A Seat Auction Question of the Day

How much would you pay for a little extra legroom?

Now that you’ve got that number in your head, let’s say the person next to you wanted to pay $5 more. Would you raise your bid?

Well, as the Wall Street Journal reports, many airlines are ready to find out.

More than 30 airlines around the world offer auctions to sell upgrades to first-class, business-class, or premium-economy seats. More will be launching auctions in 2016. Some even auction off the chance to have an empty seat beside you in coach.

I’m trying to figure out how the logistics of that empty seat will work, by the way. Will a bunch of people suddenly get new seat assignments, as they shuffle things around to accommodate the highest bidder? (Even if you assume that the highest bidder is the person who moves to the row with the empty seat, then the bidder’s former seat becomes empty, which means someone else needs to fill it, and so on. Or maybe they’ll auction off that row too.)

If you’re wondering whether you’re going to have to bid for your premium seat instead of paying for it when you buy your ticket, don’t worry—that doesn’t appear to be what’s happening here. As Consumerist reports, the airlines are happy to take your money in advance. They’ve just found a new way to make money off something that used to be free:

Auctions offer airlines an option to sell upgraded seats to passengers instead of offering the seats for free when it’s time to board.

There’s also already an app involved, as Fortune explains:

Virgin Airlines is also testing an auction process that would allow customers to upgrade to better available seats using an app called SeatBoost. The auction takes place right at the gate in the time leading up to boarding, with bidding starting at $10, $30, or $50 depending on the seat.

So. Would you participate in a seat auction? So far the WSJ is reporting that most auction winners are paying less for premium seating than they would if they had bought the premium seating when they booked their ticket, which means it might be a good deal. (A good deal for something that used to be free, but still.)

If you would participate in a seat auction, what would be your highest bid?

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