NW to charge for exit rows
 

http://www.detnews.com/apps/pbcs.dll.../BIZ/603140400
Lets see if CO follows their lead. VS does it for international flights as well

I doubt Continental will, but hey you never know. It just doesnt seem to fit in with the image they are trying to project.

-Vincent

I agree, but this may be a disturbing sign of the times ahead within air travel.

:(

I just dealt with this type of thing whilst flying Sterling Airlines (the old Maersk) from London to Copenhagen.

They charge you if you want to sit in the exit row, in the front, in the back, at a window, on the aisle, or with your friend!! Completely ridiculous but very Scandinavian in that special "if you want something specific you better be ready to pay for it" kind of way. Check it out if you fancy it:

http://www.sterlingticket.com/home/d...enskeplads.htm

They say only a "handful" of seats will be held back for this $15. That's better than I was expecting, for now at least. I really don't have a problem if they are holding some decent seats back for the last minute buyer, as long as it doesn't make the situation worse for the other 95% of pax on the flight. It seems like they are still looking out for their elites (sortof) by 'allowing' them to purchase the seats 36 (?, i read it somewhere) hours out, as opposed to others at only 24 hours out. We'll see how this goes. I hope it doesn't spread around to everyone else in the industry, but that may be inevitable.

dan

I think if NWA can make this stick, others will follow. Much like a trial fare increase - if matched it stays, if no one matches it is short-lived. I hope that will be the case with this, but NWA and others are strapped for cash and this looks to them like an easy way to generate $$$.

Unfortunately that handful of seats is basically the handful of decent coach class seats.

Deleted duplicate. My bad.

Ahead? These are somewhat disturbing times already.

-Vincent

if CO does this it'll be VERY VERY bad. The exit rows are the only "E+" that the plats can get since they aren't really coming through with upgrades on many routes.

I doubt UA and AA will follow.

UA is different because they actually have a premium economy cabin...and you get there either as an elite for free or by buying access.

So long as UA does not charge its elites for econ+, I don't think AA will charge for exit rows and other desirable seating.

Northwest already has by far the weakest product and inflight services out of the big six. JetBlue's services easily beat NW's. First Class on some DC-9s only has 34 inches of leg room, JetBlue offers that in Coach! Bottom line, Northwest is sinking fast and desperately struggling for cash. I highly doubt that they will make it. Within its own alliance, customers who fly Continental and Delta will realize the drastic differences when compared to Northwest, an airline that even charges for the snack mix now.

And I really doubt CO will either. CO holds forward coach cabin for elites, and offers Plat's the exit rows at time of booking. With upgrades getting harder to get, I do not see CO taking away this elite perk.

There is no way I see CO adopting this...Delta maybe, but not CO, and certainly not UA.

A reminder...NWA is also charging ELITE customers to use these seats. There is nothing short of bloodshed outrage going on at the NWA forum and I expect this stupidity to blow up in NWA's face. I already calculated a loss of 1,800 decent spending elites will K/O the entire expected gain from this nonsense.

Didn't someone post that Larry K was laughing at NWA's decision to ask customers to call back during busy hold times in order to save money? I am sure he was laughing himself silly this morning after reading about this plan and its attack on elite customers.

Remember NWA's domestic product is like used toilet paper compared to CO or UA. CO also markets their inclusion of pillows, blankets, entertainment, "meals", etc - for them to say that certain seats fall outside the all-inclusive concept of a full service CO product would be hypocritical. I would be sincerely shocked if CO rolled the same program out.

Good grief! If the airlines need to charge for aisle seats, it's time to RAISE fares. :rolleyes:

Honestly, this has got to be the stupidest airline management decision in years.

This is more disturbing than southwest/ryanair style open seating...

Makes sense to me...
 

It is either the guy in the exit row pays $15, or every passenger on the plane pays $1. Which would you prefer?

Couple of observations. First, this is going to be a killer on a segment mileage run. An 8-segment run could be as much as $120 more for a "decent" seat. Second, if a passenger pays for the exit-row and is not eligible, there is going to be a big scene on the aircraft when the FA attempts to reseat the customer.

OMG - that link is almost the FUNNIEST thing I have read in a while! (The NW announcement being one of the SADDEST things I have read in a while...)

Are they not coming through, or are the seats just not available to upgrade PLATS into?

Hope is fares as well as the pay for food experiment.

So what happens if Y is booked almost full and all that's left is exit row?
I guess you get pay the extra fee for being a late booker.

Curious as to my philosophical friend's (socrates) opinion re this.

If the flight is full, you don't have to pay the fee to sit in a restricted seat. I don't imagine that will be a big problem once most frequent customers take their business elsewhere.

