Almost every time you make a flight reservation, after settling on a fare you’re willing to pay, the main issue is selecting a seat.
Twenty years ago, the options were very straightforward and straightforward. If you were flying economy, you may select a window, aisle, or exit row seat if you booked in advance. Families who wished to travel together may select an entire row in the center of a wide-body airplane.
As airlines added more seats to their aircraft, they also sought to maximize more revenue, and consequently, the majority of airlines allocated higher pricing to these coach seats. So began the upselling of airplane seats. In other instances, window and aisle tickets included a surcharge ranging from $20 to more than $90. Exit row seats are available for a fee. Extra leg room seats? These will also cost you money. Even the dreaded middle seats closer to first or business class are premium seats because they are closer to the exit and can be purchased.
Many airlines, like Southwest in particular, charge for seats because they can. It provides them with a substantial cash stream that is exempt from heavy federal ticket taxes – another cost, similar to checking baggage or purchasing a meal on board. Moreover, the airlines generate a greater profit from these ancillary fees than from ticket sales. According to a report by airline ancillary strategy firm IdeaWorksCompany, airlines generated an average of $27.60 in ancillary revenue per passenger in 2021, totaling over $65.8 billion worldwide during the same year.
How can you actually know which seats or how many seats are available on a certain flight? Numerous tourists utilize the seat map provided by their online travel agent, such as Expedia, Travelocity, or Orbitz. Alternatively, you can visit seatguru.com. You could also visit the airline’s website to view the seating chart. Frequently, the “available” seats are only middle seats or seats in the very back of the plane.
Frequently, though, all three seating diagrams are wrong, or at the very least deceptive. Each airline reserves a certain number of seats on every trip for their most frequent and highest-spending passengers. And if those individuals don’t show up, the airline makes those seats available on a first-come, first-serve basis.
One of the major obstacles, particularly for families traveling together, is that the upselling of airline seats makes it nearly impossible to seat families together without charging them for their seats. Now, however, the U.S. Department of Transportation may come to the rescue by notifying airlines of a proposed new rule mandating them to seat families together, which may completely derail the seat upsell scam. The proposed restriction is in response to complaints from passengers who felt compelled to purchase tickets so their families could sit together.
How can one obtain the greatest seats without resorting to upselling? Even if you book your trip online, you should phone the airline directly and speak with a bookings representative to choose your seat. They are the only ones with accurate and up-to-date seat availability displayed on their screen.
Don’t forget that you are entitled to a refund if you purchase a premium seat and your flight is delayed, rebooked, or canceled.