Aegean Rolled Out A Devaluation – And Framed It As An Elite Benefit

I am a huge fan of Aegean Airlines. Not only do they have an incredibly generous award chart for Star Alliance flights but they also have an airline that is very friendly and always improving.

However, with other airlines throwing out various devaluations to their perks or awards, Aegean is not going to be the one holding back. They have recently rolled out a new seat selection process and they frame it to their Gold members as a benefit.

Aegean Now Charging For Up Front Seats

Link: Aegean’s New Seat Selection Charts

How it used to work with Aegean for seat selection was that you would be able to check-in at 48 hours before departure and select your seats at that time. Gold members always had a broader selection of seats available than regular customers.

I always selected 3C or 5C (depending on what the first row behind business class was) when I flew Aegean economy. I like that spot as it is the first off after business. I would faithfully check in at the 48 hour mark and grab those seats.

But, now Aegean has decided that they are going to go after these seats as a new revenue stream by charging all passengers for those Up Front seats or the Extra Legroom seats.

A “Benefit” For Aegean Gold Members – Getting a Discount (on what used to be free)

Aegean does say that Gold members now get to select their standard seats for free at any time (so no more waiting until the check-in window) but past that, it is not good news for Gold members. Here is the language Aegean used for their Gold members in regards to this new charging system:

Check your updated Gold benefits!

Here are the charges for these seats:

This is all for flights starting February 12 but from bookings made after last week. While it seems that the seat behind business does have a bit more room, I am not sure how much space it really is. Also, since they can simply expand/shrink business class by moving the curtain, I doubt the actual seats are not anything that much more special.

The exit row seats are the logical seats for more space and I am not really surprised that they are charging for those. I am just a bit surprised that they are charging Aegean Gold members for those seats – with no discount at all.

It is not uncommon to have airlines and hotels spin a negative change in some kind of “positive” light but I never enjoy reading about them. This is another one of those examples and I think it is really petty of them to charge their Gold members for these seats at all.