British Airways - "Enhanced Seating Policy" a Slippery Slope

British Airways announced this week that an "enhanced seating policy" would be introduced from 7 October 2009. The PR spin sounds nice until you get to this on the BA website...

"Customers can choose seats from the time they book up to 24 hours in advance of travel at the following costs:
- Euro Traveller (economy in Europe) and Domestic flights will pay £10 per
person per sector
- Club Europe (business class in Europe), World Traveller, and World
Traveller Plus (economy and premium economy long haul) passengers
will pay £20 per person per sector
- Club World (business class long haul) passengers will pay £60 per
person per sector
- First passengers can choose their seat free of charge at any time"

Hmmmm. While BA made a net loss of £358 million in the last financial year and net loss of £106 million for the quarter ended 30 June 2009, this is probably not the best way to go about stopping the financial haemorrhage. I can't see many customers opting to pay £10 in advance just to select a seat in economy class on a short-haul flight. As for a £60 premium on a business class seat? It seems a bit Scrooge-like after the customer has alright forked out a substantial sum just to secure a ticket for the flight.

The nickel and diming is likely to be welcomed by competitors, such as Virgin Atlantic, more than anything. Even penny-pinching Aer Lingus doesn't charge for seat selection on long-haul flights. Yet!

I expect to see a follow-up announcement from BA in the not too distant future. Ryanairisation of BA will only be accepted by their customer base up to a point.

Aer Lingus EI-EDS - St Malachy Turns in his Grave

According to the ever-reliable Wikipedia, "Saint Malachy's Church, Belfast was intended to be the Cathedral Church of Down and Connor dedicated in honour of the Diocesan Patron. However, the Irish Famine broke out and the grand plans for the Saint Malachy's Cathedral were shelved in order to divert funds to the needy." Bummer. Instead, the guy got an Aer Lingus aircraft named after him. Step forward EI-EDS. I'm sure it's what he would have wanted, even if the Wright Brothers flew 755 years after Mal's death.

While EI-EDS may look like a regular Aer Lingus A320 from the outside, it's a tall person's nightmare come true in the inside. I had the misfortune of flying this aircraft for the first time on Sunday from Dusseldorf to Dublin. EI-DVT would probably be a better registration for this aircraft due to the lack of legroom on it.

Some research has shown that this aircraft was originally destined for Iberia and then Comoro Islands Airlines. In the end, neither took delivery of the aircraft from Airbus and it eventually ended up with Aer Lingus who wanted the extra capacity to launch flights from their new Gatwick base. As a result, the aircraft's cabin configuration makes it an oddball compared to the fleet's other A320s. Rows 1-7 have additional legroom as this is where Iberia's business class was destined to be. Rows 8 onwards are a train wreck more befitting of a charter airline. Yep, I was down somewhere in the 20s cursing all the way to Dublin. And that's with the seat beside me vacant!

So what am I trying to say? If you're flying to somewhere like Athens or the Canary Islands, you have a boarding card for a seat in a row higher than 7, you are taller than Danny DeVito and you see EI-EDS (or sistership EI-EDP) as the one operating your flight - just do a u-turn! I'm sure Mal will understand.