Ask the pilot

$15 for an aisle seat? Northwest's new plan means class warfare at 30,000 feet.

By Patrick Smith

Read more: Technology & Business, Business, P. Smith, Ask the Pilot

April 14, 2006 | Last month, Northwest Airlines announced implementation of Coach Choice, a program whereby customers pay a flat $15 fee for the privilege, if that's the right word, of sitting in an exit row or aisle seat. The offer applies to all of the Minneapolis-based carrier's domestic runs, including a limited number of Airlink affiliate flights. High-mileage members of the airline's frequent-flier program, WorldPerks, have dibs on the preferred seating and can reserve a spot within three days of departure. Other passengers must wait until 24 hours before travel.

Coach Choice is something of a stripped-down derivative of United's Economy Plus, where travelers get 5 inches of extra legroom in a bank of specially arranged seats at the forward section of coach. Other airlines (British Airways and Virgin Atlantic, to name two), have instituted similar cabins-within-a-cabin. Coach Choice differs in that it has no official demarcation or minimum number of seats, and it requires no hardware changes to the aircraft itself. The advantages of an aisle seat aren't as tempting as an aisle seat and extra room, but then again it's only $15.

Is Coach Choice a good idea? Yes and no. As we all know, a majority of flights already offer two, three or sometimes four separate cabins. The demarcations of Coach Choice can't be marked with a curtain or bulkhead, but the idea is no different. On a six-hour coast-to-coast haul, rest assured that each and every one of those aisle seats is going to be snapped up. Fifteen bucks is a small price to avoid the misery of a middle seat.

The move has kicked up complaints, none of them unexpected, by passengers already tired of skimpy onboard amenities, who see a desperate carrier, mired in Chapter 11 bankruptcy and already somewhat notorious for lackluster service, attempting to nickel and dime its way out of trouble. (Two years ago, in a readers' poll, Northwest took home Ask the Pilot's highly non-esteemed Golden Pretzel trophy, outranking all other carriers in the categories of misery and discomfort.) Additionally, some long-standing Northwest customers see the plan as potentially undercutting their loyalty. With a limited number of seats up for grabs, frequent fliers may find themselves competing with first-timers for one of those coveted cushions.

Another knock is a failure to prioritize by ticket price. As everybody knows, airfares are driven by market, with a powerful time variable, and not by distance. Let's say you're traveling from New York to Seattle. Purchase your ticket two months in advance, and maybe you nail a super-saver of $300, round-trip. Buy on short notice, and perhaps it's $900 or more. Yet the person who paid $300 may snag the last exit row or aisle seat for a mere $15 more, leaving the $900 customer elbow-to-elbow in 47B.

And while there are merits to the simplicity of the flat-fee pricing concept, it doesn't take distance into account. Northwest might be selling the idea short -- literally. Relatively few people would justify spending the extra $15 on a 60-minute hop from Minneapolis to Chicago, while plenty of people would pay more than $15 on a flight from Memphis, Tenn., to Los Angeles. Basing the surcharge on the scheduled flying times for three or four "zones" might be better. For instance, the charge might be $10 on all trips under two hours, $30 for those over four.

International routes are a whole other opportunity. I'm uncertain why there's reluctance to institute a similar program in that realm. With pairings like New York-Tokyo and Detroit-Beijing, Northwest operates some of the longest hauls of any U.S. airline, where a little extra comfort could bring in a premium.

If you ask me, aisle seats are overrated. Me, I'm partial to window seats, which aren't part of Northwest's scheme. Admittedly my fondness for the view stems from certain aero-romantic predilections not widely shared among jaded travelers. Without question a place by the window beats the viselike claustrophobia of the center, but apparently few travelers are eager to pay extra for it.

Exit rows have their own special benefits. Not only do you get extra legroom, and the chance for some heavy lifting in the event of an evacuation, but each seat also comes with an effective sleeping pill in the form of that extremely informative card detailing the exit-row seating conditions. Best I can tell, the cards were drawn up by the same people who invented the Enigma machine in World War II, and the FAA mandates that this absurdly complicated, 35-bullet-point tome be placed in the pockets of all exit-row seat backs. Try giving it a read, and I guarantee you'll be dozing in heavy REM before they've disconnected the boarding bridge. (If you're able to decipher and remember even two of the rules by the time you've arrived at your destination, go to the gift shop and redeem the card for a free snow globe.)

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