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At the moment, the thought of sitting in a fully booked economy class cabin is even less appealing than normal. Airlines like Delta and Southwest in the USA are proactively blocking off middle seats on board their aircraft until the end of 2020. In Europe, it is now possible to pay to block off the seat next to you with Lufthansa, Eurowings, SWISS and Austrian Airlines.
Book an additional seat with Lufthansa/SWISS/Etc
The Lufthansa Group airlines are now making it possible to book a vacant adjacent seat on their flights . It should be noted, however, that if the flight is almost fully booked, the option is unlikely to be offered. The price for booking an adjacent seat starts at 35 euros. Depending on the length of the route, the price can also be higher, but unfortunately, exact pricing is not yet publicly available.
The vacant adjacent seat must be reserved by calling the service centre on +44 371 945 9747.
Bottom line
I generally see more options as a good thing. Regardless of COVID-19, there are situations when I would definitely pay to keep the middle seat empty. I would be unlikely to bother for short hops, but for flights between 4-8 hours, it would be great. I dislike ‘wasting’ miles/points/money on Business Class for mid-haul flights, but some extra space would certainly be appreciated.
Would you take advantage of being able to pay to block off the seat next to you when flying? – How much would you be willing to pay?
Currently I would not be prepared to fly at all in Economy Class if there will be a stranger rubbing shoulders with me. So I’m prepared to buy the seat next to me and will only fly airlines which permit me to do that.
I am not going to fly if I can not have an empty seat next to me in economy, premium economy, short-haul business class and even the 2-2-2 longhaul business class seats !!
I would be willing to pay €35 for a (guaranteed) empty seat next to me in economy. The airline is likely to be getting €70 for that seat which seems fair as there will be a reduction in weight & thus fuel cost for them too 🙂
However the problem is that the person sitting behind you is practically breathing down your neck in economy anyway 😱