英語(yǔ)生活實(shí)用文摘：你知道航班選座位的學(xué)問(wèn)嗎

　　你知道航班選座位的學(xué)問(wèn)嗎?下面是學(xué)習(xí)啦小編整理的英語(yǔ)生活實(shí)用文摘，歡迎大家閱讀!

　　When airline customers try to choose seats while purchasing tickets, what they see may not be what they can get.
　　Airlines routinely block coach seats for a variety of reasons, reducing the pool of available seats to reserve free of charge in advance when you book a trip。

　　On many flights now, 30% to 40% of coach seats are held back by the airline for premium customers, people with special needs or available only for a fee. Facing what look like, but often aren't, high odds of getting a lousy seat at check-in, sitting apart from children or even getting bumped from an overbooked flight, many travelers feel pressured to pay for a reserved seat。

　　That pressure has increased as airlines have expanded the number of seats they block from early assignment and added more rows of extra-legroom coach seats, which are offered free or at a discount to elite-level frequent fliers but sold to others. Airlines say all the seats they block or assign for a fee are opened up shortly before departure and customers without advanced seat assignments almost always get accommodated. There is a higher risk of getting involuntarily bumped off flights if you don't have a seat assignment, but it is rare。

　　Doug Berg, a frequent business traveler from Detroit, was surprised to see the only spots open in coach were Economy Plus seats with extra legroom for a United Airlines flight from Denver to Spokane, Wash., in May. He had a seat for his Detroit-to-Denver leg, but didn't realize his travel agent hadn't been able to reserve a seat for the flight to Spokane until he went to check in online and print boarding passes。

　　Worried he might get bumped, which would have been a huge problem, since it was a night flight and he had to be at work at 7 a.m. the next day, he paid United an extra to reserve an Economy Plus seat。

　　At the airport, kiosks showed lots of available free seats in the economy section of the Boeing 737. At the gate, Mr. Berg polled fellow passengers about when they got their seat assignment and learned many reserved coach seats a few hours before departure. Mr. Berg felt ripped off because it appeared United had created an artificial shortage。

　　'Either seats are available or they are not,' he said. 'It frosted me having paid a fee to get an assigned seat to ensure I would get to Spokane while there were seats in my class available.'

　　Mr. Berg wrote to United to complain and the airline responded saying if he sent documentation, the airline would refund the .

　　I had a similar experience on a recent United Express regional jet flight. At booking, no seats were available to reserve. Two days before departure, two Economy Plus seats became available, and I paid to grab one. The next day, 24 hours before departure, 10 seats opened for free seat assignment。

　　United says customers with tickets but no seat assignment almost always get seats at check-in. Seats without extra legroom open up as customers decide to pay the fee for Economy Plus and elite-level customers get upgraded to first class or to Economy Plus. Silver-level frequent fliers, for example, don't get Economy Plus seats free of charge until 24 hours before departure. As they get moved to open Economy Plus seats, 'traditional' coach seats open for passengers without seat assignments。

　　On average, United says, 22% of its economy seats are Economy Plus. But that runs up to 40% on some planes. When there is little demand for Economy Plus, a significant percentage of passengers may face the anxiety of no seat assignment。

　　'In the hugely overwhelming majority of situations, people will get a seat assigned before departure,' United spokesman Rahsaan Johnson said。

　　American Airlines blocks a large number of coach seats, both with extra legroom and without, to make them available to customers with top-level status in its frequent-flier program on every flight. Those seats show up on seat maps as occupied for customers without elite status, leading them to conclude seats are scarce. This prompts a portion of them to pony up。

　　Two weeks before its July 16 departure, American Flight 34 from Los Angeles to New York showed only two middle seats in the back of the airplane available, plus 11 Preferred seats─regular coach seats toward the front without extra legroom─available for a .44 fee. Logging in with elite status, however, showed the same flight had far more regular coach seat availability. Flight 34 actually had 12 open window seats and nine open aisle seats。

　　A week later on Tuesday, the seat map available to non-elites showed only one available middle seat, 38E, in the back of the Boeing 767-200, plus the same 11 Preferred seats at .44 each. But elite-level customers saw a total of 41 of 128 coach seats empty。

　　American says it doesn't think blocking open seats from view pressures customers into paying for extra-legroom or Preferred seats. The number of seats blocked for elite-level customers varies with demand and 'a large percentage of specific seat assignments are still available to all customers at no additional cost,' spokeswoman Cameron King said. 'And for our customers who value additional legroom, a certain type of seat or the ability to reserve a specific seat, we have made products available for them as well.'

