BA to charge for seat allocation.

[Ash W]

Heard on the radio this morning (in London) that BA is going to start charging between 10 and 60 od GBP for advance seat selection. Also reported on the BBC news and elsewhere

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk_news/8274200.stm

Passengers travelling together will have to pay to ensure they are seated next to each other. To me this is nothing short of extortion. They are doing it to bolster their bottom line to the financial crisis, but you have to ask why not factor these losses into the price of a ticket rather than adding another hidden charge.

At least Qantas are only charging for selection of the exit row, which is kind of understandable in some ways.

The way BA is going they are not going to be any different to the likes of Sleazyjet or Ryanair before too long. Soon they won't be offering full service on their short haul flights and they have quite a small baggage allowance. The only thing they have going for them is access to T5 at Heathrow.