Do people really pay $50 each way per person for seat selection??

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Airlines do this because fees are not subject to passenger ticket tax

No airlines do this because it generates more revenue with zero expense to them.

But they STARTED doing this after the IRS rules in 2010 fees aren’t subject to the tax. It wasn’t a thing before then.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:OP if you pick the lowest fare, you’ve opted out of this sort of thing. That’s why it was the lowest fare. If you picked a higher fare class, it would have been “included.” I know it’s all kind of a shell game, but this one makes sense to me. You’re changing your ticket from the lowest cost one to one that has some features of the higher cost ones.

This.

We don’t pay an extra fee because we don’t buy the super cheap no frills fare.

Yes you are paying the extra fee by paying the higher fare. For $50 more you get the seat assignment. At least on Delta, there is no other benefit.

[Anonymous]

Yes we do for our family of 4 with young kids. I view it as part of the ticket price at this point.

People suck for being too cheap to pay and then trying to make others move. Obviously different if you did pay and then your flights got messed up.

[Anonymous]

Yes of course. It’s the o my way to guarantee seats with my kids.

[Anonymous]

I don’t do it. I usually hope someone else has to deal with my toddlers on the plane while I catch some zzzzs in Row 29K

[Anonymous]

There seems to be 2 schools of thought here, some think that going on a flight is an open invitation for the display of bad behavior, others view it as their duty to be kind and considerate

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:And, anniying that if your flight is changed or cancelled, the seat does not convey and you have to pay again!

We’ve called to complain about this and got close to our original seats back without paying more $.

[Anonymous]

We pay for seats for our family of 4 even though the kids are teenagers. I need an aisle seat and DH likes the window and my kids like to sit together so they can play games. So it is worth the money to us.

I do have to say that this year was the first time we bought international tickets through Travelocity. I was very nervous about it since it involved 3 different airlines round trip but the price was the best that we could find. One of the legs was United and through Travelocity we could pick our seats with no additional seat fee. When we looked at the same flight directly on United the price was higher and we would have had to pay a seat fee.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:OP if you pick the lowest fare, you’ve opted out of this sort of thing. That’s why it was the lowest fare. If you picked a higher fare class, it would have been “included.” I know it’s all kind of a shell game, but this one makes sense to me. You’re changing your ticket from the lowest cost one to one that has some features of the higher cost ones.

This.

We don’t pay an extra fee because we don’t buy the super cheap no frills fare.

Yes you are paying the extra fee by paying the higher fare. For $50 more you get the seat assignment. At least on Delta, there is no other benefit.

I meant we don’t pay for it separately.

We usually fly United and “basic economy” means no flight changes, no upgrades, no overhead carry-on, board last, no seat selection, flight doesn’t qualify for premier status, etc.

We rarely pick this fare class.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:There seems to be 2 schools of thought here, some think that going on a flight is an open invitation for the display of bad behavior, others view it as their duty to be kind and considerate

"kind and considerate" = only my life counts

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:There seems to be 2 schools of thought here, some think that going on a flight is an open invitation for the display of bad behavior, others view it as their duty to be kind and considerate

What does this have you do with seat selection? All selection does is hurt the person who failed to select when they end up in the middle.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:We fly southwest to avoid this and also to avoid people who are going to freak out about being asked to accommodate a family with young kids sitting together. We also really like their "bags fly free" policy. When we fly to Europe we use airlines that seat families together. I think the EU actually requires this so flying within Europe you don't have to worry.

I wish people realized that this is about the airline screwing people and being dishonest in pricing, not people being "narcs." It used to be that seat selection was baked into the price along with checked bags and other *totally normal* aspects of flying. Doing a seat price and then nickel and diming you for everything else is a way to obscure the cost of flying so that they can charge more while claiming in advertising that they charge less. It's BS. Americans should demand better transparency in pricing and not accept policies like this that actually make flying worse for everyone.

The insane thing to me is that even if you pay to select your seat, if the flight is canceled and you wind up on another flight they don't even refund your fee for the seat you never even used. So a family of four could spend an extra $400 for seats together and then wind up having to beg people to move so they could sit with their little kids anyway. That's deranged!

We like Southwest too but there are many places they don’t fly, like most other countries including European ones.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:OP if you pick the lowest fare, you’ve opted out of this sort of thing. That’s why it was the lowest fare. If you picked a higher fare class, it would have been “included.” I know it’s all kind of a shell game, but this one makes sense to me. You’re changing your ticket from the lowest cost one to one that has some features of the higher cost ones.

No this is false. Some airlines, particularly to other countries, do not include seat selection at any price in the economy cabin. It’s not a question of “picking a higher fare.”

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:OP if you pick the lowest fare, you’ve opted out of this sort of thing. That’s why it was the lowest fare. If you picked a higher fare class, it would have been “included.” I know it’s all kind of a shell game, but this one makes sense to me. You’re changing your ticket from the lowest cost one to one that has some features of the higher cost ones.

This.

We don’t pay an extra fee because we don’t buy the super cheap no frills fare.

Yes you are paying the extra fee by paying the higher fare. For $50 more you get the seat assignment. At least on Delta, there is no other benefit.

This whole thread is confusing to me. I typically purchase economy--usually the cheapest available and have free seat selection. Yes, the selection only offers the back half of the plane, but if I'm booking at the right time, I can still choose window or aisle that isn't the very back row.

[Anonymous]

Another idea for airlines (oh won't they please make me their consultant) is "perma seat status". If you pay for this (it will be a bit more than just selecting a seat) you are guaranteed (cough cough) to bring the/a similar seat selection should your flight change. Also, your seat will have a green light above it indicating that you are perma seat. People, perma seat paid more, don't ask them to move to your red light seat.