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Getting What You Pay For Travel: The Best Seats in Coach

November 27, 2007 at 2:05 PM | by | Comments (2)

Leg room? That'll be 20 bucks...

With apologies to George Orwell, some airline seats may be more equal than others. And the airlines know it. That's why you may find yourself shelling out for better seats these days, even if you're still stuck in coach.

On Virgin America you'll pay $15 or $25 extra for a bulkhead seat, depending on the length of your flight. Northwest famously started charging $15 for exit row seats last year and AirTran now takes $20 for its spacious seats. Spirit Airlines keeps a cache of sweet spots in the front of the plane, but you won't get 'em without a $30 surcharge.

We can hardly blame airlines teetering on the brink of profitability for this nickel-and-diming, but creating a separate, bookable premium service like foreign carriers have would certainly look less sleezy. (And, heaven forbid, might actually create some customer loyalty!)

Virgin Atlantic created the "premium economy" class in 1992, and Air New Zealand, BMI and British Airways now all offer not-quite-business-class seats, perfect for long-hauls. Those seats may cost a little more, but you'll still be able to move your legs by the time you touch down.

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Nickels and Dimes are just fine!

I don't have a problem at all with shelling out to prebook those seats - its better than trying to rush to the phone or airport the day of to try to get one.
Alex Sung on November 27, 2007 at 4:37 PM #Permalink

Just what you asked for, but seem to have left off

How could  you do a blog on extra legroom and leave out the fact one US carrier (United Air Lines) has a whole cabin called Economy Plus, where you get get a virtual guarantee of an extra legroom seat though the payment of a once a year fee, at check-in through the offer of a buy-up, or if you fly enough, through your loyalty to the business.

It's a virtual guarantee since of course, if all the seats are taken, and you buy at the last minute, there may not be a seat in E+ for you.

And lest we forget, E+ was a response to AA's More Room Throughout Coach which they promptly ripped out, stuffing even more seats into their planes than they had before MRTC!

SFO 1K on November 27, 2007 at 5:32 PM #Permalink

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