Paid extra legroom seating for Platinums
 

Although I don't fly EK anymore, just received one of their emails about "enhanced" seating options. Yes, everyone charges for seat selection in Y so no surprises there. But a bit shocked to see they want Platinums to pay for extra legroom seats! No discount on that either. Kind of pathetic, really.

This has been running rampant in the US, and from my understanding, has been pretty common place in Europe for the last few years.

It's not like the ME3 has been swimming in money the last year.

Small things like this that really devalue the brand ...

I'm just amazed it took this long!

In fact, a lot of carriers do that, so I am not suprised. These seats (especially emergency) are way more confortable. So why not selling them.

But the vast majority of premium airliners in europe, asia and elsewhere, don't sell the "basic" (regular) seat selection, except the cheap holiday airliners / low-cost carriers (air asia, air caraibes, norwegian, ryanair, xl airways, easyjet, etc...).

These seats have never been selectable prior to OLCI. Allowing people to pay a fee to select them seems fair.

I disagree that EK Sees themselves as LCC, free unlimited booze, decent food in Y and a Polaroid photo if you ask nicely (Polaroid photo paper isn't cheap!). The seat selection is unfortunate, but understandable on the lowest fares. The issue is that most fares are Savers these days so it affects a lot of pax.

I haven't received the email, but a mate mentioned it this morning although he only mentioned a charge for seats towards the front of the aircraft.

From the website, it seems they'll also charge for pairs of seats too. Presumably that'll be upper deck on the 2 Class A380s and all the B777s.

Oops - just noticed it specifically says this on the website. Was reading too quick.

https://www.emirates.com/uk/english/...eat-selection/

I've seen changes on MMB online and in the Android app where my seat now appears as "Regular seat" and there are references to seeing a charge after selecting a special seat. I'll be annoyed if now I can't get free seat selection in the first mini-cabin in Y on the 777, as I always sit in rows 19/20/21 A or K generally.

Edit: I see Golds still get "preferred" free. Bit of a kick in the balls about the twins though, but those do generally go fast. Always got people queuing for the lavs next to you though, and the FAs gossiping behind you.

I'm glad about that as my next couple of bookings are in in J and get my Gold status back, but then I'll likely have a few in Y.

While it is common to charge for seats across the board, what is not common is to charge even your most loyal flyers. That was my point. Especially on an airline like EK where the "loyalty" is coming only from EK and QF, not an alliance of carriers.

Even non-LCC American and European airlines allow free selection of the best seats for their top tier customers. But hey let's instead make it free for everyone at OLCI, so the once a year super saver flyer has the same opportunity of getting the seat as a Plat on a flex fare.

And BA :)

I wouldn't say it's all bad for top tier pax - the only seats Platinums (and any pax on their PNR) pay for is the emergency exit row, which was never selectable: you had to get to the airport early to snag it.

All other seats are free, such as the twin and up front.

I do see that QF CL gets the same treatment but QF plat and plat one are the same as Skywards Gold!

Skywards Silver/Gold can choose a normal seat, so this is the same as BA?

Going from not being able to select exit row seats in advance to being able to select them for a fee seems an improvement to me

Other than that, it doesn't look like there is much of a change from before other that some now having to pay for twin seats

Not being able to get extra legroom seats in advance was a negative with Emirates before imo

I agree with ung1 that platinum should not pay for seat selection, and the "advantages" (upgrade, and now seat selection) linked to fare level empty the concept of "frequent flyer".

As for "exit seat selection", it was available only at the airport for a very good reason : to verify that you are fit to help during an emergency evac. Some airlines - NH not to mention - even checks that you speak English ...
Therefore, making it available in advance for a fee is questionable.

Platinum members can get the same seat selection now for free as before

The good reason isn't that good. Other airlines manage it quite well - get to the gate and the reader will bleep and get the agent to confirm that passenger is ok to sit in the exit row

Allowing it for a fee in advance is a good improvement over having to gamble at the airport