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Airline seating is a complex system of cabins, preferred seats, elite benefit entitlements, and pricing. Whereas there used to be First Class and Economy, there are now upcharges for seats with extra legroom, emergency exit rows, slightly differentiated cabins (like Delta’s Comfort+), and more. A passenger took to X to vent about his frustration with a United Airlines flight attendant enforcing the rules. I’m happy to hear this and say to the man “if you want a better seat, get out your wallet.”
@united insisting people either pay for upgrades or stay packed in like sardines on flights with plenty of open seats is poor customer service. pic.twitter.com/MoRW9PD5US
— Ben Houg (@benhoug) November 25, 2024
Airlines are for-profit businesses and there should be premiums on better seating and amenities. I completely disagree with @benhoug on his statement above. Anyone can purchase an Economy Plus or First Class seat. Even if the cabin has zero passengers, these should be sold (or appropriated to folks that qualify for an upgrade based on carrier-provided benefits to elite members).
They made an announcement saying “if you wanted to move seats, have your payment method handy.”
— Ben Houg (@benhoug) November 25, 2024
He continued with another post and I am happy to hear that the flight attendant was doing their job and enforcing this policy. It’s only fair to those who paid or earned the right to sit there as a benefit.
The customers who choose to pay for Economy Plus are then afforded that extra space. If you were to purchase a Toyota, you would not be able to drive off with a Lexus, because it was empty. ^BA
— United Airlines (@united) September 7, 2019
United agrees and has called this out to other customers that have complained via X.
Anthony’s Take: If no one paid the upcharges for seats and cabins, the airlines would be in terrible financial shape. It’s only fair that you get what you pay for or earn by being a loyal elite member to an airline. If everything was open, you’d see more of the problems plaguing Southwest (even it’s changing the model to match other carriers). Kudos to this flight attendant.
(H/T: View from the Wing.)
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Advertiser & Editorial Disclosure: The Bulkhead Seat earns an affiliate commission for anyone approved through the links above This compensation may impact how and where links appear on this site. We work to provide the best publicly available offers to our readers. We frequently update them, but this site does not include all available offers. Opinions, reviews, analyses & recommendations are the author’s alone, and have not been reviewed, endorsed, or approved by any of these entities.
