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.

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