Since airlines are trying to maximise their revenue, it is common to pay for seats these days. In the past, all seats were free to select, but things have changed.
Some people won’t pay for seats on principal but others will pay all the time. Should you do this or is it best to save your money and take your chances?
Pay For Seats!
I am a firm believer of ponying up the cash to sit where I want to sit. There are several reasons for this. For one, seats at the front often come with priority boarding and I like getting on first so I know I have a place to stow my cabin baggage.
Also, some seats are better than others. For example, I know that row three and row six on an Aer Lingus A320 have a decent window alignment. I like to see out without having to stretch, and the views are worth it.
On long haul flights, I generally like to have an aisle seat. This way I can get up and down without bothering anyone, plus it’s easy to visit the crew in the galley.
That being said, it can be expensive. You can pay as much as £80 or more on a British Airways flight in business class for example. Is that worth it? Well, for a flight of 12 hours or more, I’d say it is. The possibility of being stuck in the middle is enough to get me forking out the cash.
Overall Thoughts
It is a very personal thing as to whether you pay for seats or not. As you can see, I think it is worth it, no matter what the cost. Even so, I still wince when I pay €50 return for a flight, then have to pay €34 on top for seating. Even so, the benefits are worth it.
What is nice is when frequent flyer benefits give you seating for free. This is a tangible cost saving and a really decent reward for being a loyal customer.
Do you pay for seats? What’s the most you have paid? What do you think of the whole situation? Thank you for reading and if you have any comments or questions, please leave them below.
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Featured image by Omar Prestwich via Unsplash.
Ryanair ground image by Jordan McSherry.
I have had good results on United (Star Gold) with BE seats, even an op up and Econ +, checking in early and late. AA punishes me (Platinum) with worst seats no matter when you check in. Why does AA feel the need to punish their best customers.?
Interesting, I would have thought you’d get decent enough seats as a Platinum frequent flyer with American Airlines. I wonder why that is! Thanks for the comment.
But on AA you can pick almost any economy seat for free, the timing of when you can pick depends on your status. I’m Gold and I usually can get exit row. I
This is the same at British Airways once you have status, which I really quite like.
Pay and block at the time of booking. It makes life a lot less stressful. My last trip to BLR from BOM was split between Jet Airways and Indigo. On Jet I had booked using the last of my miles (flight was on 5/4/19). Got my business upgrade and blocked 1A for free. On the return, Jet cancelled the flight as it was amongst the last few operating flights, and I took Indigo, which is a lcc. Paid extra for priority baggage and check in, and paid for my seat. Luckily managed to get row 2, and was amongst the… Read more »
I completely agree with you, pay at the beginning and be done with it. You can save so much time by being up the front of the aircraft, it’s true. I am quite fast on my way in Dublin as I know where to do. So it all helps get me home faster and I prefer that. Thanks for the comment!
It really depends on whether you can choose seats at check-in or they are just assigned to you. I wish someone would make a list of which airlines are choose at check in and which assign seats you can’t change.
I was under the impression the majority of airlines allowed you select seats for free at check-in. I know Ryanair will assign you a random seat if you don’t pay, but I wasn’t aware others did the same. I might look into it, to satisfy my curiosity. Thanks for the comment!
Could this be an American problem? I believe United, Delta, and American all assign you an unchangeable seat if your fare doesn’t include earlier seat selection. I was pleasantly surprised when I flew Air France and got to pick seats at OLCI.
I’m not sure, I haven’t flown American with no frequent flyer status, so I am not entirely sure. I’ll check it out anyway.
Yes.
Great 🙂
Anyone have an approach for flying BE? Do you check in late and hope only good seats are left or check in immediately? I’ve only flown it twice and both times got a middle, though from what I’ve read that isn’t terribly common. As a Citi AA cardholder the boarding group and baggage aren’t concerns, but I’m 6’4” so the seat can be!
Thanks
Yes, I don’t really like being in the middle, though I have had that experience more than once. Being tall means it’s definitely important to snag a good seat. Thanks for the comment!