Cost to reserve economy class seats?

[Megabear2]

1 hour ago, paularmstrong said:

We booked and paid £509 each for PE seats to Barbados

That's another price increase then.  It was £409 for my January cruise which I booked in June.

[paularmstrong]

13 minutes ago, Megabear2 said:

That's another price increase then.  It was £409 for my January cruise which I booked in June.

Thank you 

[CaptainPedantic]

11 minutes ago, Megabear2 said:

That's another price increase then.  It was £409 for my January cruise which I booked in June.

Same for us, £409 each for our December cruise that we booked in July. £180 to book our seats, so total £998 for 2xPE return flights. Adding another £100pp for that AND still charging to book seats is excessive in my opinion... (but I'll still have to do it next time, Mrs Pedantic hates flying and PE with guaranteed seats together is pre-requisite for us)

[Thedonkeycentrehalf]

Seat booking charges are one of those things that will always be subjective - some people don't care where they sit, others do for any number of reasons which means some will be happy to pay and others won't.

 

When I'm flying for work, I sometimes pay extra to choose my seat because I want to get off the plane quicker (in Europe this can save a lot of time when on a tight schedule), sometimes to guarantee a window seat which is more comfortable to sleep when on an early start or late finish.

 

I have paid for PE to Barbados in February and paid again for the seat as it is a special occasion but, as I said in another thread, if the pairs by the window had all gone, I would not have paid for the middle rows.

 

For P&O, if this is seen as a way of subsidising the flight costs (and the cruise with flight is very cheap compared to others) reservations then would people prefer to pay more for PE to include a reservation (and have more people fighting for seat reservations when they are available), or have it as an added extra which keeps the PE price lower for those who don't care as much?

[Megabear2]

1 hour ago, Thedonkeycentrehalf said:

 the cruise with flight is very cheap compared to others

That depends very much on when you book and the type of cabin as well.  This cruise replaces an Arvia Christmas cruise booked at launch for which an ordinary deck 12 balcony cabin and economy flights was to cost £7100.  Having travelled on Arvia in May this year I decided it wasn't for us and moved to the one I mention above. Yes, it's not Christmas but we booked a replacement with Celebrity for less - see above - albeit one day less, it is however fully inclusive and we were lucky there was a 75% second passenger offer at the time of booking. 

 

Looking at the Caribbean cruises released for 2025/6 the prices are high at launch again.  

[Vampiress88]

18 hours ago, Megabear2 said:

I assume you flew Virgin Premium Economy if your seats were free. Normal Economy seats with them are free at check in.  They also charge for extra legroom seats as do most other airlines.  You may of course be very high up in their loyalty club so able to get for free earlier than check in.

 

The seat charge on the P&O flights is set by them not the airlines.  Maleth seat charge is also £45pp so clearly as they are exclusively a charter company it would be too much of a coincidence.  The charge made by P&O is a long way out with most other airlines, and the increase they made in charges this year put them a long way ahead of their rivals and it is obviously an easy way for them to cash in.  The worst aspect of this is the Premium economy flight charge, it is extremely unreasonable to expect people to pay another £180 on top of the cost of booking for that cabin.  

 

This is an interesting site

 

https://www.alternativeairlines.com/airlines-with-free-seat-selection

 

 

 

 

nope it was economy classic. 
also not in any loyalty club etc with virgin 

seat selection was about 6months out I think. 
I did pay £75 for hubby to sit in an extra leg room seat. 
me and the girls sat together. 
but that was a choice to spend money for him to have extra leg room 

not a price so that we get to sit with the children- which as they are 9&8 takes the choice out of our hands. Short flights I wouldn’t have as being in front or behind wouldn’t have bothered for an hour or so. 9 hours on a flight with strangers and I don’t like that for them. So £360 was the total for return to reserve seats on TUI charter plane. That’s £45per seat. TUI don’t charge that on their normal planes so to me P&O are adding it on. 
Had when I called up and said “hey Mrs P&O call centre lady I’m thinking of changing my £2600 cruise in the Mediterranean to £7030 Caribbean cruise, how do we reserve seats?” All was said was 14 weeks out. Now technically they haven’t done anything wrong by not offering that information but being in a sales/customer service role all my life I don’t feel this was fair. 
I think they should be upfront and say look there is gonna be another £360 added on for seat selections or you can take the risk and not sit together. 
it just irks me. So now I will only go p&o from Southampton. 

