Amusingly I was on a flight to a European capital city yesterday, it’s the sort of city where Friday is stag and hen party day but there are business travellers as well.
As I boarded I was treated to the sight of a stag dressed in a pink ballet dress seated in a middle seat with businessmen seated in the aisle and window seats either side of him. That was really quite funny but also highlights two serious points.
Regular business travellers have worked out already that they can get a guaranteed window or aisle seat by checking in late, in that sense much better than the old algorithm. The second point is that the Stag did not drink anything as his mates were seated elsewhere on the flight. There were four hen/stag parties on the flight and it was the quietest Friday flight I can remember.
The only way the seating algorithm will change is if the loss on onboard sales is greater than the income from seat sales less the commission that the crews are certainly loosing.