　　Unlike American, Delta Air Lines shows the Preferred seats it has held back for elite customers, but doesn't allow regular customers to book them until 24 hours before departure. At that time, Preferred seats are offered for a fee to nonelite-level customers。

　　US Airways also blocks seats for elite-level customers and labels them Preferred. The airline sells what it calls Choice seats in rows near the front of the cabin for to one-way that don't have extra legroom but do have early boarding privileges. On the whole, US Airways says 9.5% of its coach seats are labeled Choice. Preferred, Choice and exit-row seating, which is sometimes sold for a fee, account for an average of 30% of coach seats on the airline's planes。

　　Those seats open up to customers without seat assignments who don't want to pay starting 24 hours before departure, US Airways said。

　　Consider US Airways Flight 12 from Phoenix to New York on Wednesday. Two days before departure, a seat map showed only 12 Choice seats available for purchase. A day later, less than 24 hours before departure, nine coach seats, five of them middle seats, were available free of charge. Also, 11 Choice seats remained and two exit-row seats opened。

　　許多飛機(jī)乘客喜歡在購(gòu)票的同時(shí)選擇座位，但所見(jiàn)和所得并不相同。

　　基于諸多因素，航空公司常會(huì)鎖定一些經(jīng)濟(jì)艙座席，這使得人們?cè)陬A(yù)定機(jī)票時(shí)可以提前免費(fèi)預(yù)留的座位有所減少。

　　如今在許多航班上，航空公司會(huì)為貴賓乘客和有特殊需求的乘客預(yù)留30%到40%的經(jīng)濟(jì)艙座位，普通乘客預(yù)定則需要付費(fèi)。面對(duì)可能出現(xiàn)的情況(可能性看似很高，其實(shí)通常來(lái)說(shuō)并非如此)，例如辦理登機(jī)時(shí)被分配到糟糕的座位、和自己的孩子分開(kāi)坐甚至由于航班超額預(yù)定而坐不上這趟飛機(jī)，許多旅客倍感壓力而選擇付費(fèi)訂座。

　　如今這種壓力更大了，因?yàn)楹娇展緦⒏嘧粍澐衷诹丝商崆邦A(yù)留的范圍之外，并增加了多排加長(zhǎng)了伸腿空間的座位，這些座位會(huì)免費(fèi)或打折提供給貴賓常旅客，而向普通旅客則需要收費(fèi)。航空公司表示，他們鎖定的或者收費(fèi)的座位都會(huì)在起飛前不久全部開(kāi)放，沒(méi)有優(yōu)先分配座位的乘客一般總還是會(huì)得到安置。此時(shí)如果沒(méi)分到座位，坐不上這趟航班的風(fēng)險(xiǎn)更高，不過(guò)這種情況很少見(jiàn)。

　　道格伯格(Doug Berg)來(lái)自底特律，商務(wù)出行非常頻繁。5月份他搭乘美國(guó)聯(lián)合航空(United Airlines)的航班由丹佛飛往華盛頓斯波坎(Spokane)，他驚訝地發(fā)現(xiàn)，經(jīng)濟(jì)艙內(nèi)開(kāi)放的都是擁有加長(zhǎng)伸腿空間的豪華經(jīng)濟(jì)艙座席。在從底特律到丹佛的航程中，他訂到了一個(gè)座位，但直到他在線(xiàn)辦理登機(jī)并打印登機(jī)牌時(shí)，才知道旅行代理人未能幫他在飛往斯波坎的航班上預(yù)留座位。

　　他很擔(dān)心自己會(huì)無(wú)法登機(jī)，這將是個(gè)大麻煩，因?yàn)槟鞘且归g航班，而他必須在第二天早上七點(diǎn)開(kāi)始工作。于是他多付了44美元預(yù)定了豪華經(jīng)濟(jì)艙的座位。

　　到了機(jī)場(chǎng)，自助值機(jī)臺(tái)顯示這架波音737客機(jī)的經(jīng)濟(jì)艙仍有大量可免費(fèi)預(yù)定的空座位。在登機(jī)口，伯格詢(xún)問(wèn)同行的乘客何時(shí)被分配到座位，得知許多人都是在起飛前幾小時(shí)預(yù)定了經(jīng)濟(jì)艙座位。伯格感覺(jué)自己被敲詐了，因?yàn)槊缆?lián)航似乎是人為制造了座位短缺的假象。

　　他說(shuō)：“座位無(wú)非就是有空沒(méi)空兩種狀態(tài)。在我的艙位有空座的情況下，我被迫花錢(qián)選座以確保自己能到達(dá)斯波坎，這很讓人寒心。” 　　伯格寫(xiě)信向美聯(lián)航投訴，該公司回復(fù)說(shuō)如果他發(fā)來(lái)證明文件，公司將退還44美元。

　　最近我乘坐美聯(lián)航快運(yùn)(United Express)的一趟支線(xiàn)航班也有相似的遭遇。訂票時(shí)，沒(méi)有座位可供預(yù)定。出發(fā)前兩天，有兩個(gè)豪華經(jīng)濟(jì)艙的座位可以預(yù)定，我花了39美元搶到一個(gè)。第二天，也就是起飛前24小時(shí)，又有了10個(gè)免費(fèi)分配的座位。

