Seat reservation fees on airlines? (cost, European, flights, luggage)

[elletee]

Hi everyone,

I just booked a flight to Denmark using Norwegian air. I purchased the cheapest ticket available and as I went through the booking process, there was a $42 charge to reserve seating per flight! I skipped it, but now I'm worried about getting stuck in a crappy middle seat for 9 hours.

It looks like I may be able to reserve a seat without charge 25 hours before the flight. Has anyone else had experience with this?

I should note there is a "Fare+" option that's $50 more per ticket and it includes a hot meal and one free checked bag. This seems like a better value but that still will cost me an extra $100 for the trip (also, I will not be checking luggage and I can bring my own food on the flights). Ridiculous!

[StealthRabbit]

Originally Posted by elletee

Hi everyone,

I just booked a flight to Denmark using Norwegian air. I purchased the cheapest ticket available and as I went through the booking process, there was a $42 charge to reserve seating per flight! I skipped it, but now I'm worried about getting stuck in a crappy middle seat for 9 hours.

It looks like I may be able to reserve a seat without charge 25 hours before the flight. Has anyone else had experience with this?
...!

I travel internationally all the time (usually to Asia /... 12+ hr flights)

I rarely get stuck in a center seat, but it does happen (I travel 'budget') More people are paying the extra $$ for early boarding and seat selections. If sitting in the middle is gonna bug you... pay -up! and hope you don't have a USA behemoth sitting next to you. Happens all the time...

[beachmouse]

It's common on a lot of European legacy carriers now too, so it's not just a LCC thing over there.

[keraT]

I have gotten stuck in middle seat often, someone has to get that seat & I don't mind it too much. I am tiny person so it still leaves me with lot of space. I don't know about EU flights except for JetBlue where seating is first come first serve. In Spirit airline in USA we have similar deal of paying for seat or wait to be given a seat at gate.

I learned my lesson to pay for seat with Spirit because one time they had to downsize the plane due to issue & those of us "waiting for seat assignment" never got any seat.

[annerk]

Originally Posted by keraT

I have gotten stuck in middle seat often, someone has to get that seat & I don't mind it too much. I am tiny person so it still leaves me with lot of space. I don't know about EU flights except for JetBlue where seating is first come first serve. In Spirit airline in USA we have similar deal of paying for seat or wait to be given a seat at gate.

I learned my lesson to pay for seat with Spirit because one time they had to downsize the plane due to issue & those of us "waiting for seat assignment" never got any seat.

Jet Blue has assigned seats, and it's a US carrier, not Euro. Maybe you're thinking of a different carrier?

[prospectheightsresident]

I flew Norwegian to London in January. I also went with the low fare option. While I had an aisle seat on the flight (note, I flew to Oslo first), I had a middle seat on the flight back home. But, believe it or not, it wasn't that bad. This is so because I flew on a Dreamliner, which had a bendable head/back rest that allowed me to rest my head to the side without leaning over into someone else's seat.

[annerk]

Originally Posted by prospectheightsresident

I flew Norwegian to London in January. I also went with the low fare option. While I had an aisle seat on the flight (note, I flew to Oslo first), I had a middle seat on the flight back home. But, believe it or not, it wasn't that bad. This is so because I flew on a Dreamliner, which had a bendable head/back rest that allowed me to rest my head to the side without leaning over into someone else's seat.

FYI--Dreamliner seating is not standard. The carrier chooses the body and then the seats from a different vendor. The headrest style is carrier specific, not metal specific.