My sister has a flight on NW today. She called the airline last night
because at the time of her reservation there were only middle seats
available, and she wanted to change her seat assignment. The phone agent
told her that there were now plenty of window and aisle seats available,
and that she could change the seat assignment for a $15 fee.

I've never heard of such a thing. Are they intentionally showing window
and aisle seats as reserved to the travel agents, so the agents will
book passengers into middle seats, so the passenger will have to pay for
a seat assignment change?

One thing the phone agent let slip was that there was only a seat
assignment change charge because the ticket was purchased through a
travel agent (this was a business trip and the corporate travel agent
got the tickets). If the ticket had been purchased directly from
Northwest then there would be no seat assignment change charge.

Yes, it's normal. Airlines are scrambling for revenue anywhere they
can find it, and seat selection nuisance fees have become quite common,
as has a charge for checking a second bag. It's also common for them
to use a variety of tricks to persuade you to buy from the airline's
own web site rather than over the phone or through agents.

John Levine wrote:

They pay no commission, other than to corporate travel agents, so why do
they care if the ticket is purchased on their own web site.

Yes.......I think you will see more of these type of fees in the
future due to the rising fuel costs.

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http://www.moviesitearchive.com/travel

On May 17, 7:37 am, SMS geemail.com> wrote:

jessica_smith_nyc wrote:

Don't NW give you the ability to change seats online, even if purchased
elsewhere?

mrtravel wrote:

She tried to do it online and it wouldn't let her.

jessica_smith_nyc wrote:

Good, these sorts of fees will help reduce over-crowding on planes as
more people get fed up with this kind of thing. Fewer passengers will
mean lower fuel usage as the weight of the plane will be less. Fuel
costs will go down, though unfortunately at the expense of a ticket sale.

SMS wrote:

Really? Why wouldn't they just simply buy the ticket from the airline to
avoid the charge?

Booking (or changing a booking) on the phone with an agent costs $ 15.00
She should have done it "online" at NWA.com

Rudy wrote:

She tried, it wouldn't let her change it. Maybe you have to book online
in order to be able to make changes online.