UK airlines face scrutiny over seat selection fees

LONDON: United Kingdom’s airlines’ practice of charging for assigned seats is being scrutinised by regulators amid concerns the policy — which adds as much as £390 million (RM2.14 billion) to ticket prices a year — is confusing.

An increase in the number of complaints by passengers travelling in groups who were forced to pay to sit together had prompted an examination of “whether consumers are being treated fairly, and whether pricing policies are transparent”, said the UK Civil Aviation Authority (CAA) on Saturday.

“Airline seating practices are clearly causing some confusion for consumers,” said CAA chief executive officer Andrew Haines. “Our research shows that some consumers are paying to sit together when, in fact, they might not need to.”

As part of the review, airlines would need to provide information on how they seat passengers who booked as part of a group and if any airlines were “pro-actively splitting up groups of passengers” when they didn’t need to, said Haines.

The CAA “will not hesitate to take any necessary enforcement action should it be required at the end of the review”, he added.

The airlines’ watchdog released research showing that of more than 4,000 consumers who flew as a part of a group last year, 10 per cent were told only after they booked that they would have to pay extra to guarantee seats with their group. A further 10 per cent said they weren’t made aware of such charges. Almost half the respondents believed the airline would automatically assign their seats together, said the agency.

The findings also show consumers have a better chance of being seated together without charge with some airlines than with others.

The uncertainty on whether their group would be split up by the airline was driving consumers to pay for an allocated seat, the cost of which totals £160 million to £390 million per year in the UK, the research showed.

Of those paying, two-thirds spent from £5 to £30 per seat, and eight per cent paid more than £30, said the agency.

“Our work will consider whether or not these charges are fair and transparent,” said Haines.