Are Economy Class Seats Ever Worth It?
Back in November, JetBlue announced its latest new flight class for those looking to save some money when booking flights: Basic Blue – or, in other words, simple economy class seats. For those who don’t know, the basic seats in Economy Class are the covered nose section of the aircraft. In exchange for paying less than the average Economy Class seat, you get fewer benefits normally offered by the airline.
But before you bite the bullet and book your seat because it’s so cheap, there are a few important things you should consider first.
Expect less legroom and less seating options
If you choose to fly the basic economy class of an airline such as United, for example, you can generally expect to have significantly less legroom and seat width than your average seat on that plane. (While there is no clear rule about how much legroom you get, expect to get the minimum.)
Since Economy Class passengers are not provided with seat pre-allocation, you should expect to receive a seat only 24 hours before departure. This means that your possible seating options are based on which seats are not requested by other passengers; the chances of sitting next to a friend or family member are slim as you will be split based on availability.
You might be tempted to pay for a premium seat like the exit lane to make the experience a little less awful given the lack of legroom and preferred seating, but when booking Basic Economy you are also generally not eligible for an upgrade. service. (However, if you are part of the airline’s frequent flyer program, you can earn several perks; for example, Alaska may be allowed priority boarding even with a basic economy ticket. Be sure to contact the airline in advance to be sure.)
Expect the worst boarding privileges
Since nothing is fair in life, a basic economy seat also means you usually sit last. This means that if you try to take carry-on luggage with you, you may have to check your bag at the gate when there is little room in overhead storage compartments and others are already seated. (In addition, United charges $ 25 for carry-on luggage on non-transatlantic flights, although this may be an exception – both America and Alaska allow free carry-on luggage for Basic Economy passengers. You guessed it, you will pay the standard any checked baggage.)
Finally, when it comes to changing or canceling your plans, you are generally given zero privileges, which means you need to be pretty decisive when it comes to planning. “Changing tickets in Basic Economy is prohibited, including changes in advance and on the same day, ” states the United website . However, this happens with a few exceptions; If you book through most US airlines, you can usually change or cancel your plans within 24 hours of booking.
Some airlines, such as American ones , may also allow changes depending on your itinerary. If you are flying to Europe via America, you may be eligible to change your flight, albeit for a fee and for any difference in airfare.
Basic Economy may be worth it on shorter flights
All of this brings us back to an important question: Should you still book a basic Economy seat despite all the reasons you probably shouldn’t?
Well, you need to consider how long you are willing to put up with a lousy seat to save on airfare. My opinion is that if you are flying three hours or less, generally a little legroom may not matter to you, and a simple economy class seat will probably do. If, on the other hand, you are traveling overseas, you may want to consider booking a better seat because you are concerned about your basic ability to comfortably move and move in your seat on a flight longer than 10 hours.
If you’re unsure about your travel plans, you should probably reconsider booking Basic Economy, period. Otherwise, it’s a gamble and you end up eating the full price of the air ticket without any protection if you need to change your route. If you want to be sure that you don’t have to check your carry-on baggage at the gate – perhaps due to the close connection – then it might be worth avoiding basic economy seats altogether.
And if you end up booking a Basic Economy seat, well, it doesn’t hurt to do a little research. When using websites like SeatGuru , you browse your aircraft map to find your seat configuration before booking. If you find that your plane has a 2–2 seating configuration, at least you can rest a little more firmly in the knowledge that you will not be stuck in the middle seat; I recently flew an American Airlines flight with this configuration and got caught in the aisle seat at the very front of the plane. Sometimes sheer stupid luck can be good for you – just don’t count on it.