Now the kicker...if you're an elite, and you selected one of these seats, paid for it, and then get upgraded...you don't get your $15 back.

I think the biggest travesty is that a First Class seat is free, but what could be a regular coach seat (not just Exit rows subject to this scheme) up front could cost an extra $15. Bass-ackward pricing if there ever was. NW (and CO) should just start charging for all elite upgrades, a la AA/UA. (duck! :) )

I guess the $15 is really just an insurance policy...

Let's hope no-one at NW gets ahold of the webpage you linked to. At this rate, I could see them rolling out the same charges verbatim!

For the record, not all exit row seats are being held back. About 50% are still available to Elites for free. Also, none of the bulkhead seats are being held back for purchase (in my experience, these seats are often snapped up by elites before the exit row seats).

Right...the exit rows that don't recline. They wouldn't want to charge for an inferior product, would they? Oh that's right....they charge for an inferior product in the ticket price

The bulkhead seats were suppose to be held for disabled customers, or those needing assistance - those seats (much like the first row of coach on CO) were held for airport assignment anyway and any elite who chose one in the past was subject to reseating if it was needed for either a wheelchair customer or the rare FAM who sat in coach. There was no altruism in their decision - just avoiding extra refunds when the seats were needed at the last minute.

How long do you think those bulkheads will last now that we elites that previously preferred the exit rows are also competing for them to avoid this ridiculous new surcharge?

Check out how bizarre and irrational NW's apportionment of $15 seats versus still free seats is: http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/showp...&postcount=260

:confused:

You should have heard my hoots of laughter at the checkin desk when I asked for an aisle seat and they asked me for five quid... I told them no, so they put me in a middle seat but the aisle was unoccupied, so I just moved over in flight.

There were lots of us in those middle seats...

OK, so a Plat pays the $15 for the exit row 36 hours prior. Subsequently, the Plat is upgraded. The seat is then sold to another passenger for $15. The original Plat does not get his $15 back, and NW has collected another $15 for a total of $30. This could actually add up to a minor but significant amount if multiple passengers pay for the seat and are upgraded...

CO doesn't have enough first seats in its system, slowly they are attempting to add a couple here and there... Of course there are several routes (like SFO-EWR) that are very hard to buy F seats within a week of the flight.

I might add that this policy might make it... more undesirable for CO elites to fly on NW anyways...

B

as someone else said, just raise the F'in Fare

Not True
 

Certain bulkhead seats are taken. I'm in one for an upcoming flight (5D) this weekend. I called and was told I had to pay $15 24hrs out or they would bump me from the seat that I've had for 85 days! Hope I get upgraded or I'm back in 17E :mad:

While technically true...NW actually does plat EAU in advance of unlike CO. Therefore, NW plats will be in FC 90-95% of the time prior to 36 hours out so not an issue for plats. I prefer the bulkhead anyway...

Don't be surpised if CO follows suit. Or maybe they'll take that CO apporach and dole out exit rows by staus and fare, which is basically the same thing and in fcat would yield more then $15 per seg.

and what exactly would that be...? Your often the first to defend CO's right to generate more inclome and charge for services...These seems logical as the exit rows are a perceived better value and therefore must be worth more.

The image CO would like to project is one of profit making to its shareholders.

The fact is CO would have more difficulty doing this then NW because FF benefits have diminished more at CO then NW. NW gets their plats into FC or gives them 1,000 miles. CO holds back till last possible moment and then has fewer FC seats to give. Take away exits and elite is virtually worthless on CO.

It seems to me Continental tries to offer the best value - offer the little things that do cost, but the benefit out weighs the cost. Pillows and Blankets, "Meals" at Meal Times, IFE Domestically - are all things Continental has to pay for, but they see as a good value. Charging for "Choice Economy Seats" does not seem to fit in with this idea. Continental seems to be trying to maintain the image of a full service airline and it shows - someone told me when they were talking to some older lady about Continental she said "yea and they feed you too" people are noticing - its just a matter of time t'ill people get REALLY feed up with all the nickel and diming.


-Vincent

I don't think CO will follow suit either. At the 'DO, LK and JS repeatedly emphsized they want to offer consistent product to its customers. That's why they rejected UA's E+ idea, which created 4 classes of seats on some planes. While not the same, what NW's doing has some resemblence of creating a subclass of seats. And that's exactly what LK said they would try to avoid.

You're still thinking inside the box. The Plat buys it for $15 at booking, then gets upgraded at 5 days. The Gold buys it for $15 at 5 days but gets upgraded at 3 days. The Silver buys it at 3 days but gets upgraded at 1 day. The non-elite buys it at 1 day. That $60 for the same seat.

Steve B.

Except that Elites can't buy seats until 36 hrs before the flight...