[Megabear2]

2 hours ago, Vampiress88 said:

 

nope it was economy classic. 
also not in any loyalty club etc with virgin 

seat selection was about 6months out I think. 
I did pay £75 for hubby to sit in an extra leg room seat. 
me and the girls sat together. 
but that was a choice to spend money for him to have extra leg room 

not a price so that we get to sit with the children- which as they are 9&8 takes the choice out of our hands. Short flights I wouldn’t have as being in front or behind wouldn’t have bothered for an hour or so. 9 hours on a flight with strangers and I don’t like that for them. So £360 was the total for return to reserve seats on TUI charter plane. That’s £45per seat. TUI don’t charge that on their normal planes so to me P&O are adding it on. 
Had when I called up and said “hey Mrs P&O call centre lady I’m thinking of changing my £2600 cruise in the Mediterranean to £7030 Caribbean cruise, how do we reserve seats?” All was said was 14 weeks out. Now technically they haven’t done anything wrong by not offering that information but being in a sales/customer service role all my life I don’t feel this was fair. 
I think they should be upfront and say look there is gonna be another £360 added on for seat selections or you can take the risk and not sit together. 
it just irks me. So now I will only go p&o from Southampton. 

It is a lot of money and I think they're taking the Michael.  However it is stated on the website seat booking carries a charge - it doesn't say how much.  If you book luggage on Virgin you get the seat selection but along with virtually every other line they charge if you have no luggage,

 

Unfortunately flying nowadays is a rip off in any way they can.  You are right it is a P&O charge.  

[Vampiress88]

On 11/27/2023 at 8:21 PM, Megabear2 said:

It is a lot of money and I think they're taking the Michael.  However it is stated on the website seat booking carries a charge - it doesn't say how much.  If you book luggage on Virgin you get the seat selection but along with virtually every other line they charge if you have no luggage,

 

Unfortunately flying nowadays is a rip off in any way they can.  You are right it is a P&O charge.  

See I understand paying for something, what I don’t understand is not being told at the point of sale. I don’t like people not being upfront, I would have respected p&o more if it’s website/and advisor had said if you want to reserve your seat it’s £45pp each way. Then I can calculate it in the cost. 
 

but it’s done now, I’ve paid it and we go in 3 month so probably time to start packing 😂 

[Harrison6]

3 hours ago, Vampiress88 said:

See I understand paying for something, what I don’t understand is not being told at the point of sale. I don’t like people not being upfront, I would have respected p&o more if it’s website/and advisor had said if you want to reserve your seat it’s £45pp each way. Then I can calculate it in the cost. 
 

but it’s done now, I’ve paid it and we go in 3 month so probably time to start packing 😂 

We go early March, and booked the cruise whilst we were on the Arvia in May. At the time of booking we weren't even told that we had to book PE seats immediately. So we waited until July only to be told that they were all fully booked and there was a waiting list. We have opted to pay for economy seats that suit us. Just to be sure that we have two isle seats. As on a long flight it's nice to be able to get out of your seats without disturbing others. 

[Megabear2]

36 minutes ago, Harrison6 said:

We go early March, and booked the cruise whilst we were on the Arvia in May. At the time of booking we weren't even told that we had to book PE seats immediately. So we waited until July only to be told that they were all fully booked and there was a waiting list. We have opted to pay for economy seats that suit us. Just to be sure that we have two isle seats. As on a long flight it's nice to be able to get out of your seats without disturbing others. 

When you enquire onboard the agent will see on his/her screen if there is a fare which includes premium economy available and give you an option at that point.  There will be two fares that can be quoted, one with economy and one with PE.  It is quite likely that in May the PE seats were already sold out as the cruise would have been on sale for a considerable time.  The PE charge in May was £409pp.  To select your seats you would still have had to pay £45pp each way, £180 in total.  If you had managed to get the PE you would have needed to start trying to book them online at midnight the day they were released to guarantee your seats together.  

 

Whilst the seat booking charge can be a shock it is clearly advertised if you wish to reserve your seats in advance there will be a charge.  I agree the charge is high and in my opinion out of line with other airlines but there is the option to be allocated seats at check in free of charge and if the only request is two aisle seats you would most likely have been able to have these.

 

Whilst I understand the wish to know about the seat booking charge it is really down to the individual to ask all relevant questions about extra charges at the point of booking and if using the internet to book it is worthwhile putting in a call to research the costs if they would be of concern to an individual.

 

Very few flights on any airline offer a free seat reservation of choice in this day and age unfortunately.

 

[Interestedcruisefan]

Every time I book a flight nowadays I'm still seeing headline good prices on skyscanner but once ive added luggage (not even choosing seats) I'm feeling deflated by the extra cost it adds

 

Luggage is where normal airlines get you paying  high extras. Sometimes including choice of seats with this. Sometimes not.

