The great business class seat selection fee ripoff – and why I don’t pay!

Having to pay for seat selection in business class, to me, reeks of a low cost carrier. Whenever I see that I have to pay to sit where I want, after paying thousands for a long-haul ticket, I get annoyed.

Unfortunately it is becoming more common for airlines to offer an unbundled business class product. That is usually sold as “Business Light” or something similar, where you get the seat and none of the frills such as free seating or lounge access.

Seat Selection Fees at Etihad

Etihad are currently selling tickets for a much lower cost than usual. I was sorely tempted and eventually caved and booked a deal from Dublin to Hong Kong for €1,820 return. That was the “Value” fare, which was €168 cheaper each way than the “Comfort” fare that included seats and lounge access.

Each flight is about eight hours long and there are four in total. Seating fees are €99.01 to €129.73 on the European legs and €90.00 on the leg to Asia. That means four seats would cost a minimum of €378, which is more than had you bought the “Comfort” product in the first place.

Highway Robbery

Just say I now change my mind and decide to book seats on all for sectors. The combined price adds 21% to my total ticket cost – one fifth – which is just ridiculous. You can also purchase lounge access separately with Etihad, and that is €88.83 each way (currently 35% off – apparently!). That’s certainly not worth it when I have 90 minutes connecting each time.

British Airways also charge people without Silver or Gold frequent flyer status for seats in business class. I once calculated that I saved over €4,000 over the years by holding the status. It just shows you how quickly it all adds up!

Overall Thoughts

I am not paying for seat selection at those prices. The whole point of me selecting that set of flights is because it was €500 cheaper than the competition (Qatar Airways, who had reduced their return fares to €2,300 in a sale).

I’ll be taking my chances at online check-in to snag a window seat and if there isn’t one, I am sure I’ll survive. Regardless, I do think a pricey business class ticket should include seat selection for free. Lots of airlines still do it this way, thankfully.

What do you think of those seat selection fees? Are they similar to what other airlines charge in business class? Thank you for reading and if you have any comments or questions, please leave them below.

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Featured image via One Mile At A Time.