Windowplease From United Kingdom, joined May 2007, 72 posts, RR: 0 Posted (6 years 3 weeks 3 days 17 hours ago) and read 3851 times:
I love being able to see which seats are available before I choose a particular flight or carrier. I know AA, DL, US and CO let you see seat maps on their web sites before you commit to buying. But no Euro or Asian carriers seem to offer this feature. Am I wrong? Which other airlines let you see if the crucial window seat is free?
Jetdeltamsy From United States of America, joined Nov 2000, 2984 posts, RR: 8 Reply 6, posted (6 years 3 weeks 3 days 16 hours ago) and read 3746 times:
Advance seat selection is for the most part an American (USA) thing.
Most foreign airlines do not allow advance seat selection on flight that do not originate or terminate in the US.
Advance seat selection is very problematic in a number of ways. Its expensive for airlines to offer this service and most do not..unless, like i siad, the flight takes off or lands in the USA. Foreign airlines general do offer it on their USA flights only to be competitive with US carriers that do.
Worked for too many airlines to list. Banktupcy after bankruptcy after bankruptcy.
Analog From United States of America, joined Jul 2006, 1900 posts, RR: 1 Reply 7, posted (6 years 3 weeks 3 days 13 hours ago) and read 3609 times:
Quoting Jetdeltamsy (Reply 6): Its expensive for airlines to offer this service and most do not..unless, like i siad, the flight takes off or lands in the USA.
What are the reasons for the extra expense?
I can see the cost of phone reps for pax who call to select seats, but aren't the major GDS systems (SABRE, etc.) already capable of doing advance seat selection online? What extra cost is involved in allowing pax to select seats online using such capabilities (other than a small amount of coding to add the capability to the airline's web site)? Is the ability to pre-select seats an extra cost option for the GDS systems?
Of course the airline typically can't guarantee such seat assignments, as checkin agents might have to move pax to seat families together, etc.
UAL747 From , joined Dec 1969, posts, RR: Reply 8, posted (6 years 3 weeks 3 days 13 hours ago) and read 3575 times:
The system can be problematic itself at times as well, from a pax standpoint. Say you are flying on an Ultra-Long Haul trip and that aircraft has to go out weight ristricted. When you book online, you will notice that some seats have been blocked out, or rather, they look as though they have already been booked, only to find that these seats open up when you go to the airport. Or there are cases when US airlines block out seats and do not assign your seat until your day of departure. This happened to me once on CO from CDG-IAH. I prefer window seats and cannot imagine what it would be like to be in the middle of that big aircraft with two people beside me and no view. So I showed up extra early to CDG (which wasn't a problem as I got to do some spotting), and I got a seat at the very front of the aircraft by the window.
Jetdeltamsy From United States of America, joined Nov 2000, 2984 posts, RR: 8 Reply 9, posted (6 years 3 weeks 2 days 18 hours ago) and read 3400 times:
Quoting Analog (Reply 7): Quoting Jetdeltamsy (Reply 6):
Its expensive for airlines to offer this service and most do not..unless, like i siad, the flight takes off or lands in the USA.
What are the reasons for the extra expense?
There are several.
It WAS expensive to develop programs that handled the PRS. It costs the airlines in terms of manpower when it comes to reassigning, releasing unclaimed and assigning unclaimed seats at the last minute to oversold and standby passengers. This releasing and reassigning of seats can be so time consuming that it creates departure delays..which costs money.
Look at Southwest. They don't do it because it's cheaper for them not to.
Worked for too many airlines to list. Banktupcy after bankruptcy after bankruptcy.
Analog From United States of America, joined Jul 2006, 1900 posts, RR: 1 Reply 10, posted (6 years 3 weeks 2 days 2 hours ago) and read 3359 times:
Quoting Jetdeltamsy (Reply 9):
Look at Southwest. They don't do it because it's cheaper for them not to.
I thought that was more about the boarding process than anything else. Besides, they don't assign seats at all.
Quoting Jetdeltamsy (Reply 9): It costs the airlines in terms of manpower when it comes to reassigning, releasing unclaimed and assigning unclaimed seats at the last minute to oversold and standby passengers. This releasing and reassigning of seats can be so time consuming that it creates departure delays..which costs money.
The releasing of seats must be automated; once a pax is off the flight the seat is released, right? Additionally, can't the last minute seat assignments be automated: "you get what you get." Flying standby it's nice to get a choice seat (thanks CO for my pair of exit seats last time... pretty sweet for standby on a full flight), but certainly not expected.
However, I see your point. Pax do crowd the gate for this kind of thing; many never passively accept what the "computer" gives them (guilty as charged).
JGPH1A From , joined Dec 1969, posts, RR: Reply 11, posted (6 years 3 weeks 2 days ago) and read 3340 times:
Quoting Jetdeltamsy (Reply 9): It WAS expensive to develop programs that handled the PRS. It costs the airlines in terms of manpower when it comes to reassigning, releasing unclaimed and assigning unclaimed seats at the last minute to oversold and standby passengers. This releasing and reassigning of seats can be so time consuming that it creates departure delays..which costs money.
It was expensive 15 years ago to develop ASR, but nowadays it should form part of basic functionality of any airline res systems. A lot depends on how antiquated and crap the airline's res system is - any reasonably modern system can automatically control allocation of seats by percentage of cabin, by selling class, by frequent flyer tier level etc, and maintain synchronisation with DCS up till flight departure, removing the need to manually update the seatmap at the airport.
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