jbsjbs

Flew yesterday IAD-BOS and back today. Bought both tickets last minute and flights were short and empty. I often buy an "Extra Leg Room" seat for longer flights, but $25 for an hour long flight didn't seem worthwhile. Last night I was in the row behind the exit and when the door closed the row was empty so I moved up one row. No problem.

This afternoon, same deal. Flight was maybe 20% full and all 12 exit row seats were empty. Once the final passenger had boarded and sat down, I moved up a couple rows to an exit row seat. Couple minutes later a FA asked if I'd just boarded and I said, "No, I just moved up a couple of rows" at which point she told me -- in the midst of a nearly empty plane with 12 empty exit row seats, that if I wanted to sit in that seat she'd have to swipe my credit card and charge me $25.

I like JetBlue. Up until today I'd always felt like they (along with perhaps Southwest) were the last airlines that didn't aggressively embrace annoying policies designed seemingly to alienate customers. Now I'm not so sure they still belong in that category.

For the record, I can actually understand if, say, the exit and window were occupied by passengers who'd paid for "Extra Legroom", and someone moved into the middle seat, the FA should politely ask them to pay or move, but when my sitting there had no impact on any other passenger, was this the right call? Curious what others think. For me, my next trip to Boston will be back to the US Air Shuttle.

--Jason

magiciansampras

If there is a product that costs x and you take it for free, isn't that stealing? Sure, it doesn't "hurt" any of the passengers except those that stupidly paid the x even though they didn't have to.

Look at this from their perspective. Shouldn't they get their money back since they could have just moved up like you did?

jbsjbs

Yeah, I understand their logic, though in this case it wasn't worth the $25 before the flight, and it wasn't worth $25 on board. Their pricing is pretty foolish ($25 for an hour's worth of 4" of legroom) thus all their premium seats were empty). So they got no extra revenue and they (incrementally) alienated a full-fare frequent customer.

A different way to look at it: the $25 is the price one pays to reserve the extra legroom in advance. i.e. if it's important to you, like it is for me on the long flights, I'd pay for it. If you buy your ticket 21 days in advance for $100 and I buy mine the day of for $400, are you stealing the $300 in value? No, because you did not choose to purchase the flexibility I purchased to make last minute travel plans. And in this case, $25 would have bought me guaranteed space.

Whenever my company contemplates a policy that would make us less "friendly" to our customers, I like to compare how the new policy will stack up against our competitors. So is there any other airline out there that won't allow you to move to an exit row seat when the plane doors close and that row is empty? Even if they only offer them to their elite passengers? Have you ever been told you couldn't sit in a seat because it was only available to an elite member? Or is JetBlue the "least customer friendly" on this dimension? I'm not aware of anyone else doing this.

mgm321

United. No self upgrading to E+, including exit rows. And as a United FF I'm very happy they don't allow self upgrading to E+.

This is a very customer friendly policy for those customer who pay up for exit rows and get a free seat next to them, because the airline prevents self-upgraders.

jbsjbs

Absolutely, and I made the point in my OP that it would be an entirely different thing if my sitting down there had affected anyone who had paid for the seat. I wouldn't have moved to the row if anyone had been in the group of three seats for exactly the reason you state.

And maybe someone could argue that leaving it up to the FA discretion is too difficult, but it doesn't take a physicist to determine that the lone passenger among the block of 12 seats (me) was not impinging on the space of any paying customers.

Economy Plus is actually a cabin class on United which I'd consider to fall under the same logic as not being able to "self-upgrade" to business class just because there are seats open. An exit row is not a cabin class, but obviously it is something they're trying to squeeze some extra revenue out of.

Interestingly, on the flight the night before the FA actually got on the PA and said we were all welcome to move around and spread out, and he didn't say, "Except for the Extra Legroom seats" so it's apparently already a policy they administer arbitrarily.

mgm321

You are arguing semantics. If JB made a web page calling the seats the "Exit Row Cabin Class" would that make a difference to you? United is just being more sophisticated in its revenue squeezing model. It evolved over time and started out pretty similar to what JB has now: Even More Legroom

audio-nut

What fare classes book into that class? United can call it whatever they want but it is not a cabin. In fact is almost the exact same thing as EML except they offer a "annual option" and move elites there for free.

