Cathay/Dragonair's "extra legroom" seats

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  1. #1

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    Cathay/Dragonair's "extra legroom" seats

    I see that Cathay and Dragonair are now advertising the availability of extra legroom economy seats for a surcharge. Are these none other than the emergency row seats that used to available to all passengers? It used to be that considerate check-in agents would try to allocate emergency row seats to taller passengers in need of some extra leg-room. Then with the advent of online seat selection, all of these seats would be snapped up immediately by people who weren't particularly in need of the extra room. Now they aren't even being treated as regular seats!


  2. #2

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    It is desperately sad how fast what was once (only 7 or 8 years ago) the world's finest airline is descending to being a very ordinary airline - I guess this is part of some sort of grand strategy by the Chinese Government to bring all Chinese carriers down to Air China level.

    This is just one symptom of many. The decline in food standards, particularly in business and first is another - these days the three classes (on the few routes where F still exists) get very, very similar food, with it just being plated a bit more nicely in J & F.

    Last edited by PDLM; 30-11-2009 at 12:27 AM.

  3. #3

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    saw on the news, the emergency exit seats (extra leg room), you need to paid @$700hkd.

    Also, for cx / marco polo member


  4. #4

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    It's not just Cathay. All the airlines seem to be moving to this appalling dumb-down model - which I guess is the problem. I won't fly budget airlines unless they are the only way to get to my destination - which meant that for many years there was no reason at all to fly them. More recently though it's impossible to get to some places on a proper airline! I can see it's hard for people like Cathay to compete against these low cost carriers, but when people like myself are prepared to pay extra for proper service, there MUST be some way to deliver it, surely????


  5. #5

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    Although I note from checking their website that they will still give these seats for free to high status Marco Polo club members.


  6. #6

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    Qantas and Singapore Airlines already have this charge.
    If you are a Silver or above CX Marco Polo member, you can reserve the seat at no charge.

    Personally, I don't like these seats anyway.


  7. #7

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    It is desperately sad how fast what was once (only 7 or 8 years ago) the world's finest airline is descending to being a very ordinary airline - I guess this is part of some sort of grand strategy by the Chinese Government to bring all Chinese carriers down to Air China level.
    Funny, was thinking about you the other day when we were discussing how we (a bunch of guys involved in a charity) could pool our spare miles and convert them to tickets which could be auctioned.

    Figured you'd still have some good will with and for CX and was going to ask you later in the week if you had a contact.

  8. #8

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    Interesting. I always thought that they block these rows until check-in or unless these seats have been specifically requested, so that they can be assigned to pax who need them, or otherwise match the criteria for pax sitting in an emergency exit row, i.e., able-bodied, can read English, etc. How wrong I was!

    As it is, CX economy class seats are just about industry standard in terms of pitch at 32".

    PDLM, FYI the standard economy class seat pitch on Air China is 34", as well as on Asiana, Malaysia and Thai Airways.

    I find that this is incredibly unfair to passengers of height because if they now want to sit in reasonable comfort in the emergency exit row they would have to shell out more money for it, OR suffer through the flight (imagine a flight to LHR/JFK!) in a space that is already cramped...

    Also, and this is more serious, I would NOT want a frail individual sitting in that row (ESPECIALLY not by the window!) in the event of a ditch when swift evacuation through emergency exits are deemed necessary, so I see a safety issue here and would be interested in knowing why the CAD permitted this.


  9. #9

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    No airline permits "frail" people to sit in the emergency exit row. This is clear from the press release and also from the website - only people who pay AND are able to operate the door may reserve these seats.

    On the "persons of height" debate ... there are only a few exit row seats on the aircraft - how should they allocate them? If you are a small wife of a tall man, do you get to sit in the comfort with your man, because he managed to score a seat? (based on the "tall" criteria). What if there are more than 6 tall men on the plane? Who loses out?

    What about me? I want to work on a flight. I cannot open my laptop in any economy seat other than one with no-one in front (ie an exit or bulkhead seat) so I find it really hard to work ... is my legitimate need any less than that of the tall bloke? Both of us could purchase biz class if we really wanted our "needs" met......(and on longhaul, I do, due to a previous blood clot).

    The ones that really bug me are the damn babies. Babies get preference on the bulkhead seats (where the basinettes are located) - these are my favourite seat... unless the seat next to me is occupied by a mother with a baby! And if the family travels together, the WHOLE family seems to get the preferential seats!

    I guess, at least money is a tried and tested method of discriminating between people for items of different perceived value. I guess we cannot get too annoyed with Cathay decides to use it....


  10. #10

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    I'm aware of the seat pitch - but the decline is more to do with the soft product (food, wine, service, benefits) than with the hard product (the AVOD system is, for example, excellent, as are the new F suites).

    CX obviously has to meet the requirement for able-bodied people in exit seats, and they make that clear in the T&Cs; moreover, if you book and pay for a legroom seat and they decide you don't meet the requirements then you will get moved and you won't get a refund of your US$100!

    @Min07

    I guess CX would say you should buy business class, but they have devalued that service so much whilst increasing prices that it's no surprise these days that they only get a few paid J passengers and they then fill the cabin up with op-ups from the heavily over-booked Y cabin.

    Frankly I think CX has utterly lost the plot regarding business class.

    Last edited by PDLM; 30-11-2009 at 02:13 PM.

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