Paying for allocated airline seating is a waste of money, says new report

Unless you're flying Ryanair

Passengers who pay extra for allocated seating on flights are wasting their money in most cases, says a new report.

A Which? investigation found that in almost nine in 10 cases (86 per cent), passengers would have been sat together anyway and were therefore paying extra for no reason.

Which? analysed the experiences of 3,357 economy passengers during September and October 2018.

It found that the 10 most popular airlines that offered paid-for seating options would usually seat friends and family together regardless, with the exception of no-frills carriers Ryanair and Wizz Air.

This was even higher with British Airways; 91 per cent of BA customers who didn’t pay extra were seated together anyway, despite the airline offering allocated seating as a paid-for option.

However, the consumer group found that Ryanair, in almost half of all cases (46 per cent), would not seat passengers together if they had not paid extra for allocated seating. Ryanair has previously said that it does not actively split up groups to boost profits.

Last November, digital minister Margot James called the algorithms designed to split passengers up “cynical” and “exploitative”.

Civil Aviation Authority (CAA) guidelines state that airlines should aim to seat parents close to their children – although they’re not obligated to follow this advice, said Which?.

A CAA review from October 2018 found that passengers could spend up to £100 per allocated seat. It added that passengers were paying “around £74m to £175m unnecessarily as they would have been seated together automatically”.

The review by the aviation watchdog raised a number of concerns from passengers into allocated seating. The CAA said that passengers with reduced mobility may have paid to sit together with a carer, while the lack of transparency into seating practices led customers to not fully understand the likelihood of being split up – making them more likely to pay the extra fee.

“Unless you are flying with Ryanair or Wizz Air or fancy a little extra legroom, it’s not worth paying more to choose your seat, as you’ll be seated next to your travelling companions anyway,” said Rory Boland, editor of Which? Travel.

“It’s worrying to hear that parents are being separated from young children. It’s reprehensible for any airline to make money by splitting up families and we would encourage the regulator to examine such cases closely to ensure the guidelines are working.

“Passengers with mobility issues should make their requirements clear to the airline, and be sure of your rights if they resist – the law is on your side.”