Northwest Socks it to Sweet Seats

Monday March 20, 2006

Northwest Airlines will start charging $15 extra for the best coach seats on Tuesday, according to ABC News; Jim Cron, vice president of passenger marketing and sales, told ABC that aisle seats at the fronts of planes and exit row seats will jump to better accommodate last minute business travelers willing to pay extra to stay out of what will now be the truly cheap seats in coach. Have you ever noticed how it's always said that something new and better is being offered when a price is pumping up to what the market will bear?

Let's hope this isn't an industry trend; veteran travelers offer the sage advice to seek these seats because of the extra leg and one-elbow room, as well as ease of getting up on international flights -- makes a difference between being cramped in coach or fairly flexed out. Meantime, if you've a flight coming up, find those exit row and aisle seats with the master airplane seating mappers at Seat Guru. And if you're flying Northwestern and you've got the extra fifteen bucks, may as well pay the man and take your seat, complaining about capitalism all the way.