gods. Or a box if we want first class!
Theatre plans have coloured seats on the plan to show which are cheaper. One partially obscured by a column in the stalls for example will be cheaper than stalls front and centre.

Congratulations, that is the most bizarre response I’ve read on here for quite some time!

It is what it is. If you don't care where you sit, fine. If you do, then pay up.

Do you really think people see you as an inconvenience?!
That is not the case. If you want a specific seat you can book it.
The only inconvenience is to yourself if you don’t book your seats and then find you aren’t sitting where you want to because other people have booked them.

The price of air travel plummeted with the advent of low cost carriers who deaggregated the ticket price. Legacy airlines quickly followed suit in order to stay in business.

Obviously the cost to the airline of allowing everyone choose their preferred seat is not the reason they charge. They charge because they are offering a pricing model whereby you add on, and pay for, anything over and above a random seat and no luggage. They do that because some people are willing to pay. It allows them to keep the basic headline price down, which attracts customers, and still make a profit. If nobody was willing to pay to reserve seats, they wouldn't do it.

Of course not, that was tongue firmly in cheek.