Which is cheaper? A mid priced fare or a cheap fare with seat reservations?

I’m in the depths of planning a mad trip in May to Lisbon at the moment to enjoy music that is offensive to the ears.

But to get there, I’m going to need to fly. Now, I had two choices – and for no reason at all – I went with Brussels Airlines.

But is their cheapest fare the best? It depends if you want to play the roulette game that is Seat Reservations.

I’ve got to admit – I’m a sucker for a window seat. I can live with aisle seats (although I’ll be looking out of the window), and as for middle seats… well – I’m sure we can all agree that middle seats aren’t fun at all.

And I don’t like a game where I stand a chance of being stuck in the middle seat – so for me, a window seat is worth the money. Plus I get a bunch of photos out of it.. so two for two for me.

So, let’s compare and contrast fares. Brussels Airlines have three fare levels at the Economy end of the scale:

• Check and Go (their hand luggage only fare)
• Light and relax (the more classic economy fare)
• Flex&Fast Fare (the more traditional flexible fare).
  

For those who are interested – here’s the full variant list.

So, I’ve got a two segment flight coming. That’s acceptable (as there’s no direct flight from Birmingham). I pulled up my dates I need to work with… and here we are:

Three options open to me: a £90.89 fare, £107.89 and £229.29.

Let’s price out the Check and Go fare pricing up at £90.89. This is for a seat on a plane. Clicking through, I get the confirmation on the fare price:

So far, so good.

Let’s get to the nasty part. Brussels Airlines will happily up-sell you seats. At £8.99 or €10 a segment.

What does the grand total for this come to then? £108.67

Hmm. Now as you saw above the Light and Relax fare came in cheaper at £107.89.

Seats free this time…

And the grand total:

Whilst the fare difference is a mere 78 pence... I have a lot more for the 78p saving

• The ability to check a bag (not that I’m doing that).
• Partial refundability of the fare
• Ability to change flights if possible
• More “Loops” (the Brussels Airlines currency)

When looking a basic fares/light fares, it’s always worth comparing with the next fare up to see what benefits you get… and by the time you factor other things in (like seats).

You may be surprised at the saving that can be made – and the extra benefits you get…

And why didn’t I credit this to Miles & More?

One simple reason: It’s a K Fare. For a mere 125 Miles & More per segment… I’ll take the cash value with Loops instead. Both are not useful currencies for me – but at least my Loops number is far easier to remember than my Miles & More number.

That thing is near enough impossible to remember…

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