Originally Posted by
KingCanute
This will depend on which fare family the purchased ticket is in. The article quoted does not mention the fare type bought, although the author does mention that they paid for their seat in advance rather than at check in so it is likely they were travelling on a restricted fare.
It is not the case that free seat selection has been removed for all economy tickets. If you buy a Lite ticket, it appears you may have to accept what you are allocated (I do not know if this is new) but all other fares include either free seat selection or selection at a fee. Also, if the flight is full by OLCI and all seats have been chosen or preallocated, there may be no other seats to move to (this happens in business too).
for Qatar Airways, Economy Convenience & Economy Comfort both come with free seat selection from the point of booking, while this will coat extra on Economy Lite & Economy Classic fares; it used to be that standard seat selection (for whatever standard seats remaining) at online check-in is free-of-charge regardless of fare type, and it’s out of question whether Lite & Classic fares are no longer able to select a standard seat at check-in