Iberia Airlines Iberia Plus - IB short and medium haul - no more free advance seat selection in Y

Just found out the hard way: no more free Y seat selection for short and medium haul on IB flights (operated by IB).

Free only for Gold and Plat Ib+ members...

Sources: IberiaPlus and ServIberia telephone desks

This means I'll have to put an alarm to do my online check-in when it opens and pray to get a seat in the front Y rows and not end up in rows 7+ where seat pitch is tiny-tiny...

What's the difference now between IB and any other low cost out there for Y service? No food, barely any newspaper, no more seat selection, almost any human to check-in at T4 in MAD Y class counters.

GRRRRR.... Gotta hate ancillary revenues! :p

What makes them 'not' be a traditional 'LCC'? Abiltity to construct connection tickets (huge difference), Free baggage allowance, abilty to through check bags, interline agreements, abilty to earn FF credit in any FF scheme within the alliance it is a member of.

While some markets and airlines are different, personally advance selection of seats is not something I 'expect' to be able to do with any airline (full service or low cost), some offer it, some offer it to premium members, but it's not something I expect.

The definitions are increasingly blurred though.

Point taken. I was comparing direct flights within Europe. Bags are indeed still free at IB.

I was comparing direct flights within Europe.

Ah, point-to-point is the only arena where the traditional LCCs and charters compete with the full service operators.

To me the definiation between them is not actually the service offered while on such flights, but whether the flights in question could have been used in a 'greater' manner. And the ability to support official connections is the biggy.

Nicolas, try finnair.com (not a guaranteed seat)

But, just to clarify what you mean so we can adjust the title if required:

Do you mean you cannot select a seat when booking a non-flexible economy ticket eg Q, N, M fares? If so this has been the case for a while.

or do you mean you cannot select a seat when booking a flexible fare ticket, eg H, B, Y fares?

Holders of emerald and ruby can still book seats although it either has to be done through finnair.com or through the telephone.


IME not many people checkin bang on T-36 like they do with other airlines like BA.

[QUOTE=globalste;17286615]Nicolas, try finnair.com (not a guaranteed seat)

Just tried, all seats are marked as occupied.

I used to pre-book specific seats up to weeks in advance even on basic Y fares by calling the Spanish 807 tel number. Now it's an extra 10€ per leg per seat.

I did not yet try with a flex Y fare.

"Holders of emerald and ruby can still book seats although it either has to be done through finnair.com or through the telephone."

The mentionned IB call center agent told me they allow to select Y seats for "free" (it's a 807 nb) for gold and platinum Ib+ members, they did not mention OW status allowances. Would make sense.

"IME not many people checkin bang on T-36 like they do with other airlines like BA"

Good to hear, but I fear the many connecting passengers with an issued BP ;)