To not book a seat on a longhaul flight?

[DecemberPlusFebruary]

I'm travelling alone. Flight is 10 hours. Adding seats to the (economy cheapest) booking raises the price by about £70 - £85/flight and it's round trip. Economy cheapest means I am allocated a seat randomly - no choice even at check-in. Price without a seat: £425. With seats: £602!

I have a half hour drive on arrival at destination, but a route I know well, and even if I don't sleep at all, timings mean I will be okay to drive. No driving on return.

But... I like an aisle seat. I stand up and move like once/hour. Crawling over people is pretty unpleasant, for everyone involved - though I would do it anyway.

Hmm. Aibu to just hope for the best on allocation?? How bad can it be? £175 seems insane to pay for seats.

Air NZ have charged to choose seats too. It grinds my gears. I’m not booking on a low-cost airline, it shouldn’t be an extra charge. I didn’t do it,
family of 4, and were allocated seats together anyway, both ways.

It's all the same pot of money. He's not being generous - just pragmatic.

I did and normally you can choose at check in but choice is often limited. The payment is normally to secure the seat ahead of time.

That was the terms when I went last year. I suppose it's still a risk, though, choice or allocation at check-in.

BA even charge to pick your seat in business class.

I'm a fusspot when it comes to flying as I'm pretty claustrophobic, so I pay more than I can really afford rather than risk having a scary seat. Just imagine two large blokes on either armrest, and the seat in front of you reclined to a few inches from your nose... I'm getting shaky just imagining it! But people are different, if you feel you'd be fine in the middle then go for it - it's a lot of money if you're not particularly bothered either way.

We are about to fly long haul in two weeks. Two legs to each flight (change in Doha) seats £65 -£90 each leg - family of 4.

Reserving seats would cost us well over £1000 - so naturally we are not doing it. Suspect we won't be only ones. It's ludicrous!

Not 20 times during a ten-hour flight (ten times for OP to get out and another ten to let them back in). That’s completely unreasonable and selfish.

Of course you should pay - especially since by your own admission you get up every hour.
If I had an aisle/middle seat and you were expecting me to get up every hour I would tell you no after about the third time.
But, I won’t fly long haul in economy - it’s not worth the misery IMHO

I would pay, only because I need a window seat. Yes, I know, it's mostly clouds, but taking off and landing I can look out of the window, and sometimes even in mid flight, on a clear day, it's possible to see towns and countryside.

My goodness, if you crawled over me once an hour for a 10 hour flight, I would be furious! I find it difficult to sleep as it is, but to be woken up continually by a selfish passenger who refuses to pay for a seat is too much.

I’d rather pay it than be stuck in the middle for a long haul fright. Really annoying it’s so expensive.

While you can book seats 24 hours in advance anyone with a connecting flight can check in 24 hours from their first flight, so I’d probably take the risk if I was connecting in Heathrow, but not if I was flying from the regions is Heathrow.
we have business flights this summer, £120 per person (give or take a few pounds) to reserve seats each way. I don’t like my teenagers that much to lay to sit with them. We do have bronze equivalent status so will just see what’s available 7 days before.

Yes but reasonable is usually every few hours to use the toilet. Not to be disturbed every single hour. No-one expects this

You will get the middle seat of hell if you don't pay. Having sat in that seat many many times, selfish twat of partner assumes aisle seat is his by right, I would pay to avoid.

I’d much rather pay. It’s only £7 an hour.

I'd be fine with that. More opportunities to stand and stretch. As an aisle seat person, I expect to be asked to move, possibly quite frequently. If you want to be undisturbed, you're a window person or a mid-centre person. Book one of those seats.

So, a person who books and pays for an aisle seat so they can stretch out one leg and go to the toilet as many times as they want without disturbing anyone ... has to put up with you who refuses to pay for an aisle seat but wants to crawl over everybody from a middle seat once an hour?
Have I got that right?

Well if you gonna be up and down every half and hour to an hour then you better pay for the seat that would be best for you. I imagine other people wont be up and down every half and hour or so and you would disturb them.

My parents have limited mobility so book the aisle seats as they can't manoeuvre in and out of window/middle seats very easily. Surely you don't expect elderly or frail passengers to let you up and down twenty times in one flight?!

That doesn't make any sense? If you want to be undisturbed, the aisle is a poor choice.

Why can't a husband do something nice for his wife?

But it's just breaking down the price of the seat . They could price everybody's seats at £70 extra, but not everyone cares where they sit, so why should they pay more? You only think it's ludicrous because it looks more expensive to you, but you need to compare it to what airlines used to charge before most started using this system. Flights continue to be cheap, despite massively increased fuel charges over the last few years, because of methods like this.

I like your DH. Good husbanding. He obviously knows you well.

The price is £425 to a person who will be happy with the most horrible seat on the plane, and more expensive for those who don't want to risk that. Consider it as a whole ticket costing £602 because you do have a significant preference.

When we fly as a family, we ALL prefer aisle seats so we pay to book a block of 4 with 2 in front and 2 behind either side of the aisle. We get LOADS of people volunteering to swap seats with us so we can sit in a line. We don't want that. Most people have a preference.

That price is ridiculous. No way I’d pay it.

I’ve done loads of long-haul flights and never got up more than twice during a 10 hour flight (just to use the bathroom). Between movies, drinks, food, and maybe even a bit of sleep, it’s really not worth paying that much extra.

However, if you know you’ll be up often and need to move around every hour, then sure: pay for the extra space. Just think of it as part of the overall cost, not some luxury add on.

Personally, I won’t bother. I also don’t feel embarrassed about getting other people up. It's just part of flying. Everyone knows it's necessary, so I’d never get annoyed if someone wakes me or asks me to move from the aisle.

You should definitely book if you're planning on standing up every 30 minutes. I don't bother because I fly a lot and I tend to sit down and only move if I'm dying for the toilet. I have found not found that I get the middle any more than any other seat when randomly allocated.