Got a few text messages this morning, from my Grannie no less (spell it with an ‘ie’ to keep that hip factor) who found a Ken McGuire quoted in the Irish Times yesterday in Conor Pope’s column which looked at the new seat charges being implemented by Aer Lingus.
My comment in full, which was on the original blog post here, was
Thats a bit of a pain. They’re standing there in the airport (were Saturday in Dublin and today in Amsterdam) actively encouraging you to change seats. As it was, the seats I had booked for the flight home didn’t seem to be available and we were seated towards the rear of the plane.
The baggage charge is a joke. It won’t be long before you’re able to buy clothes in your destination city and post them home when you’re leaving for less than the charge on the bags…
But charging for a window seat? Gimme a break…
The comment itself was posted a few hours after I landed back from Amsterdam last Tuesday night. Its been a while since I flew out of Dublin, or flew in general – my trip to Toronto being my first flight in around a decade – had always done the ferry / camper / ferry / car thing. There are the airport are these most handy self check-in kiosks, a quick scan of your passport and your flight number is called up along with all your details, seating, baggage etc.
On the way out it was a breeze, the seats we reserved online were there, seated exactly where they should be (two aisle seats, two center seats), but on the way home when we checked in at the KLM desk, this wasn’t the case. We had intentionally reserved the seats to the front of the plane (preference of the more regular fliers in the group) but yet going to check in we were seated a further 20 rows back with one person split from the group – nothing at all what we had booked and confirmed online (with a seating confirmation email which followed).
Whats the point in booking your seats on a plane if you can’t get the seats you booked in the first place, and now, if you want to change your seat you’re going to have to pay for it? After losing the seat you booked and confirmed in the first place?
Pah.