Paying for seats on flights

[user1471508666]

We are flying to America in October and I assumed as a family of 6 would be seated together. Looking on their extras it says you can pay to reserve seats, does that mean even if we checked in together we wouldn’t be seated together?
Should I pay the extra to ensure we are together?

I don't think it costs airlines anymore to sit families together. They have computer systems that can do that with no human input. Charging for seats is just another money making enterprise. I think it sometimes creates more problems for the airline as well - I've been on flights where groups of friends try to hang out in the aisle chatting as they are not sitting together totally blocking the aisle and creating extra work for the staff.

I don't think it costs airlines anymore to sit families together. They have computer systems that can do that with no human input. Charging for seats is just another money making enterprise

Certainly won't cost them much, and of course the money made allows the basic ticket price to be kept (relatively) low.

...

Depends who you fly with.

We never pay but check in as soon as it is possible and never had an issue.

I was on a flight this morning and had paid for a seat up the front. As I was boarding I was told that I had been reseated and had to go to the desk to get a new boarding card. They had moved me to a seat half way down the plane in order to accommodate a family who wanted fo sit together (and obviously hadn't paid for seats). I was livid - particularly as it meant that instead of getting priority boarding, by the time I got my new boarding card and had discussed with the staff, I had to board near the end of the queue. I couldn't believe they would move someone who had paid for a specific seat to facilitate someone who hadn't bothered.

So wrong!

Actually that didn't always happen. We had a horrendous BA flight back from Bangkok in 2000 where the majority of passengers had embarked Sydney and the flight was massively overbooked with the check in staff at Bangkok asking for 20 people to volunteer to delay. We had 2 under 11 and only one ended up sitting next to to a parent on an overnight flight the other was 2 rows away. And the other parent was several rows further away in a middle seat. I prefer the current system.

It costs them more if they have to waive the opportunity to sell seat choice to another passenger.

You might want to educate yourself about the historical realities of airline economics and passenger fares before disparaging “money making opportunities.”

Or perhaps we should just go back to the days when fares were prohibitively high for most people, and few traveled by air? Wouldn’t pain me, as I can afford it and flying was a lot less grim without the low-end crowd aboard.

£400 to get your choice of seats on a multimillion pound, safe, comfortable, miracle of human engineering that will whisk you to a distant destination within hours?

It’s not a bus, it’s a very complex system. Expecting special treatment without paying extra is absurd and entitled.

You have to pay for seats of you want to be together. If you aren't bothered who others sit by don't bother.

I'm not sure I asked (or insinuated anywhere I was entitled to) special treatment. I asked whether anyone had done a similar route and found that the majority of people don't pay (as it's such an expensive 'added extra') and pick when check in opens, meaning that what I see available now is likely to be similar on check in day if everyone is waiting. If the opposite is the case, and we'd almost certainly have slim pickings, then I'd follow the crowd and do likewise.

Don’t be a ridiculous. It was still a miracle of human engineering when we didn’t pay to select a seat. BA is not a budget carrier and this is just a way of charging passengers more.

But it was at least 2x as expensive. The stats are out there. Fewer people could afford it ( a good thing in my view…)

Selling seat choice a la carte is one way airlines cope with consumer demand for low fares.

Seems easier post. Even 25 years ago with full service fares we got separated.

I think one problem with debates on this topic is many people seem to think the basic fare the operator charges must cover whatever it costs the airline to fly a passenger from A to B.

It very very frequently doesn't, the most extreme example being the low fares you sometimes see off peak, out of season - they don't even get close.

I don’t think that a Ryan Air ticket for £30 per passenger covers the cost of flying from A to B and therefore there are various add ons for seat selection, luggage etc. All fine. My issue is that BA is not a budget airline and does not have budget prices:
international airlines group led by BA made a profit of £2 billion in 2024.

Dh and I are flying business class with BA next year and they still want to charge us £100 per person to choose a seat which I think is taking the piss. It’s a night flight so I don’t care who I sit next to. If it’s someone who doesn’t snore as much as dh it’s a win for me!

proceed with caution, l was once stuck next to a woman who really smelled!

It's all very well quoting a raw profit figure, to get any sort of context you need to know how many passengers did it carry to make that profit.and what's the average profit per passenger after tax.

You then need to ask if that figure.is excessive, especially in light of the fact many airlines were making massive losses less than 5 years ago and were fortunate not to go broke.

It's maybe also worth bearing in mind that the airline industry is highly cyclical, the next downturn, especially for Trans Atlantic traffic, could potentially just around the corner ... rather than further discounting fares some airlines will be thinking money in the bank might be useful.

Exactly. It’s the people in first and business who are subsidizing everyone else. So all the cheapos should stop griping.

I used to live in China and have had many less than pleasant experiences- man who took his shoes and socks off, woman slurping instant noodles throughout the journey, woman who trimmed her husband’s eyebrow and nose hairs and countless passengers who did not lock the door when using the toilet!

Airlines are in business to make profits for investors, not to provide cheap full service flights for whingers. Historically it’s an industry with highly variable inputs and low profit margins. Even today the average margin is 13 percent.

Anyone who wants to start a non-profit first-class airline with premium service at cut-rate prices is free to do so. Let us know how that goes.

meanwhile please note that most of the profits come from sales of premium seats (first and business) on long-haul flights. Not from economy coat-tail riders looking for more freebies.

https://www.theguardian.com/business/2025/feb/28/transatlantic-british-airways-iag-annual-profits

Well said, @notimagain

I don’t consider myself a whinger. As posted upthread Dh and I are flying business class next year and BA want to charge me another £400 to choose seats. I think it’s taking the piss.

Honestly, that’s a risk you’ve taken and gotten away with so far. My daughter has just had an awful experience doing the same thing…flying with a 6 year old and a 3 year old on her own, all three seats she was allocated at check in were separate!! She literally had to beg and plead with other people to be given just 2 seats together…her 6 year old was seated 3 rows in front! As soon as seat belt off signs were lit, she sat the 3 year old on her lap and sat my granddaughter next to her.