Apparently, British Airways will now introduce a fee that allows you to specify your preferred seat on a flight in advance. This will be the only way you can be assured of sitting next to your family. Hmm. You know, normally when you set a price it is for something valuable. I have often fantasised about what might happen if I couldn't sit next to my children on a flight. Sure, they might be traumatised but still ...
Anyhow, guilt (particularly the costs on airline staff) has always kept those fantasies from becoming reality. But if the airlines are making it difficult with a charge, then surely all bets are off. Oh dear, I forgot to pay the fee. I guess you'll just have to take care of my child. Hard to imagine paying to stop that!
Anyhow, guilt (particularly the costs on airline staff) has always kept those fantasies from becoming reality. But if the airlines are making it difficult with a charge, then surely all bets are off. Oh dear, I forgot to pay the fee. I guess you'll just have to take care of my child. Hard to imagine paying to stop that!
This has been the case for several US airlines (Airtran, etc) for a while. So I am not sure what the big deal is. The day you fly if you haven't purchased a flight you then choose whatever seats are left. If you are really concerned check in right at 24 hours and most of the seats are still available. It really isn't a big deal. A few times I have flown and a family has not been seated together. Most of the time people will gladly give up their seats so you can sit together.
ReplyDeleteYou have to read the whole article.
ReplyDeleteNow you can choose your and your children's seats at the time of booking your flight (at a cost). Or you can continue with business as usual, check-in online within 24 hours of the flight, and choose your seats then.
There is a slight chance that fewer seats will be available when you check-in but since every flyer seems disgusted that BA should charge you for anything other than a ticket I doubt many will be taking them up on the offer and removing available seats.
this is a good example of backwards pricing... pricing the wrong good, and minimizing the revenue potential... surely other passengers would pay more to be isolated from these children whose parents might hesitate to pay more to have them sit with them...
ReplyDeleteThe Commission's take is here: http://bit.ly/cOQ6T
I've been reading a blog from an American flight attendant, and it's interesting how disdainful an attitude they have when parents express concerns that they're not seated next to their children.
ReplyDeleteThe attitude seems to be:
"Well, did you not pay up front for the assigned seating?"
"Well no"
"Well you should have known to do that, there's very little I can do about it"
I have asked the question about what would happen the first time there's a crash (or even something less major) and the child who fits into the age group they define as 'unaccompanied minor' suffers. All the parent has to do is claim that the airline was negligent because the parent wasn't seated next to the child, and I can see the whole concept being thrown out in a hurry.
I also can't see why their booking systems ALLOW a situation where people on the same booking id are seated apart? Who allowed that business rule to get broken?