GoAir follows trend, to levy fee for pre-selecting seats

Wadia Group-owned low-cost carrier GoAir has decided to levy a fee of Rs 300 for pre-selection of either window or aisle seats on its flights. Additionally, the airline had made provisions for pre-purchasing excess baggage limits in increments of three, five and ten kgs.

Also Read: Aviation Min to cap privilege seats for airlines

Other carriers like IndiGo and Air India Express have also taken announced that they will charge additional fee to passengers who want to pre-book seats after the aviation regulator allowed them to do so.

However, the civil aviation ministry is keen to put a ceiling on the numbers of seats to be offered as 'privileged' or pre-booked seats.

The move may help carriers improve cash flows, but passengers may not like it, unless base fare is lowered to accommodate incremental fee for various services offered.

The trend may be new in India, but world over, airlines do charge for incremental services and a very good example would be of AirAsia which charges for pre-selecting seats.

Bigger carriers like Jet Airways have earlier mentioned that they want to spruce up their ancillary revenues from the current USD 3 to around USD 10 in times to come.