American Airlines to Charge for Express Seats

By | August 19, 2010
departing LAX
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American Airlines has announced it will now charge for seats in the first few rows of aircraft.  The price for this new charge is $19 to $39 and will only be available for purchase at airport kiosks from 24 hours to 50 minutes before domestic flights. The price will include being in the first boarding group of passengers.

The term express, we assume, refer to the location of the seating at the front of the aircraft. Preboarding, and front seating can be an advantage, and comparable in utility to, let’s say, Southwest’s $10 Early-Bird check-in fee. However, being as it is an assigned seat, and offers little additional leg room, we cannot see the advantage of such a charge at the rate proposed. Especially when having those in the front board before those in the back will slow boarding.

We never quite saw the advantage of boarding first(except maybe on Southwest). We do see the advantage of leaving the plane first. But is it worth the money?