first choice & Thomsons airline flight seating

leylandsunaddict wrote: »

£70 will be the total price. You can prebook seats one way. No airlines offer free pre-booking. They've just included the cost in the price of the ticket. That means everyone pays for it whether they want to request their own seat or not. Not everyone is bothered about where they sit, or who with. If you want 'extras' you just factor them into the total cost when comparing prices.

Of course they do. There's no cost to the airline in people choosing where to sit rather than being seated at random or by some algorithm. Most airlines I've flown on offer(ed) free pre-booking.

Paying for seat selection is a fairly new concept designed to generate a new revenue stream at zero cost, to take advantage of nervous flyers or paranoid parents.

You could argue that "free" in-flight meals aren't really free as there's obviously a cost of providing the food which will be included in the ticket price. But there's no cost in letting people choose their seats.

leylandsunaddict wrote: »

No 'free' in flight meals aren't free. They're complimentary because again the cost has already been factored into the cost of the ticket, which is why so many people prefer al a carte pricing. You only pay for the services you want. Personally I wish airlines would make meals a payable extra because invariably the majority are completely naff, but as you've had to pay for them you may as well try to eat them. You can add luggage to the list as well. Not everyone wants to take a checked bag so you shouldn't have to pay for it. If you don't want any extras you just pay the base price of the ticket. If you want extras you just factor in the cost of those if you're comparing prices. As long as people are chasing cheap prices al a carte pricing will grow.

It's not again - the ingredients/preparation of food has a cost, airport employees scanning and transporting checked luggage around the airport for you has a cost, what the cost to the airline of seat allocation? The software allowing you to do so is going to be a negligible amount per seat. I agree with you on the freedom of a la cartel pricing, but the airlines that don't charge for seat allocation (and there's many) aren't building it into the price, they simply haven't added it for opportunistic incremental revenue.

bigadaj wrote: »

The whole debate is flawed, these things aren't free or included, they are different business models.

The point is that there's a difference between things which incur the airline a cost and are included in the ticket price (for instance meals, baggage) and things which don't incur the airline a cost and most provide for free (like seat selection) but others use it as a separate revenue stream. The business model is a separate issue.

Only two ways of pricing anything, it's either cost plus profit or whatever the market will bear.

Many seats will be provided at below cost to meet some of the basic running costs and the last few will be priced very highly on the basis that someone's need at the time to scarcity, close to departure, means they won't have much choice.

Of course. There's lots of cross subsidy.

What has happened is the market has split into three effectively, budget airlines on short haul, full service on long haul and charter flights somewhere in the middle which have a confused business model.

You find particularly with charter operations, but now increasingly with full service airlines, that they get undercut by the budget airlines and so cut costs. People then complain that they now have to pay for something that was previously 'free' but most people will prefer to pay the cheaper price and either forego the benefits whether that be in flight meals, entertainment, luggage, reserved seating etc or pay as an extra.

The thing people seem to complain the most about is when they see others getting something for "free" that they paid for! For instance families not paying for seat selection and the airline still sitting them together

Many years ago I was on a flight where meals were a chargeable extra you had to book in advance. I didn't book one. When the cabin crew started dishing the meals out, they gave me one. I told them I hadn't paid for a meal, but the stewardess told me there was a problem with the system and everyone was getting a meal whether they paid or not.

This made the woman next to me livid - she'd paid so how come others get a free meal? The stewardess told her that she's getting what she paid for, what other people get is none of her business (phrased a bit more diplomatically)!

Interestingly the budget model has failed on long haul so it's two totally separate business models,and probably businesses.

Yes Ryanair for 13 hours probably isn't too popular!

zagfles wrote: »

We're not really bothered where we sit which is why we never prebook seats (unless it's free). Ironically I'm the tallest in our group but I didn't get one of the extra legroom seats as I didn't know which they were or even think about it when boarding, but I never have an issue with legroom anyway even though I'm almost 6 foot. As you say you can stretch legs under the seat in front so a normal seat is fine for me.

But interesting to know we got a "freebie" which some people consider valuable - even though I didn't know about it till this thread

I don't consider anything under 6 foot particularly tall, given that in my family the average height it 6'3. And when it comes to leg room, the extra is definitely a boon for those who are in the 6'3+ bracket otherwise we spend the flight with our knees digging into the seat in front

springdreams wrote: »

I don't consider anything under 6 foot particularly tall, given that in my family the average height it 6'3. And when it comes to leg room, the extra is definitely a boon for those who are in the 6'3+ bracket otherwise we spend the flight with our knees digging into the seat in front

Yes I'm lucky enough not to need to pay for extra legroom

And my wife at 5 foot 4 got an extra legroom seat for free!

In some ways it's discriminatory - the airlines really should provide seats that taller people can comfortably sit in without charging them extra. After all they don't charge fat people extra for the extra weight - if your baggage is 10kg overweight they'd charge you a fortune for being overweight with the excuse that more weight = more fuel, but they don't charge a 90kg person more than an 80kg person. So why charge tall people more?