The Unjustifiable Seat Assignment Fees: A Passenger's Lament.

In recent years, airlines have increasingly resorted to charging exorbitant fees for seat assignments, a practice that I find profoundly unfair and exploitative. This policy essentially holds passengers hostage, compelling them to pay extra merely to sit together with their travel companions on flights they've already paid for. Allow me to illustrate this point with some egregious examples from my recent travels.

On a recent trip from London to Orlando with British Airways, I discovered a ￡55 per person charge just to select seats. The cost didn't stop there. Spirit Airlines demanded $35 per person for the short hop from Orlando to Atlanta. United Airlines charged $45 per person for seats from Atlanta to San Francisco. At the same time, Frontier Airlines demanded $28 per person from San Francisco to Las Vegas, and then $40 per person from Las Vegas back to Orlando. The final insult came with another whacking ￡102 per person charge by British Airways for the return journey from Orlando to London. These fees accumulated to a substantial sum, in fact, some ￡550 on top of the ticket price offered, accepted, and paid for, purely for the privilege of sitting next to my wife.

What makes these charges particularly galling is the lack of any tangible cost benefit associated with them. There are no additional services or comforts provided; the only benefit is the assurance of sitting together. Airlines will no doubt argue that these fees are optional, but in reality, they are not. No reasonable traveller would willingly sit apart from their companions, especially on long-haul flights, if it can be avoided. Hence, the so-called "optional" fees become mandatory in practice.

In my opinion, this practice of charging for seat assignments is nothing short of a ransom. Airlines are leveraging their control over seating arrangements to extract additional money from passengers, purely for their financial gain. It’s an absolute disgrace and a clear example of corporate greed at its worst. Passengers are already paying substantial amounts for their tickets, and to tack on additional fees for something as fundamental as choosing seats is exploitative.

Can you imagine if other industries decided to adopt these measures? Imaging booking two seats at a cinema, only to be told that a further charge would be payable should you wish to sit next to your viewing partner, or perhaps a romantic dinner out - you reserve two seats at your favourite restaurant only to be greeted with an additional fee should you wish to sit together?

Airlines should be called out for these disgraceful practices. It’s high time that regulatory bodies and consumer advocacy groups such as the Civil Aviation Authority, Federal Aviation Administration, International Air Transport Association (IATA) & International Civil Aviation Organization take a stand against this trend and push for more transparent and fair pricing structures in the airline industry. Passengers deserve better than to be effectively blackmailed at every turn, especially when it comes to something as basic as sitting with their loved ones on a flight.

I'd love to hear your thoughts. In particular, Mark Harper & Simon Calder, what do you think of this new revenue stream airlines seem to have adopted?

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