Alaska Airlines is going to add extra legroom seat options for a fee in economy during the first half of 2015.
Per Alaska’s vice president and chief information officer:
Extra legroom can make economy bearable especially on the longer flights they run cross country. Presumably these seats will be confirmable at no charge at least for MVP Gold members.
Brian Sumers reports that they are not adding extra legroom seats as I first imagined.
Rather they’re charging more for exit row and bulkhead seats that have more legroom. Here’s the pricing:
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TAM charges extra for bulkheads and exit row seats. And even elites have to pay for those seats!
This could cause the end of the MCE seating option for AS elites on AA where the extra legroom is really needed on the long haul flighta Alaska doesn’t have
The title should be “Alaska Adds an Extra Legroom Fee” since there will be no change to the seating.
They need to add extra legroom seats not just fees for seat guru finds.
I thoroughly enjoyed my recent FLL–>SEA flight on Alaska, with the power plug-ins available. I had a 4-USB-hub charger with me, plugged it into the AC/DC outlet and was able to power a Windows laptop, an iPad, and my laptop for the entire 6-hr flight without any fear of dead batteries. (Yes, I use multiple devices simultaneously as part of my job.) Dunno what type of aircraft that is, but I’ve ridden on it twice now & love it. Thankyou Alaska! I rode United the other way, and frankly United was sub-par compared to Alaska, in every respect.
AS confirmed that no charge for Elites. Sounds as if any one currently eligible for preferred seats will still get them for no charge. None elites will not be able to book them until check in. Those with no status who were given them for free will be charged unless there are no other seats left. I assume 6DF will be designated handicapped seats
This is not great news for AS or AA elites. It’s already hard to get row 6 or any exit row, even middle, on certain AS flights a month out (SEA-ATL, for instance).
When I read the headline, I was excited that AS would be increasing the number of extra legroom seats on the aircraft, making them a little easier to get, and justifying it by the upsell revenue.
Instead they have decided to monetize the existing 18 seats in row 6 (bulkhead) and the 2 exit rows on the 738 and 739 aircraft. It’s not really much of a move, nor an improvement.