 

When it's just seat choice then that tends not to be anywhere near as expensive elsewhere as 45 per seat per person for sure.

 

That would normally be the cost of luggage and choosing the seat together

 

 

 

 

Edited November 30, 2023 by Interestedcruisefan

[Snow Hill]

On 11/27/2023 at 8:21 PM, Megabear2 said:

It is a lot of money and I think they're taking the Michael.  However it is stated on the website seat booking carries a charge - it doesn't say how much.  If you book luggage on Virgin you get the seat selection but along with virtually every other line they charge if you have no luggage,

 

Unfortunately flying nowadays is a rip off in any way they can.  You are right it is a P&O charge.  

The EU are conducting investigations into various airline add on charges and passengers rights and have made some proposals, these don’t include seat charges yet, but will no doubt at some point will. Unfortunately any changes are unlikely to help U.K. passengers unless flying with a EU based airline, but something needs to be done about these extortionate charges being made for seat booking. 

[terrierjohn]

29 minutes ago, Snow Hill said:

The EU are conducting investigations into various airline add on charges and passengers rights and have made some proposals, these don’t include seat charges yet, but will no doubt at some point will. Unfortunately any changes are unlikely to help U.K. passengers unless flying with a EU based airline, but something needs to be done about these extortionate charges being made for seat booking. 

I agree the prices P&O charge seem too high, but if they had to reduce them all that would happen is that the cruise price  would have to increase to cover the lost revenue.

[9265359]

37 minutes ago, Snow Hill said:

but something needs to be done about these extortionate charges being made for seat booking. 

 

That presumes you actually choose to pay them. If you don't the aircraft isn't leaving without you.

 

Personally I liked the old old days of Ryanair when there were no seat bookings - its a flying bus so get on and sit down, and ironically in those days people were likely to be far more amenable to moving to allow a family to sit together because they didn't have the 'investment' in having paid to book a seat. 

[Snow Hill]

6 hours ago, terrierjohn said:

I agree the prices P&O charge seem too high, but if they had to reduce them all that would happen is that the cruise price  would have to increase to cover the lost revenue.

The question is how much of that charge is for the premium economy seat and how much is it P&O ripping off the consumer. It would seem from other posts that the charges levied by other airlines for the same service are lower that what P&O charge. I am not saying there should be no charge, but what is charged should be seen to fairly reflect the cost. Perhaps P&O should be referred to the CMA & CAA for an investigation into such charges for cruises they sell. 

[Interestedcruisefan]

Are you guys not surprised we aren't being charged for how much luggage we want to take yet?

[Megabear2]

8 minutes ago, Interestedcruisefan said:

Are you guys not surprised we aren't being charged for how much luggage we want to take yet?

No, it's a standard UK charter.  If I book a package holiday with TUI, Jet2, BA or Virgin my luggage is automatically included at 20kgs or 23kgs.  Realistically no one would book a fly cruise on a charter if the luggage isn't included, this is not a put together package using scheduled flights.

 

Some TUI package holidays now use Easyjet flights and are listed as hand luggage only but any "true" package has the luggage included.

 

I have started using BA to create flight plus hotel packages as it includes 23kg of luggage automatically. Yesterday booked for Amsterdam next May where doing it this way saved over £350 on the individual prices and although I doubt we'll need it two 23kg allowances.

[Harrison6]

3 hours ago, Snow Hill said:

The question is how much of that charge is for the premium economy seat and how much is it P&O ripping off the consumer. It would seem from other posts that the charges levied by other airlines for the same service are lower that what P&O charge. I am not saying there should be no charge, but what is charged should be seen to fairly reflect the cost. Perhaps P&O should be referred to the CMA & CAA for an investigation into such charges for cruises they sell. 

 

[Harrison6]

Just now, Harrison6 said:

 

I fully agree that P&O should be held accountable for the high charge for booking a seat in advance just to be sat near the person you are travelling with. 

[Vampiress88]

17 hours ago, Harrison6 said:

I fully agree that P&O should be held accountable for the high charge for booking a seat in advance just to be sat near the person you are travelling with. 

I wouldn’t have actually been bothered if they could have guaranteed that a child or both would be sat next to a parent (not behind, in front or across from) then that wouldn’t have been an issue. Also if they had charged the same as tui that would have been ok as well

[JeanieC,Aston]

Hi

I have a holiday booked to Benidorm for NYE with Jet2.

Luggage of 22kgs included and yesterday booked seats for £12 each way.