Every morning the Honeymoon Guru reads through an email he gets from the ASTA called smart briefs which covers 4 or 5 updates on the travel industry. In today’s edition, there was a brief article about American Airlines starting to charge for premium seats in coach which include bulk head rows and the front and second row of coach. Prices will start at $19 and you are offered this at the airport at the Kiosk desk when you check in to print your boarding pass. At first, I thought, “oh lord” another fee along with baggage, what next and how more agitated would my honeymoon and destination wedding clients be. However, the more I thought about it not merely from a honeymoon travel agent specialist, but as a consumer myself, I really like the idea and here is why.
Everytime the Honeymoon Guru flies for business or pleasure, I try my best to get either an exit row seat or bulkhead due to the extra leg room and the extra room it provides. Most of the time I am able to get it, but sometimes I don’t and feel terrible for the next 3 hour or so long flight feeling compacted and having my knees hurt. So, to really see if this is a good deal for future travel I did an experiment this morning. I am going to Hawaii in September to update myself on properties and have a few days of relaxation and I am flying coach of course and I got a great deal on the flight about 4 months ago with American. So I called this morning to see if I could upgrade to first class or business and how much that would be. Well as I figured, it was almost an additional $1,000 for me to upgrade to first class. On the flipside, this new premium coach seat charge is only going to be about an additional $120 roundtrip for me to get a bulkhead seat for a 8.5 hour flight and I get a modified perk to say of being in first class and being able to board early etc. In my mind, this is pretty good and definitely something I think each and everyone of my clients who are flying American should consider, especially for a long flight.
Let me know your thoughts. I have included the brief article below as well from Business Travel News.
American To Upsell Premium Coach Seats At Checkin Kiosks
August 18, 2010, 1:15 PMBy Jay Boehmer
American Airlines on Wednesday said it would begin selling some premium coach seats through its airport checkin kiosks, with pricing starting at an additional $19, based on length of haul.
American said the new Express Seat offering, part of its Your Choice suite of a la carte services, would allow passengers for a fee to reserve seats in the first few rows of the coach cabin, including bulkhead seats, while also allowing those who purchase the option to be among the first group to board.
American, however, said it still would allow its passengers to “pre-reserve other seats in the coach cabin at no charge,” while elite members of its AAdvantage program still would have access to coach seats not covered by the Express Seats offering.
Introductory pricing shared by American ranges from an additional $19 per leg for a short-haul flight from St. Louis to Chicago and up to $39 for such long-haul flights as New York to Los Angeles.
