An American Airlines passenger was shocked to find that all possible seat assignments on the plane came with an extra charge. The good seats were already gone, and he shares a screenshot where middle seats in the back are being offered for sale. A middle seat in the very last row of coach by the bathrooms was an extra $30.
This is almost certainly a Basic Economy ticket, where seats are assigned free at check-in but if you want a seat in advance that comes with a fee. For ‘regular’ tickets there are usually at least some free seats available for assignment, although ‘better’ seats come with an extra charge.
But the idea of paying extra for the worst seat on the plane seems strange! Why wouldn’t you just wait for check-in. You will probably get something better, and if not you’re at least saving $30.
I’d think of this $30 ‘worst seat’ option as just a hedge against being involuntarily denied boarding or ‘bumped’ – since those without advance seat assignments on an oversold flight are only going to get on if somebody doesn’t show up or volunteers to take a voucher for future travel to get off the flight.
And American Airlines leads the industry in involuntary denied boardings! Avoiding this is the only reason to pay extra for a solo middle seat in the last row of the aircraft that I can think of. It’s not as though there were even two seats available in the last row open and for sale, so that passengers traveling together might want to pay extra to sit together.
It seems pretty devious on American’s part to monetize their own anti-consumer practices:
Oh yes, I would like to pay $30 to purchase the worst seat on the plane, how’d you know? @AmericanAir pic.twitter.com/xoya0pkBtG
— Colonel Mongke (@colonelmongke) May 28, 2026
Paying $30 for 33E isn’t statistically worth it for bump protection, but it still seems to be monetizing the anxiety created by their own fare segmentation and seat assignment uncertainty. And I wouldn’t pay because you’re then spending more to be locked into the worse seat on the plane, versus waiting and possibly getting a better seat than this for free.
While American Airlines is responsible for about 60% of all denied boardings in the industry, and thousands more than the next highest level for another airline, Frontier is actually statistically more likely to refuse transportation due to oversales.
| Marketing carrier | Voluntary denied boardings | Involuntary denied boardings | Enplaned passengers | IDB rate per 10,000 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Delta Air Lines Network | 126,601 | 0 | 186,658,127 | 0.00 |
| Southwest | 10,920 | 226 | 167,838,531 | 0.01 |
| United Network | 48,266 | 309 | 161,234,617 | 0.02 |
| JetBlue | 3,381 | 195 | 33,869,766 | 0.06 |
| Alaska Network | 14,010 | 382 | 44,992,323 | 0.08 |
| Spirit | 8,056 | 596 | 30,019,972 | 0.20 |
| American Airlines Network | 75,517 | 14,758 | 204,556,096 | 0.72 |
| Frontier | 2,296 | 8,087 | 32,269,775 | 2.51 |
| All reporting carriers | 290,413 | 24,596 | 891,239,459 | 0.28 |
The reason for this is simple: American won’t pay as much to passengers to voluntarily give up their seats when they overbook, preferring to pay out the required minimum compensation to customers rather than ensure everyone gets made whole the way we usually see with Delta.
Generally having a seat assignment protects you from being bumped, unless there’s an aircraft swap that forces a change to seat assignments.
The other (to some degree) protected classes are passengers in need of special assistance; unaccompanied minors; those with elite status; customers in paid premium cabins; and as a weak tie-breaker those who checked in earlier.
And involuntarily denied boardings are rare enough that if you’re sufficiently price sensitive to be buying basic economy you aren’t likely to want to pay extra for the middle seat in the last row of coach just to reduce your chances of this even further – although there could be edge cases.
I’ve seen standard economy fares priced more than $400 over basic economy, and if you are an absolute must travel passenger and your bet is that the flight will be at least 100% full, the margin at which you’d pay is based on the consequence of being bumped and missing being on that specific flight (although you still have flight cancellation and delay risk).
What I don’t love about this option is that when American sells the last row middle seat with limited or no recline for $30, it is monetizing the fear that the airline won’t deliver what they sold you, and monetizing the fact that they fail at this more than other airlines.
Airlines are all using rules no one knows about to screw over all passengers! U can go down the list of add on fees for everything that use to be free! Splitting fares on round trips to charge more! All luggage comes at a cost! All types of seats, even the worst is not including in the exorbitant prices u already pay!
Pretty soon to use the bathroom
As with many things, flying “the worst seat on the plane” isn’t so bad after doing it a few times (when you have to book flights at the last minute, it comes with the territory).
What I find interesting in that table is actually Frontier. They have 3.5 times more involuntary denials than voluntary (!!!!!), and a rate that is much higher than everyone else, including American.
@Thing 1 – They’re following straight economic logic, probably. IDB is legally capped at something like 4x the fare. When they sell $50 tickets, that’s probably the cheapest solution if no one volunteers for a $200 voucher.
Just looked at a reservation that was made for me on Air Canada and they wanted $88 CAD to choose an economy seat before check-in, $130 for a better one. Of course I refused and will take my chances. But this could be the start of a nickel and diming trend. Incidentally AC also only is giving 1 bag free on a Trans-Atlantic flight. Greedy. I’ll try not to use them again.
When does.this charge become false advertising?