For a Fee, American Will Get You Off and On the Plane Quickly
Posted by: Justin Bachman on August 18, 2010
The airline industry love affair with optional fees continues. American Airlines on Wednesday began selling “Express Seats” for domestic coach travelers. The idea is that you’ll pay extra for the seat because you get to board with the first group when general boarding commences. That means you get first dibs on the overhead bins and, as American put it in a news release, “the convenience of being among the first Coach customers on and off the plane.”
This option’s cost will vary by flight distance, starting at $19 for short flights and $39 for cross-country. Prices are subject to change depending on the market’s acceptance, spokesmen for American said. This effort seems clearly targeted at busy business travelers, the kind who can expense the fee.
The "Express Seats" fee matches a gambit US Airways started in 2008 with its "Choice Seats" fee. That program, however, puts you in the second boarding group after you've paid the fee.
To my mind, these types of fees are a bit audacious and further the public's view that every tiny aspect of negotiating air travel now requires a fee. One is not scrambling to snag an aisle or window seat, as Southwest customers often do. You already have your assigned seat on both American and US Airways when you board. Express Seats just moves you closer to the aircraft door. This is also not about extra legroom for certain seats, as you will find on United and JetBlue. (Continental also now charges for the extra space in exit rows.) American's seats in the first few rows of coach, where Express Seats customers will sit, have the same legroom as those in back. Extra space a la carte is an obvious added benefit. In a 2009 online survey by SeatGuru that involved some 1,600 travelers, 42% of fliers said they'd pay as much as 10% above their ticket cost for extra legroom.
Given the rise of checked baggage fees, being among the first on a plane has become a competitive sport: Your bag needs that bin. American's program seems to acknowledge this. Many travelers do not check luggage precisely to escape the fee incurred when you do. For American and US Airways, it's an ingenious scheme - pay if you check, pay if you don't. "In some way, they're going to get you for the luggage," says Matt Daimler, a frequent traveler and SeatGuru's founder.
