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Northwest Airlines Corp. on Tuesday will begin charging customers $15 to move to an aisle or exit-row seat.
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Apparently this applies to elites also. It'll be interesting to see the responses to this. A ton of folks (probably over 200 responses) on a Northwest frequent flyer board I visit are ready to mail their Plat cards to the airline and move to somebody else.
From various travel articles I have been seeing lately, it was a matter of time before this would happen. I won't be surprised to see other airlines follow what Northwest has decided to do
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Hmm...this will probably affect everyone on any such flight.
I always get a window, no matter the length of flight or airline. But now I guess many aisle people will try to get those seats since they'd have to pay for the aisle. This creates a problem: let's say somehow every nonaisle seat is booked. Would NW raise ticket prices for remaining (aisle) seats by $15?
I'm surprised Ryanair didn't institute this first!
So on their flight done on their 753s they are looking at raising prices on 2/3 of the seats. I have a question though, why not just do a fare-hike of 15 dollars system wide? And on their Saab flights, all the seats will be 15 dollars more.
. This creates a problem: let's say somehow every nonaisle seat is booked. Would NW raise ticket prices for remaining (aisle) seats by $15?
Good point, I guess the only way they can charge you is if you specifically ask for an aisle/exit seat, they can't just charge you $15 just because all the other seats are occupied (Assuming that the $15 is charged at the airport and not during booking).
Its for people who want a guaranteed seat in those rows. Also based off of the thing, its only going to be a few aisle seats, not very many.
Still a stupid idea, i think it should be offered only when buying a ticket, not some other option, but then at the same, United already does this, this applies to seats with extra legroom, and United offers the same type of upgrade to E+ so I dont really see what the big deal is here? How is this any different then E+ its just seats with extra leg room, and United charges a lot more then $15 for upgrade.
How is this any different then E+ its just seats with extra leg room, and United charges a lot more then $15 for upgrade.
Because of several reasons:
1. Seating in E+ on UA is offered to elites free of charge. Space available 'upgrades' for purchase are only offered the day of the flight (and only using EZCheckin) if additional E+ seats are available.
2. E+ is truly a different product, with guaranteed 35"+ pitch. True, some of the new "Coach Choice" seats on NW are exit rows which offer greater pitch, but the majority of seats are bulkheads and aisle seats which, as a rule, don't offer any more pitch than a standard economy seat.
The fact is, Northwest has pretty much the most abysmal U.S. domestic coach product in the industry as it is, with no power ports, no video entertainment, no audio, no phones, and 30" pitch compared with 34" on WN, B6, and 31-32" on most other majors. Now, they want people to pay extra to make it slightly less miserable, and on top of it all, they took one of the last real remaining perks from their elites and are making them pay for it, too.
I don't see this 'test' making it out of the 60 day trial period.
I just heard this on CNN 10 minutes ago, they also said that airlines might even charge for seatbelt use! Thats crazy!
I'm sure they can't do that. It's a mandated safety requirement right? I could see them charging for a seatbelt extension, but surely not for regular seatbelts. In addition to sounding scummy, I'm sure it would be illegal.
"The Director also sets the record straight on what would happen if oxygen masks were to drop from the ceiling: The passengers freak out with abandon, instead of continuing to chat amiably, as though lunch were being served, like they do on those in-flight safety videos."
Why Airlines treat there Elite members with such little respect is beyond me. I mean these people give the airline a huge percentage of there gross profit every year. Surely you'd think making small things like this free for Elites would be beneficial in keeping customers loyal in a very volatile market? AA for example leaves exit rows open for Elites when booking online, and when booking a coach class ticket on a wide body for an internal flight will open up J class for Elites. Amongst other things offered at Platinum status, these small things help keep me loyal to AA.
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