US Airways beginning May 7 will charge customers at least $5 per leg for window and aisle seat assignments "in the first several rows of the coach cabin," but said it would offer them free of charge to its elite frequent flyer members, who "also have exclusive access to exit row seats."
Others, though, would have to pay for the assignments exclusively through online checkin, as they are not available at the time of booking or via the carrier's airport checkin kiosks. US Airways on its Web site said, "Choice Seats will be assigned free of charge at the airport if no other seat assignments are available."
US Airways said the Choice Seats comprise about 8 percent of coach seating, as "the remaining 92 percent are assigned free of charge any time after purchasing a reservation." That carrier said the policy would not affect its shuttle flights or those operated on Saab 340 aircraft.
Northwest Airlines in 2006 launched an "open-ended" test to see if travelers would pay a premium for reserved aisle, window and exit row seats in the United States
(BTNonline, April 3, 2006). The carrier since has expanded the program to international routes, charging up to $50 for transpacific and some transatlantic flights, though the domestic charge ranges from $5 to $35. Northwest on its Web site says the Coach Choice assignments are available on about 5 percent of its inventory.
Many carriers have sought out new forms of revenue by unbundling services that once were included in the price of a ticket, from checking a second piece of luggage to providing inflight meals, among many others.
"I've got to believe they're scraping the bottom of the barrel already," Bob Brindley, vice president of the Americas for Advito, BCD Travel's consulting division, said this week prior to US Airways' announcement. "I've seen a couple of comedy sketches where they charge for extra oxygen on the airplane, so you can take this to the absurd. They'll keep looking and pushing the envelope."