　　美聯(lián)航說(shuō)，訂票未訂座的乘客一般都會(huì)在值機(jī)柜臺(tái)分到座位。當(dāng)有乘客決定付費(fèi)預(yù)定豪華經(jīng)濟(jì)艙座位、貴賓乘客升級(jí)至頭等艙或豪華經(jīng)濟(jì)艙時(shí)，常規(guī)空間的座位就會(huì)開(kāi)放。以銀卡常旅客為例，他們?cè)谄痫w前24小時(shí)才會(huì)免費(fèi)獲得豪華經(jīng)濟(jì)艙座位。隨著這些人的座位移至豪華經(jīng)濟(jì)艙，“常規(guī)”經(jīng)濟(jì)艙座位就會(huì)開(kāi)放給沒(méi)有分配到座位的旅客。

　　美聯(lián)航表示，他們平均22%的經(jīng)濟(jì)艙座位是豪華經(jīng)濟(jì)艙，但在有些飛機(jī)上會(huì)達(dá)到40%。當(dāng)豪華經(jīng)濟(jì)艙的需求很小時(shí)，相當(dāng)一部分乘客可能就得因?yàn)樽环峙鋯?wèn)題而焦慮了。

　　美聯(lián)航新聞發(fā)言人雷薩恩?約翰遜(Rahsaan Johnson)說(shuō)：“在絕大多數(shù)的情況下，乘客在出發(fā)前都能分配到座位。”

　　美國(guó)航空(American Airlines)在每架航班上鎖定了大量經(jīng)濟(jì)艙座位，不僅有加長(zhǎng)空間座位，也有常規(guī)座位，以便提供給常旅客計(jì)劃中的高級(jí)別乘客。對(duì)于非高級(jí)別乘客來(lái)說(shuō)，這些座位在座位圖上顯示已被占用，令他們認(rèn)為座位緊缺。這促使他們中的一部分人加錢(qián)選座。

　　7月16日由洛杉磯飛往紐約的美國(guó)航空34號(hào)航班在出發(fā)前兩周只顯示后排有兩個(gè)中間的座位有空，外加11個(gè)預(yù)定費(fèi)用56.44美元的受歡迎座位──靠前而無(wú)加長(zhǎng)伸腿空間的經(jīng)濟(jì)艙座位。以貴賓身份登錄系統(tǒng)，則顯示同一航班上有多得多的經(jīng)濟(jì)艙座位可供選擇：實(shí)際上有12個(gè)靠窗的座位和九個(gè)靠過(guò)道的座位。

　　一星期后的星期二，非貴賓身份登錄后的座位圖顯示，在這架波音767-200型飛機(jī)上，只剩后部的一個(gè)中間座位38E，以及同樣的每個(gè)需收費(fèi)56.44美元的11個(gè)受歡迎座位。但是貴賓級(jí)別的乘客看到的是128個(gè)經(jīng)濟(jì)艙座位中的41個(gè)都有空余。

　　美國(guó)航空公司說(shuō)他們并不認(rèn)同在顯示圖中鎖定空余座位會(huì)迫使乘客購(gòu)買(mǎi)加長(zhǎng)空間的座位或者受歡迎座位。其新聞發(fā)言人卡梅倫?金(Cameron King)說(shuō)，為貴賓乘客所保留的座位數(shù)量因需求而異，“大部分特定區(qū)域的座位仍向所有乘客開(kāi)放而無(wú)需額外付費(fèi)。至于那些喜歡加長(zhǎng)空間的乘客，我們同樣為他們打造了特定產(chǎn)品，讓他們能夠選擇特定類(lèi)別的座位或者提前預(yù)定某一個(gè)座位。”

　　與美國(guó)航空不同，達(dá)美航空(Delta Air Lines)會(huì)在圖上顯示為貴賓乘客預(yù)留的受歡迎座位，但直到起飛前24小時(shí)才允許普通乘客預(yù)定。那時(shí)，受歡迎座位會(huì)收費(fèi)提供給非貴賓乘客。

　　全美航空(US Airways)同樣為貴賓乘客鎖定部分座位，并標(biāo)為受歡迎座位。這家航空公司銷(xiāo)售所謂的“精選座位”，這些經(jīng)濟(jì)艙座位單程售價(jià)為五至99美元、靠近機(jī)艙前部、沒(méi)有加長(zhǎng)空間但可以?xún)?yōu)先登機(jī)。全美航空表示，總體來(lái)看，有9.5%的經(jīng)濟(jì)艙座位被標(biāo)為精選。受歡迎座位、精選座位和靠近逃生門(mén)的座位平均占據(jù)機(jī)上座位的30%，有時(shí)會(huì)收費(fèi)提供。

　　全美航空還說(shuō)，那些座位會(huì)在起飛前24小時(shí)開(kāi)放給還沒(méi)有安排座位、不愿付費(fèi)的乘客。

　　以全美航空7月10日由菲尼克斯飛往紐約的12號(hào)航班為例，出發(fā)前兩天，座位圖顯示只有12個(gè)精選座位可供付費(fèi)選擇。一天后，也就是起飛前24小時(shí)，九個(gè)經(jīng)濟(jì)艙座位免費(fèi)提供，其中五個(gè)是中間座位。同時(shí)還剩余11個(gè)精選座位和兩排靠近逃生門(mén)的座位開(kāi)放供選擇。