Sign of things to come?

[SilverSeated]

Starting to seek alternative revenues, its an aggressive market but this is starting to reek of LCC...

Emirates to charge fee for seat selection from October 3 | GulfNews.com (http://gulfnews.com/business/aviation/emirates-to-charge-fee-for-seat-selection-from-october-3-1.1898007)

[harry the cod]

In fairness, it's only on the two cheapest Y class tickets. If I was a loyal Skywards member and had paid a full fare for flexibility, I would be a little pissed if I ended up in a middle row because someone who'd paid half my fare got the last window or aisle seat. I actually think it makes sense personally.

You don't have to pay it, only if you want to be certain of a particular perch for 14 hours!

Harry

[Jack D]

This is a classic CM ploy ..He is testing the waters . Did the same in Aer Lingus , extra charge for lounge access etc ... It's pretty old hat frankly , it was mainly devised to differentiate the product from Ryr &
Give the illusion that customers had a choice , plus making the company more attractive for a takeover by the BA group & O , Leary a good selling opportunity for his stake .. I don't expect anything new or truly innovative , all a bit 2nd rate I'm afraid ... Standby for contract changes sorry " modifications "

[Nikita81]

If I was a loyal Skywards member and had paid a full fare for flexibility, I would be a little pissed if I ended up in a middle row because someone who'd paid half my fare got the last window or aisle seat.

Skywards members have advantage in their seat selection. That's one of the biggest privileges for skywards members. They have their preferred seat saved in the system, so system gives them that seat automatically when they check in. If their seat is taken by any chance, departure control usually meets their needs either by moving the pax seated at skywards member's seat to another seat or by giving a skyward member another similar or better seat.

Giving passengers who paid less than skywards members or who are not skywards members a chance to have better seats than skywards members by paying a few Dhs more undermines the whole skywards system, so of course "it makes sense".

Don't make a silver lining out of pure logic, Harry.

[Metro man]

How soon before business class seat auctions or is that happening already ?

[speedbirdhopeful1]

How soon before business class seat auctions or is that happening already ?
TC has said they are considering 'seat only' fares without all the other perks in J like lounge, limo etc.

See his interview link below. While I give him credit for changing the industry and doing some good things, his self-centeredness is disgusting. He users 'I' or 'me' about 50 times in that article and gives no credit to anyone below him other than that they are idiots who tried to stop him putting showers on a 380.. Explains a lot really.
https://skift.com/2016/09/19/interview-emirates-ceo-tim-clark-on-the-next-generation-of-fees/