Now pay more to pre-book a window or aisle seat on an airline

If you’re travelling by Indigo –  you have to pay more if you pre-book a window or an aisle seat. Pre-booking a seat in the first two rows or near emergency exits in the 12th and 13th rows in an IndiGo flight will cost passengers more with the airline deciding to charge a premium for these seats. Window or an aisle seat will now cost more in an IndiGo flight The low-cost airline will charge the passenger a premium of Rs 500 for sitting in rows one, two, 12 and 13 on a domestic flight and Rs 800 for an international flight under its Indigo Seat Plus plan. [caption id=“attachment_1553287” align=“alignleft” width=“380”]  An IndiGo Airlines aircraft. Reuters[/caption] Though the airline has not indicated from when it would start charging the new rates, but in a circular to travel agents it said for all other window and aisle seats, which are pre-booked, a passenger would be charged Rs 200 for a domestic and Rs 300 for an international flight. Pre-booking all other middle seats would cost Rs 100 on a domestic and Rs 200 on international flights. Last week, the Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA) had allowed airlines to charge  for ‘unbundled services’ like check-in baggage, preferential seats, meals, snacks or drink (barring drinking water) and sports and musical instruments on their domestic flights. Air India, Jet Airways lower free baggage allowance IndiGo has followed the footstep of Air India, which last Monday had announced lowering of the free baggage allowance from 20 to 15 kg on the domestic sector. The national carrier had decided to charge a flat rate of about Rs 200-250 per kg on excess weight. The excess baggage charges currently vary between Rs 150-400 per kg depending upon the sector. Full-service airline Jet Airways on 12 May reduced free baggage allowance to 15 kg on all domestic routes. Pay more to avail priority services on SpiceJet Another airline, SpiceJet,  has launched four new ancillary products that offers customers more choices in terms of peace of mind and ease of journey, for very modest add-on fees. Spice Assist is a service that provides assistance to passengers at the airport for both departure and arrival. At an introductory fee of Rs 500 per passenger, the airline’s airport staff assists customers from check-in to the boarding gate, and thereafter at arrival from the baggage claim area to ground transportation. Priority Check-in allows passengers to beat the queue by checking-in at specially designated priority check-in counters. This service is available for a fee of Rs 200 per passenger one-way. Another service called, bag-out-first will ensure the customer’s baggage will be first out on the baggage claim belt along with other Priority-tagged bags.  At a nominal cost of Rs 100 per bag. Spice Assurance, a service that for Rs 35 per flight, compensates them for baggage loss, flight delays & cancellations beyond the usual compensation amounts. Spice Assist, Priority Check-in, and Spice Assurance must be bought at least two hours prior to the scheduled departure time of the flight.  Bag-out-first can be bought in advance, or at the time of check-in. Jet Airways and IndiGo have announced a steep hike in ticket cancellation charges. IndiGo has revised its cancellation policy and imposed a higher fees on passengers who cancel their tickets 2-48 hours before departure. For instance, those cancelling tickets more than 2 to 48 hours before departure have to pay Rs 2,250, up 50% from the earlier Rs 1,500. A person cancelling 2-7 days prior will have to shell out Rs 2,000, and a person who opts out 7-30 days before will have to pay Rs 1,500. Only customers who cancel 30 days or before, are charged Rs 1,250, as much as 20% lower than earlier. Those who cancel less than 2 hours before departure won’t get any refund. Jet Airways too has revised its cancellation charges from a flat Rs 1,050 on all domestic flights to penalties ranging from Rs 200 to Rs2,000. Higher the fare, the lower will be the cancellation charge. The lowest economy fare tickets will be non-refundable. The tickets priced a little more than the cheapest would attract a cancellation charge of Rs 2,000; the upper economy Rs 1,000; and premium class tickets the lowest penalty of Rs 250 to Rs 500. Before this change, the airline was charging Rs 5,000 for cancelling an international journey ticket and Rs. 3,000 for changing the journey date. For the domestic sector, the fee for cancelling or changing the date of journey stood at Rs 1,750. (With PTI inputs)