See The Airline Seat Fees That Buy…What, Exactly? Travelers are finding fees that sometimes top $100 for seats that offer no extra legroom or early boarding, even on nonbudget carriers by Dawn Gilbertson of The WSJ. Excerpts:
"Try to reserve seat 15D on a Delta Air Lines nonstop flight from Atlanta to Los Angeles in mid-July and a price tag pops up on the seat map: $105. Each way.
That is on top of the ticket price, a tidy $998 round trip.
The $105 is Delta’s fee for a “preferred” seat on the flight. It comes with no extra legroom, no early boarding and no dedicated overhead bin space. Delta and other major airlines deem such ordinary economy-class seats more valuable than those in the back of the plane, so they charge extra for them. The value, airlines say? You get off the plane quicker.
Long a budget-airline staple, seat-selection fees have become widespread and are driving up the cost of flying at major U.S. airlines. Free seats are often rare or truly awful—think last row near the lavatories—especially for travelers booking last-minute. (Delta had free aisle seats available to reserve farther back on that LAX flight.)"
"Airlines don’t divulge their seat-fee revenue, and the U.S. Transportation Department doesn’t require disclosure as it does with baggage or ticket-change fees. But here’s a hint: Southwest Airlines, which doesn’t assign seats but offers two paid options to board early and get a better pick of seats, collected $711 million from such fees and incidental in-flight purchases in 2019, according to securities filings. The figure dipped to $359 million when travel cratered in 2020, but jumped up to $553 million last year."
"The fees, which vary by carrier, route, flight date and time, and even time of booking, are now airlines’ second-biggest source of a la carte revenue after baggage fees"
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