This is an open letter to EasyJet
Dear EasyJet
Late last year I read one of your press releases, the one about you trialing allocated seating on your flights. It said that you were going to try this out on selected flights to see if it was profitable and popular, interesting that those two objectives were listed in that order. When you have tried this, and it will be profitable and it will be popular, please roll it out with all possible speed. So, in your order then:
Profit: This will replace the universally disliked ‘Speedy Boarding’. There are two profit areas. When a customer books a flight online, they currently have the option to add speedy boarding, for a price of course. Instead you will be offering them the option to choose the seats that they want, again for a price. Those who don’t choose to pay for the allocated seat will have to take their chances and hope for a reasonable seat, as they do now when they join the scrum that is your current boarding policy. However, when they come to check in online, you will need to allocate them a seat at that point. Here is the extra revenue opportunity. If they don’t like the allocated seat, they can chose another one from those still available, again at a cost to them.
Popularity: This is the single most important issue with your current boarding system. Everyone hates the ludicrous haphazard process that boarding is. It used to be that the staff would repeatedly tell the rabble who hadn’t forked out for speedy boarding to sit down, they never did and when they were finally allowed to board there would be a stampede for the exit gate. Allocated seating will do more than anything else to calm your passengers down and make them enjoy the whole EasyJet experience.
If you haven’t started trialing it yet, don’t bother, just book yourself on flight on Jet2 and see how simple, profitable, comfortable and popular it is for Jet2 and their passengers.