$7 Pillows and Paying for Seats

Tom Parson's, CEO of Bestfares.com, did a solid job today refuting the non-sense that MSNBC was trying to report in regards to the JetBlue $7 pillow. If you ask me, the only reason this is a big story is because New Yorkers are semi-obsessed with JetBlue and thus the media, the majority of which lives in New York, is just naturally curious. Air Canada has been charging for a pillow for 3 years and I don't remember such a big deal being made over that, even in the Canadian media.

Regardless, I caught something at the end of interview which either got cut from the video or possibly occurred during a separate interview segment. Parson's was discussing how Spirit charges for all seat assignments and how that could be problematic for families traveling together -- Pay extra cash or roll the dice and see if you can get seats at the airport.

As more airlines charge for seat assignments (mostly for premium seats right now), it is important to keep in mind how this actually plays out in the market. Most people do not pay for seat assignments. Seats assignments matter to those that travel often, essentially business travelers, not families. I flew an Allegiant flight once where only 3 out of over 100 people paid for early boarding. I was on a ClickAir flight last month where only non-premium seats were occupied after everyone had boarded. Sure, these are anecdotal, but the point remains that the penalty is not on families. It may be nerve-recking but it is still way more likely that the status quo of close accommodations will occur rather than a family scattered amongst the plane. Disclaimer: This does not hold for families that pay no attention the specific check-in rules of its airline and those that choose to check in at the last possible moment. You still need to be aggressive.