How can I buy an empty seat next to me?

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Viewing 6 posts - 1 through 6 (of 6 total)

  • FaroFlyer
    Participant

    I normally make a lot of intra-Europe trips and really like the seat next to me to be empty. When travelling with Mrs FF we always book aisle and window, but often the middle seat is occupied, especially of Ryanair with their “random” seat allocations.

    I am happy to pay for an empty seat, but how do I do this? Do I pay for an additional ticket, and pay for a second seat in my name? I would appear twice on the manifest, and have 2 boarding cards, although I would be either no-show or invisible for the extra seat.

    Any advice will be much appreciated.


    SimonS1
    Participant

    [postquote quote=999964][/postquote]

    Google “Buying an extra seat on Ryanair” and it gives you clear guidance on what to do on their website.

    1 user thanked author for this post.

    openfly
    Participant

    @Faroflyer…yup. It’s easy on BA. Buy a BA seat, select your seat…it works at em exit seats too. Then phone the Exec Club and tell them that you wish to buy a “comfort seat”. They take your PNR and block off the seat beside you. It is the same fare that you paid, less taxes. I’ve used the system several times…not once has it been abused. The blocked seat shows up on the pax list as blocked off, not to be used.
    It’s set up for very large pax to be accommodated across two seats, on long/short haul.
    Because some short-haul fares can be so low, it is possible, for example, to get a LHR-AGP comfort seat for a tenner! I remember some years ago, somebody on BT managed an extra seat for £1 on a MAN-LHR flt!

    3 users thanked author for this post.

    Johnnyg
    Participant

    Well that is one of life’s mysteries solved. I always wondered how it works, especially when musicians travel first class with a cello in another seat.

    Thank you.


    Raffles99
    Participant

    Historically many BA agents haven’t known how to process this properly, however, so you need to keep an eye on it. It’s very possible, unless you pay for seat selection or get it for free via status, that your ‘comfort seat’ is on a different row to you 🙂


    capetonianm
    Participant

    There are two main types of extra seat request.
    EXST is used for ‘comfort’ or for oversized pax, and then there’s CBBG which is for cabin baggage such as a musical instrument or diplomatic pouch (not pooch although some carriers allow PETC – pet in cabin.)
    The two seats usually have to be booked at the same time to allow correct processing.
    It can be conflictive when a passenger books an extra seat and the flight is not full and they want the money back, which is a bit like buying an insurance policy and claiming a refund after a year because you didn’t use it.

    2 users thanked author for this post.
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