Those who do not learn from history....

[Dummy Pilot]

I can't tell you how many times this has been tried by dozens of different airlines.....and it hasn't worked yet. Apparently Jetblue is going to have a go at the old "pay more for legroom" ploy. I'm interested in the claim that making more legroom for select rows will not decrease room in others....unless they removed a row, which would be suicide in today's Revenue driven airline world.

By JENNIFER HODSONJetBlue to Offer More Legroom
To Some Customers, for a Fee
March 19, 2008 2:49 p.m.

Some passengers will soon have more room to stretch their legs aboard JetBlue Airways Corp. flights, and JetBlue may have just found a way to stretch out and broaden its sources of revenue.

Beginning with flights on April 1, JetBlue customers can pay a between $10 and $20 for four more inches of leg room.

The low-cost carrier said it had reconfigured its Airbus A320 fleet to offer six rows with 38 inches of "pitch," or the distance from any point on one seat to the same point on the seat behind or in front, as opposed to the 34 inches in all other JetBlue coach rows. The industry average is about 31 to 32 inches.

Chief Executive Dave Barger said in a statement that the more spacious rows wouldn't eat into the space previously enjoyed elsewhere, so customers who pay the added fee get extra legroom "but not at the expense of other customers."

JetBlue will charge $10 for short-haul flights, $15 for medium-haul and $20 for longer-haul flights.

Facing increasing competitive pressure, industry consolidation and ever-rising fuel costs, airlines are looking for ways to differentiate themselves as well as mend reputations battered in recent years by escalating flight delays, cancellations and baggage complaints. In February 2007, hundreds of JetBlue passengers were stranded, sometimes for 10 hours or longer, on New York runways, and U.S. Department of Transportation studies have shown that such delays have been on the rise throughout the industry.

Additionally, carriers must come up with new ways to eek out precious margins and new revenue streams.

Full Story here...Wall Street Journal

[David Hilditch]

I can't tell you how many times this has been tried by dozens of different airlines.....and it hasn't worked yet. Apparently Jetblue is going to have a go at the old "pay more for legroom" ploy. I'm interested in the claim that making more legroom for select rows will not decrease room in others....unless they removed a row, which would be suicide in today's Revenue driven airline world.

I'm inclined to agree with you, but I suppose it's a question of whether the extra revenue from several rows of "premium" seats will outweigh the lost revenue from six standard seats from a removed row. I can see that on a large proportion of JetBlue's flights the punters may well want to pay up, given the airline's large number of long-haul flights.

[Gabriel]

Not only that, but also some of the seats are already "long legs friendly" (emergency exits, front seats), and paying the same price. Charge an extra for them and you have more revenue without removing a single seat or reducing the pitch in any of them.

Now, I have to say, what is my fault for being tall? I don't want extra comfort, but at least that the inner distance between two seat backs is at least as long as my upper leg, what many times was not the case and I had to seat for hours with legs crossed or put sideways. I find unfair to be forced to pay more for the same "relative" seat pitch for some body geometry I didn't asked for or wanted.

[Pipe]

It´s like the banana eating the monkey: Over the last years the airlines squeezed the seat pitches to torture levels. Now they´re telling you you can have a decent seat pitch back if you pay extra. :nonono:

[DeskFlyer]

It´s like the banana eating the monkey

See I'd pay an extra $20 right there to see that

[Dmmoore]

Those of us over 6 feet tall know where the good seats are and if you check in early enough, you can usually get one.
As Dummypilot stated, its been tried and doesn't work.
Take out a row of seats with the potential of generating $1200 ($200 per seat) giving 4 inches of extra leg room to 4 or 5 row's means a $40 to $50 surcharge is required to recoup the revenue loss.

If the potential revenue generated is $2400 $400 per seat) the surcharge doubles.

The only way it works is if the seats were not being filled and that does not seem to be the case.

[David Hilditch]

Those of us over 6 feet tall know where the good seats are and if you check in early enough, you can usually get one.
As Dummypilot stated, its been tried and doesn't work.
Take out a row of seats with the potential of generating $1200 ($200 per seat) giving 4 inches of extra leg room to 4 or 5 row's means a $40 to $50 surcharge is required to recoup the revenue loss.

If the potential revenue generated is $2400 $400 per seat) the surcharge doubles.

The only way it works is if the seats were not being filled and that does not seem to be the case.

I think the cost/benefit here is much finer than that. In the JetBlue case here we are told they will make 6 rows 'premium-ish' with a larger pitch and charge $20 a seat. That's extra revenue of $720. If they have to remove one row of 6 regular seats, they have to lose $720 of revenue or more, or $120 a seat, for the change to be a cost rather than a benefit. i think in JetBlue's case the situation is unclear, but it's not cut and dried and I can see that might well work in some instances. This assumes they fill all their seats, which is a reasonable assumption in JetBlue's case, and as I said above, given JetBlue's specific route profile with a high proportion of flights of 4 to 6 hours, I can see a lot of people paying $20 for that extra room.

On the other hand, the economics of low-cost flights is now much more than just the fare paid. In Europe they have this down to an art : bilk the passenger for everything extra - heavy bag, extra bag, late check-in, seat reservation, fee for credit card payment, re-ticketing if necessary, on board drink and food, no change given for on-board purchases, emergency seat choice, commissions on connected hotel/car rental reservations etc. etc. This will come to the likes to JetBlue and others in the US, I suspect. Of course, such a process depends on load factors being as high as possible, and the concept does blur the difference between load factor and yield a litte bit in this particular business model (even though in Europe sectors tend to be somewhat shorter on average than in the US).

[AndyToop]

If you make the two exit rows part of the premium section, then the additional space needed is 16". Maybe they can take the rear toilets out

[el]

Maybe they can take the rear toilets out

..and charge for the use of the front one.