I was recently browsing casually through some of the latest entries for easyJet on
www.airlinequality.com and was struck by the number of writers who commented negatively on the airline's "free" seating. Now I know that easyJet is not the only airline which operates in this way but this got me thinking: would a low cost carrier which currently has such seating gain competitive advantage by introducing allocated seating? Would knowing where you'll be sitting in advance of boarding make it more likely that you'd choose to book with an airline offering such a service or would it make no difference? And what about the airlines' perspective: would getting rid of "free" seating really impact on punctuality or add to their costs in other ways?