Tighter Seating Puts Passengers At Odds

From the Wall Street Journal. For full article click here.

Quote:

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THE MIDDLE SEAT
By SCOTT MCCARTNEY

Recliners vs. Uprights:
Tighter Seating Puts
Passengers at Odds
November 28, 2006; Page D1

With airlines squeezing more seats onto planes and flights more crowded than ever, some nasty battles are brewing, pitting passengers who recline their seats against the squished travelers sitting behind them.

Most U.S. airlines still allow seats to tip as far back as four or five inches, even though they have shrunk the space between rows. But now Southwest Airlines is doing something to reduce the threat of bruised knees and spilled drinks. The carrier is reducing the maximum recline in many of its seats so that customers can use laptop computers, for example, when the person in front of them wants to lean back.

Southwest found that its seats had varying degrees of maximum recline, from two inches of movement at the top of the seat to 4.5 inches. The airline decided to standardize recline at three inches, adjusting seats as planes go in for major maintenance work. "It was impossible for a customer to use a laptop behind someone who had reclined fully in a seat that allowed four or 4.5 inches of recline," said Linda Rutherford, a Southwest spokeswoman. The airline determined that a three-inch recline provided "maximum comfort and usability," she says.

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How come no one realized this until now?

Also coming, per BA among others, is pre-assigned seating (i.e. at time of booking) only for full-fare tickets, corporate contract passengers or premium-level FF members. In sum, if you got a good deal on the ticket and/or aren't a Silver or Gold whatever, you won't know if you can avoid a middle seat until the day of the flight. So basically it means only those wealthy enough to pay full fare themselves or loyal corporate road warrior types or those with big corporate contracts will be able to book with the confidence that they will have an aisle seat etc. The individual self-funded or small business traveler seems to have little choice in this situation...

AirTran, for example, does not offer pre-assigned seats for the really cheap Y fares. In order to reserve a seat, a pax has to pay a higher fare. But with online check-in 24hrs before the flight, pax with cheap Y tickets can check-in online and easily get a good seat.

As you noted, it's not a system that works in everyone''s favor, but you can get around it.

My guess is this will spread to more airlines (mostly LCCs), and while most pax won't pay for a short flight, they will pay to select their seats for a long flight.

-Will

Good points Will, but it's less of a hassle with a short haul, discount operator like AirTran than with a supposedly premium longhaul carrier like BA whose affected passengers will have to endure a middle seat for 7 to 12 hours just because they shopped around, aren't Silver Executive Club, or don't work for Goldman Sachs (or whoever has a contract).

If I understand the new policy below, it's going to alienate alot of BA customers who may have been loyal for years but not flown enough to achieve premium FF status. They are somewhat saying sod off to the non-premium, non-corporate contract customer who may nevertheless have been flying with them longhaul several times a year for years. I don't particularly like the idea of paying for the ticket possibly months in advance and joining an online rush for the remaining seat of my choice 24 hours before a longhaul flight. This says nothing of the fact that alot of longtime BA customers, especially outside the US, are of the older generation who aren't so internet savvy and in any case would not take kindly to this sort of lottery. Am I missing something here?

"Dear Travel Partner,

We are introducing changes to the way you select and book seats for your customers who are travelling from December 5, 2006 onwards. These changes aim to create the best possible travel experience for your customers, ensuring a stress-free, speedy, and seamless journey through the airport. In order to create this experience, we will be further embracing technology and simplifying some of our procedures over the next eighteen months.

The new seating guidelines are designed to simplify the process of choosing a seat and give all customers more transparency and control of the seating options available on their flight.

Selecting a seat at check-in:
We are substantially increasing the number of seats available for selection at the time of online check-in at ba.com. All seats on the aircraft that have not been pre-assigned will be offered to customers during the online check-in process.

The best way for your customers to get the seat of their choice will be to check in online at ba.com from 24 hours before their flight departs. The earlier a customer checks in, the greater choice of seats they will have. Once a seat has been chosen, British Airways will not change it, subject only to rare operational requirements.

We have also improved our aircraft seat maps on ba.com, which display up to the minute seat availability for each flight. The maps will now display emergency exit seats and highlight the position of the toilets, infant cots, and the crew galley areas.

Pre-assigned seats:
To make more seats available at the time of check-in we are reducing the number of seats that can be pre-assigned. This option will be limited to specific groups of travelers. These include families with young children; First class fliers; Premier, Gold, and Silver Executive Club members; and those holding fully flexible tickets across all cabins.*

- Travelling with children:
If your customers are travelling with infants (aged under two years), you will be able to book their seats when they purchase their ticket. Those travelling with children aged between two and eleven inclusive will be allocated seats together by British Airways up to three days before departure.

Unaccompanied minors will also be pre-assigned a seat by British Airways for their journey. You must ensure that the correct infant and child identifiers are in the booking to ensure that your customers are allocated their seats.

- Other special needs:
Disabled passengers and those who have additional needs that require specific seating will be allocated the appropriate seating. You must let us know of their requirement through the use of keywords in their bookings.

- Pre-allocation of seats at time of booking:
Premier, Gold, and Silver Executive Club members; First class customers; and those holding fully flexible tickets* will be able to book their seat at the time of booking and to change their choice up until they check in and print their boarding pass. Corporate customers holding a contract with British Airways will also be able to select seats at the time of booking.

As always, for latest BA updates please go to http://www.batraveltrade.com.

* Fully flexible tickets are those booked in F (First); J, C (Club World); W (World Traveller Plus); and Y (World Traveller). "