Being one of the first to board an all economy cabin in itself is not a particularly valuable perk. Combined with a free seating policy its value goes up dramatically as it then allows a pretty good choice of seating. Move to allocated seating and the perk then diminishes in perceived value even if all the legal wording remains valid.
Suppose that on Monday-Friday flights, the first couple of rows are reserved for allocation to card holders with a proviso that cabin crew move people before departure to ensure emergency rows are not vacant. Would that solve the conundrum ? Loyalty card holders (which is what they are effectively) still have a useful perk for their money. Other passengers can either pay up to sit wbere they want or get luck of the draw (back of the bus) for free instead. Easyjet increases the average ancillary spend per passenger.
Plenty of legacy airlines have managed this balancing act for years between gold card holders, late bookers, those paying full fare in respective cabin and the cheapskates. Easy are a large airline - they should be capable of achieving the same objective
Last edited by davidjohnson6; 1st Jul 2012 at 21:42.