Airline hate, round #234984839

[firecat]

From my NWA Weekly Deals newsletter:

"Northwest is saving some preferred seat assignments (including exit, aisle and window seats) for domestic and international travelers until check-in. With Coach Choice, you can confirm these preferred seat assignments 24 hours prior to departure for a modest fee. Domestic seats range from $5 to $35."

It would have gone over better with me if they had said that people willing to sit in a middle seat were getting a discount. But there's no way to sugarcoat that they seem to be taking away the ability to choose a window or aisle seat when you purchase your ticket.

Comments

[dawnd.livejournal.com]

Wow. That is evil.

[kmd.livejournal.com]

Wow. I ran into the $5 charge last time I traveled and wanted to reserve a "choice" seat, but then it was just the Exit rows I think.

@#$@#$#

GAD but I hope that lawsuit in Canada replicates here in the U.S. with a vengeance.

[snippy]

My first thought was "they must really be doing poorly to decide to add yet another small fee." After all, fuel prices are down! (Did aviation fuel go down too? It must have.) Actually what would annoy me far more would be if other airlines adopted United's practice of charging $25 to check the first bag. Not the second bag, the first. This after how many decades of them encouraging travelers to check bags instead of overstuffing the overhead bins? If they let people with no carry on bag in the bin (just a small one under the seat) off the plane first, that would be cool.

I'm groused that my natural gas company raised rates twice last year, but they're not going down now. And the public transit raised the price of bus tickets and passes because of the high gas prices last summer, but they're not going down now--it actually costs less, including gas and oil but not the price of the car or insurance, for Mark and me to drive to work than to buy two monthly bus passes.

[firecat]

I think airlines are doing really poorly right now, because the recession is causing people to avoid flying.

Yeah, it doesn't seem like shipping rates have gone back down due to the fuel price drop, either.

And yes, charging for checked baggage is worse. I assumed all the airlines had adopted that policy already.

[cappyhead.livejournal.com]

Are you sure that's what it means? Or are they saying "Some of our preferred seats can be purchased 24 hours prior to departure. These seats may include exit rows, some aisle seats and some window seats." I thought NWA gave you map of the available seats on your flight and allowed you to select your seat at the time of ticket purchase.

I only buy tickets on a flight if I can guarantee two seats together, since my partner is a nervous flier. And I know I've flown NWA sometime in the past year...

[firecat]

Yeah, they might just have worded it poorly. I hope so. It's supposedly a new policy.

[innerdoggie.livejournal.com]

Flying sucks! I'd say take the train, except that is starting to suck (http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/local/chi-amtrak-stuckdec24,0,7901281.story) , too.

[firecat]

Amtrak is pretty notorious for being hours late, I hear, but that's even worse than usual.

[mjlayman.livejournal.com]

And it's not their fault. They rent time/space on the rails and the rail owners can require reduced speed or waiting behind other trains, not to mention work on the tracks.

[whumpdotcom.livejournal.com]

"Dear JR East, please invest in America."

[demonspawnmom.livejournal.com]

You'd think that the airlines would do anything and everything to lure new passengers, but nope, no such luck. More expensive fees, crowded cabins, and lost luggage galore!

[mjlayman.livejournal.com]

I saw some seats marked like that when I booked my flights for Minicon earlier this year. I'll be very unhappy if I have to sit in a middle seat, and so will the folks on either side of me.

[firecat]

Just some window/aisle seats, not all?

[mjlayman.livejournal.com]

Yeah, all the exit row seats, plus about 12 window/aisle seats immediately behind. I got a window seat several rows further back. I don't need to get up during flights and I'm much happier not being climbed over.

[firecat]

It's good to know it's not all of them. I almost always pick a seat toward the back of the plane anyway.

[mjlayman.livejournal.com]

I suppose they could have made it more extensive since Easter, but it wasn't that many back then.