Emirates to begin charging for seat assignments

[Diplomatico]

"..... it has just been announced that Emirates will begin charging for seat assignments on many economy fares as of October 3, 2016. The new charge will apply for Economy Special and Economy Saver fares, though it won’t apply for Economy Flex, Economy Flex Plus, Business Class, and First Class fares."

 

Cost depends upon how long the sector is and:

 

"So for a roundtrip you’re looking at anywhere between 30USD and 80USD, or for a trip with a connection in each direction, you’re looking at 60USD to 160USD. That’s not an insignificant amount, especially when you consider that you’re not even getting a better seat than you’d otherwise have access to, but rather just have first dibs at reserving one."

 

http://onemileatatime.boardingarea.com/2016/09/16/emirates-seat-assignment-charge/

[Xircal]

Greedy buggers.

[tifino]

Qantas have been doing it for years. Any International leg is about $25, so for a multiple leg flight, it gets quite expensive. 

 

BA also do it, and more expensive

[Xircal]

I would imagine that pax can still select a seat during online check-in which is usually 48 hrs prior to departure.

 

Most people I know use that option.

[JaiLai]

1 hour ago, Xircal said:

I would imagine that pax can still select a seat during online check-in which is usually 48 hrs prior to departure.

 

Most people I know use that option.

All the good seats on emirates are long gone 48 hours before most of their flights.

[JB300]

Qantas have been doing it for years. Any International leg is about $25, so for a multiple leg flight, it gets quite expensive. 

 

BA also do it, and more expensive

IIRC, BA charged me £90 x 2 pax each way (total £360) when I booked my parents seats Manchester to Las Vegas (mum frets about these things so have to book seats with the tickets) which p1ssed me off no end as I was already paying for Premium Economy!

Worked out well though, they got bumped to business class on the way out (should have tried to get the seat reservation fee back!)


Seem to remember also paying s$90 to book an exit row seat on Singapore Air (think it was Dubai to Singapore), which I didn't end up using as there was a row of 4 empty seats behind me so went to sleep on those (wasn't happy when I woke up & some guy was in my reserved seat, should have asked him for my money back!)

Greedy Buggers the lot of them, but I still pay for the extra legroom (today it's s$30 extra on Jetstar Sin-BKK) as my comfort is worth a few quid to me...

[Bugsy1966]

Quote

5 hours ago, JaiLai said:

All the good seats on emirates are long gone 48 hours before most of their flights.

 

 

True, but that is highly likely to change now that people will have to pay for them. You might have to be a bit nimble at the 48 hour mark but I suspect that availability will be at least reasonable on most flights once the new rules come into play.

[Xircal]

15 hours ago, JaiLai said:

All the good seats on emirates are long gone 48 hours before most of their flights.

 

I've flown Emirates many times and have always found plenty of seats available on their A380.

 

 

[Maybole]

I have flown Emirates several times. their fares are good value considering that they do fly to airports considered by other carriers to be out of the way. I have always checked in on line as soon as the check in is open, BUT on opening the check in I find that 2/3 of the seeats are already spoken for. WHY ?

[mogandave]

I always book my seat when I make the reservation, and I'm guessing most people do.

[Chivas]

9 hours ago, Maybole said:

I have flown Emirates several times. their fares are good value considering that they do fly to airports considered by other carriers to be out of the way. I have always checked in on line as soon as the check in is open, BUT on opening the check in I find that 2/3 of the seeats are already spoken for. WHY ?

 

Multiple seats always blocked off. Same Oman, Qatar, Etihad everytime. Some wont be blocked and already allocated to people booking on airlines own website and selecting seats same time

Recently on Qatar upstairs economy completely blocked off only available at check in on the day

[luap]

just checked Emirates, flight Sydney to BBK,  Nov 16 to Dec 16 for a friend

 

quote

 

"As soon as you’ve booked your flight, you can choose your seats online for all flights operated by Emirates at no extra charge.

Whether you prefer a window seat or an aisle seat, or if you’re travelling in a group and would like to sit together, you can select your seat in Manage a booking, or at check-in."
 

 

 

[Bung]

That's a shame as it was one of the things that drew me to default to emirates when looking at flights.  I like to secure a window seat so not to be disturbed on very long haul flights (chiang mai-Caribbean) 

[luap]

Additional info

 

SYD - BKK was economy saver

BKK - SYD was economy flexi

 

usually these flights use 777 now Airbus A380 - 800

[Diplomatico]

5 hours ago, luap said:

just checked Emirates, flight Sydney to BBK,  Nov 16 to Dec 16 for a friend

 

quote

 

"As soon as you’ve booked your flight, you can choose your seats online for all flights operated by Emirates at no extra charge.

Whether you prefer a window seat or an aisle seat, or if you’re travelling in a group and would like to sit together, you can select your seat in Manage a booking, or at check-in."
 

 

 

 

  The charges for the seat assignments begin on 3 October.  If you book prior to that, no charge - which is why you saw that message when looking for flights now.

[luap]

okie dokie that makes sense ... cheers

[OMGImInPattaya]

This new charge only applies to economy class tickets in the cheapest fare buckets. If you buy refundable tickets, you can still select a seat at booking.

[stevenl]

On 9/17/2016 at 2:53 AM, JaiLai said:

All the good seats on emirates are long gone 48 hours before most of their flights.

Also when people have to pay an extra 25-40 US$ for that? I doubt it.

[JaiLai]

5 hours ago, stevenl said:

Also when people have to pay an extra 25-40 US$ for that? I doubt it.

Yeah, i also doubt it....