Scrum no more: Easyjet is ending its tradition of passengers having to queue and jostle for a seat on its planes by bringing in allocated seating later this year.
Specified seats will be selected free by the airline’s computers in advance of flights, but fliers will also have the option of picking particular seats for an extra fee.
It will cost £12 for those who want extra leg room (front row and exit rows), £8 for “up front seats” (rows 2-5/6, depending on planes), and £3 for any other seat a passenger chooses.
The new system will take effect by November 13 for flights to/from Glasgow, and by November 27 to/from Edinburgh.
Easyjet has been trialling allocated seating since April, with more than 800,000 passengers on 6000 trial flights
Research among these passengers showed that more than 70% thought allocated seating was better than the current system, due to the improved boarding experience of “scrambling for seats”, which the company admitted could be stressful and, in some cases, puts people off flying with easyJet altogether.
Carolyn McCall, chief executive of easyJet, said: “Allocated seating gives all our passengers a better boarding experience and offers the choice of selecting a seat to those who want to.
“On trial flights the majority of passengers were simply allocated seats when they checked in. Some passengers chose particular seats with best-selling seats usually those near the front, for those who wish to get off the aircraft quickly at their destinations, and exit row seats with their extra legroom.
“Our customers asked us to trial allocated seating and we are really pleased with the positive passenger feedback during the trial. As importantly, we have shown that we can do so while delivering strong on time performance – the most important driver of passenger satisfaction.
She said that on allocated seating flights, passengers who do not wish to pay to select their seat will be allocated a seat free of charge. Passengers travelling on the same booking will be seated together wherever possible by easyJet’s reservation system which uses the most advanced seating algorithm in world aviation.
Some facts emerged from the trial flights:
On shorter journeys, seat 6A was the best seller, while on longer flights it was 1A. Seat 16B was the least popular, while it was 19B on longer flights
Passengers preferred seats on the left hand side of the plane with seats A, B and C out-selling D, E and F
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