EMIRATES now charging for SEATS

[scottish-guy]

I know quite a few of you use Emirates to get to Thailand, so...BEWARE.

Having just booked what I though were good priced flights (Econ) - I find that if I wish to reserve seats via "Manage My Booking" it will now cost me £80 for a service which was previously FREE.

Like a lot of people I prefer an aisle seat and I like it near the front.

However on this particular ticket class (and some others), I'm faced with either paying £80 (4 legs @ £20) or waiting until 48hrs before the flight when I can take my chances via "Online Check-In" when it will still be free to choose a seat (except the seat you want may well not be available).

Pretty annoyed I must say, as first of all they massively cut the Skywards points on Econ, then made redemption more difficult if not almost impossible , and now they're charging to reserve a seat.

Makes me wonder if Michael O'Fucking-Leary has joined their board now!

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[arsenal]

Hi Scottish.
While I do understand your annoyance may I play Devils Advocate here. I first flew to Thailand in 1989 and my single ticket cost 360 pounds. I just checked on CTrip and a single non stop ticket from London to Bangkok with Eva Air is available for 340 pounds. Jan 16.

[scottish-guy]

I assume you mean January 16th next year and not January 2016 - as rather than an aircraft, a time machine would be required?

I can't replicate your pricing as you don't give a return date and CTrip does nothing when I press search.

In any case, although I realise the point you're making, I'm sorry to say I find it quite irrelevant

[goji]

Having just booked what I though were good priced flights (Econ) - I find that if I wish to reserve seats via "Manage My Booking" it will now cost me £80 for a service which was previously FREE.

Thank you for the warning. I think we need a blacklist of airlines who take the piss like this. If they have charges for picking your seats, there should be a clear warning before you purchase.

I'm not sure if this is covered by the UK distance selling regulations, but do you have 14 days to change your mind ? I would be tempted to cancel the booking and take the business elsewhere.

[Steve1903]

Isn't it becoming fairly standard to have add ons these days? Recently flew within UK with Flybe and after choosing my flight there was a plethora of options which added to the price. ie, check in baggage, seat choice, credit card payment, yada yada...

[scottish-guy]

Well the ticket is endorsed NO REFUND NO CANCELLATION so even if you could seek redress by claiming you were misled (as I certainly was - there was absolutely no mention of a new fee for advance seat reservation on the booking pages, although I now see they have a slew of questions about in in their FAQ's

http://http://www.emirates.com/uk/en...king#/#title-9

..then I think you'd have a tough time. I imagine that Emirates position would be that when you book you agree to their terms and conditions.

Incidentally I booked through Skyscanner which took me to Netflights

[scottish-guy]

Link buggered up and edit timed out

http://www.emirates.com/uk/english/h...king#/#title-9 and scroll to Advanced Seat Reservations

[scottish-guy]

Isn't it becoming fairly standard to have add ons these days? Recently flew within UK with Flybe and after choosing my flight there was a plethora of options which added to the price. ie, check in baggage, seat choice, credit card payment, yada yada...

Yes but with all due respect Steve, EMIRATES is not supposed to be a no frills airline as FlyBe is - Emirates is supposed to be a mainstream full-service flagship carrier and passengers are not therefore on the lookout/defensive for the stealth charges the no-frills carriers add on

[Nirish guy]

To be devils advocate I guess they would argue that you bought abs paid for a seat and you're getting a seat - whereas if you want to pick a PARTICULAR seat that's up to you and yes you pay.

I've already had this debate with a few airlines and they craftily hide it as "customer sertvuce" is some families need to travel together so this gives them that opportunity, whereas those who don't "need that service" obviously wouldn't mind where they sit so it's not relevant to them - all bullshit of course but that was the answer I got - they also flagged up that you COULD still book "free" two days before so they denied they were now charging.

They actually said this practice has been in place for over two years now which I certainly didn't remember from travelling before with them !?

[colmx]

Very annoying if Emirates are now doing this... as they had recently become by new regular airline

Another "full service" airline BA have being doing this (@£30 per leg) for years now...