NOLAnwGOLD

From Business Travel News:

Northwest Mulls Coach Choice Expansion
Northwest Airlines is considering expanding its Coach Choice offering, which allows passengers to pay a fee at checkin to reserve specific seats, to transpacific and transatlantic routes, the carrier said on its Web site. "Coach Choice seats are available on all flights throughout the U.S., Canada, Mexico and the Caribbean, except those operated by select regional jet aircraft," Northwest noted on its Web site. Under the terms of the program in North America, travelers pay $15 per flight to "confirm reserved exit, aisle and window seats." The Coach Choice offering applies to about 5 percent of Northwest domestic seat assignments. The carrier launched the program in March 2006 (BTN, April 3), targeting late-booking business travelers. According to a Maritz poll of more than 1,000 travelers, 63 percent said they'd be willing to pay for extra legroom.

http://www.btnmag.com/businesstravel..._id=1003608314

party_boy

Who is the idiot in this marketing department? Do they ever learn? BUSINESS travelers???? Sure, 63% would be willing to pay $15 bucks for a seat of their choice. The other 37% (of which the bulk likely falls into the 30/70% rule) would rather just bail to another airline!

itsaboutthejourney

Up until now I've ignored the CoachChoice hoopla as a nonissue since I've flown in Y maybe 2x in the past 5 years on NW domestic. However, if they start to mess with my access to the P Y seats on the A330 i'm paying attention!

KtownTraveler

Are they really going to start this flap again? It's the one issue that prompted me to move some of my business to AA last year. If they now screw around with elite access to the good TATL Y seats, I'm afraid I'll reach my breaking point w/ NW.

thezipper

mmm do i need to dig up the e-mail address so you can "address" your comments to the right individuals

BondAir007

I am gonna be watching this like a hawk. I really don't like the idea expanding the coach choice to international flights.

Now if NWA can let me know in advance if there is gonna be a crying baby sitting next to me...I might want a refund.

-BondAir

humanoid94

I would hope nothing would happen to our beloved 10AB, HJ and 29AB, HJ on the 330. If they do mess with those, I hope that they are prepared for another round of the coachchoice unpleasantness.

florin

I think this is connected to KLM's SeatChoice program. (S**tChoice) KL did it the other way around. They started with some long haul flights and are expanding it to most long haul flights, and probably at some point to all the flights. More info in THIS thread.

Having said that, I TOTALLY disagree with the said expansion of CoachChoice! They're trying to milk some revenue at the expense of losing customers. After all, it's usually the Elites sitting in the P seats and now they want to take away this benefit from us and sell those seats for cash. I will not hesitate to switch all my TATL travel to AF (and beyond), where I can still get a good seat ahead of time as a ST Elite.

It's a good thing at this point they are CONSIDERING expanding CoachChoice. I hope they come to their senses.


Boooooooooo, NW!

SchmutzigMSP

Take a breath.

Now that you have, realize that they appear to only be considering it. No doubt they will address the same concerns that elites had with the initial CoachChoice launch, if not even further with the int'l flights than domestic. No one has any information that they're going to put our precious 10/29 seats in the CC inventory, or really any other "P" seats either. It may just be random row 35 windows/aisles and perhaps some of the non-reclining exit row seats or something. We don't know and they haven't said.

Like it or not, CoachChoice has been a pretty solid revenue generator for NW, something that cost them almost nil to implement. As an elite, I've never been burdened by the CoachChoice seats after they fixed the initial problems with them. There's always been a better seat available at the time of booking, and on the few occasions where there was not, I was able to select them at no cost 24 hours out.

I'd give this one a little room before jumping all over it. We know how quickly they responded with the complaints en masse last time, so if something isn't fair to the elites, their track record shows they do listen and are willing to make modifications.

humanoid94

All I am concerned about is 10AB, HJ and 29 AB, HJ. If NW wants to try to sell some of the aisle P seats other than the "8 good seats" on the 330, I couldn't care less assuming that elites can grab them at 24 hours out for no fee.

wboll

The marketing people are morons. I wonder if they measured the revenue they lost when they first implemented this program. I switched most of my flights to AA when that happened. Do they want me to switch my remaining flights as well?

KtownTraveler

I'm with humanoid re the 8 good seats on the 333. Ditto the 4 good seats on the 332 (29 AB HJ). I spend almost all my time on K/T fares on CRJ 200s and A330s. No upgrades. Not even the 1k bonuses. Yet I've stayed with NW. These seats are the most tangible perks for those with my travel patterns. Taking them away or making them a PITA to secure will be a huge negative for those like me.

DanTravels

How can 29 be good? AC power only goes back to 28!

respectable_man

I have also the same pattern, and I second that position. Access to premium seats on TATL flights is one of the major factors that keeps me coming back.

(I'll also bet they're considering charging much more than $15.)

SchmutzigMSP

Morons? That's a bit harsh.

As I stated earlier, CC has provided NW with a sizable increase in revenue with basically little infrastructure expense. Seems like they could afford to lose a few fence-sitters such as yourself with the increased revenue they have gained because of the program, all the while having it not affect its elite members for the most part.