Originally Posted by
orbitmic
So essentially it is not that you "need to pay to choose a window seat" as you mention in your OP but rather that you need to pay to choose a window seat at the front of the cabin.
In effect, different fares can give you access to different parts of the cabin, and preferred seats will typically be given to people entitled to them (elite status or people who pay for them). You can ask at the airport or at the gate but in practice, AF-KL is reasonably good at estimating how many preferred seats they will need and it is unlikely that many will be free by the time you arrive at the airport unless the flight is really not busy. Effectively, if you want a window, I'd recommend that you either pay or take a free one at the back of the plane. Windows are the seats that go fastest on any plane so I personally would not expect them to remain free if you don't get one while you can.
I should clarify something: I am happy sitting at any window seat on the plane, but the back section (i.e. the free ones) are already all taken when I book the flight, and when I checked in online, none of those seats become available either. So, effectively, yes, I "need to pay to choose a window seat" as those are never available for me to choose, not ever, not a single one.
Well, in a business perspective, good for AF-KL for doing a good job at estimating how many people are willing to pay for aisle/window seat.
I am just checking the seat map right now, it looks like a ton of preferred seats are still not taken, including the window seat right next to my middle seat, and pretty much all the "preferred" window seats on that side of the plane...