UnitedEF

^^

It obviously is worth something as you left your assigned seat to get into the EML seat. It might not be worth the $25 extra to you but that is B6's decision not yours. I don't understand how people feel entitled to something that they did not pay for or earn. Sitting in a seat that you did not pay for is the same as jumping behind the counter at a butcher shop or Whole Food's and then helping yourself to a nice cut of meat and when questioned by the butcher as to what you are doing the you reply with "Nobody bought it and there is plenty of meat left so I thought I would just cut myself a nice piece." Then capping it off with a "I am a loyal customer of this store, do you know how much money I spend here?" Then again I am young so who knows what I might see in the future. I have paid for EML on 1 hour flights although I recall it being $10 and not $25. If the seat goes out empty and B6 did not get revenue from that seat, it is in their best interest to keep it empty in order to preserve some aura of exclusivity (I know B6 is an all coach airline.) When they revamp their True Blue program their elites will have complimentary access to EML I believe and if you fly enough to earn it I am sure you would not like to see someone poaching a seat in the row next to you even if it is empty or even worse when they sit in the seat next to you when they haven't earned it or paid for it and you have.

Spent_All_My_Miles

Why are we feeding the trolls?

I've said it before and it bears repeating: people shouldn't be allowed to post until they have a certain minimum number of posts.

rmannion

That's a pretty significant barrier to entry, unless you meant "post a thread" .

nsx

This thread asks a simple and pertinent question politely and reasonably. That's not trolling behavior. Let's be equally polite and measured with responses.

FWIW, I agree that this is JetBlue's decision to make. I could understand their going either way, but as in other areas, the decision needs to be consistently applied once it is made. Inconsistency will drive customers much more crazy than will a policy they disagree with.

Igotmybigboypantson

Yes it was the right call. It is a product that they charge for and if you don't pay for it I don't see why you feel entitled to the seat for free. If you paid to play 9 holes and the back 9 at a golf course is empty do you think you should be allowed to play it for free? What about an empty luxury suite at a hotel when you paid for a standard room?

I wouldn't pay the $25 either for a 90 minute flight but I wouldn't feel entitled to help myself either. Would you have paid $10? That is the normal fee for a BOSIAD flight, I guess you happened to book the one flight in each direction (IADBOS 304 & BOSIAD 307) that is $25.

jbsjbs

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Troll_(Internet)Take it easy, friend. It was a friendly question asking for some opinions of others. If your definition of a troll is anyone who thinks about an issue differently than you then you'd be best served by simply making your own discussion board and only allowing yourself to post. But what fun would that be? Plus, you'd never be able to start a thread (or post even) because you'd have a zero post count.

I appreciate the variety of input and thoughts on the topic. Clearly I'm in the minority of opinions of people posting here, and by virtue of the fact that nobody was spending $25 for the seats I'm in the overwhelming majority of passenger opinion as to how they price the resource.

--Jason

jbsjbs

Fair points, all. To me the distinction seems logical (and more importantly well-established throughout all our flying experience) that in multi-class or service planes that you don't move from one cabin to another, but that moving around your cabin (once everyone's found their assigned seats) has always been allowed. And even though I get exit row seats on certain airlines based on my elite status, I've never heard anyone told that they can't move to that row once we've boarded. And while I wouldn't do it myself, that's included people moving into the middle seat of my exit row when it had been blocked because I was Exec Plat.

I am, absolutely, making a distinction between "geographically distinct" forward and rear cabins of a plane, and the exit row which someone might be in front of or behind. If they're going to introduce that as a new distinction they ought to have mentioned it on the prior night's flight when they invited people to move around the cabin and spread out.

--Jason

jbsjbs

For the record, I find this the most compelling of the various analogies. It would be easy to "self-upgrade" and, in theory, no one would be affected. Good point.
Can't self-upgrade without a B&E charge.

I would have paid the $10, but I'd purchased my ticket too late (last minute trip) and wasn't able to select a seat. There was probably some means of calling in and doing it but frankly I didn't have the time. But yes, $10 seems about right for a 60~90 minute flight.

Yup, I was on 307. Impressive knowledge! So why the distinction? When I saw the $25 fee when I booked the return trip, I actually thought it was some kind of error. It was a different aircraft, but the same seat pitch as far as I can tell. Do you know why they price them differently?

--Jason