Paid seat selection now on China Southern international routes

There’s a growing trend in the airlines to charge for seat selection. Following suit, China Southern Airlines is now the latest one to start charging for prior seat selection. The airline has already started charging extra from its customers starting May this year.
 
China Southern Airlines in a statement said that the customers will now be able to make seat selection after paying extra only on 12 international routes, including Dubai, Paris, London, Vancouver, New York and Los Angeles. This will be applicable for flights departing from Guangzhou. The airline also indicated that this provision might also be extended to domestic flights as well in the future.

A spokesperson of China Southern Airlines said that those who are holding membership of the airline will be required to pay $80 for seat selection, while the non-members will have to pay $97. In fact, this has brought added financial benefits for the airline as it has been able to earn $7,250 from 83 orders for seat selection up to May 12, 2015.

The practice for charging for seat selection is already in vogue with major international carriers such as American Airlines and United Airlines earning significantly. In China, national carrier Air China was the first to start charging for seat selection in August 2014. Later on, Chinese carriers such as China Eastern Airlines, Hainan Airlines and Tianjin Airlines followed suit and offered seat selection to its customers at additional charges.

According to a study, the move for charging extra for seat selection has been strongly resented by air travelers since they consider it to be yet another form of ticket price hike.