To say ancillary revenue has been a theme over the past couple of years would be an understatement. I’m all for unbundlling, but some fee ideas aren’t that creative. For example – American’s new “Express Seats” scheme isn’t all that original, plus I think the price makes it a rip-off. (Yeah, US Airways does the same thing as American with Choice Seats but they’re cheaper.)
So during my normal surfing of the interwebs this weekend I found myself on Martinair’s website, and saw a new fee they had introduced this past June – an empty seat fee. For $70 or €50 paid at check-in, you can guarantee that the seat next to you will be empty.
I think it goes without saying that everyone loves empty seats. Whenever I fly Southwest I try to sit in “secret first class” – rows 13-17. Some frequent Southwest fliers have figured out that this is where one will most likely find an empty middle.
This seems to be a win-win here. Passengers get more personal space, and Martinair gets more revenue. Since one can only pay this fee upon check-in, which starts four hours before departure, the chances of a bunch of empty seats getting sold are pretty slim, so why not get some extra revenue?
Kudos to Martinair for thinking outside the box here.
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