Japan’s All Nippon Airways (ANA) is introducing new seat pre-booking fees next month that will affect passengers travelling on its cheapest economy class tickets.
The new fees will come into effect starting May 29 for flights departing from August 19 onwards, and apply to passengers booked on Value economy class tickets with a V, W or S fare code, or Super Value economy class tickets with an L or K fare code. Passengers travelling on these fare types currently have the ability to book seats in advance free of charge.
However, the new fee only applies to certain “preferred” seats, namely aisle and window seats in the forward economy cabins, or bulkhead and emergency exit-row seats.
Passengers flying on V, W, S, L or K fare codes can still pre-book some, less enticing seats without having to pay an extra fee, as can be seen in the diagram below.
A spokesperson for ANA told Business Traveller Asia-Pacific that the changes were designed to benefit travellers (particularly business travellers) who book closer to the date of departure on more expensive fare types, but may find that the preferred seats have already been reserved by passengers who booked their tickets earlier but on cheaper fare types.
As such, the changes would “provide service according to the fare pricing range”, the spokesperson said.
In related news, China’s largest carrier China Southern earlier this month introduced a new “One Passenger More Seats” service that allows economy class customers to purchase up to three additional extra empty seats next to them at a discount once check-in is complete, ensuring you don’t have any neighbouring passengers on your flight.
