Jet Airways allows 'choice' seat bookings through agents

New Delhi: Private carrier Jet Airways said its customers can now book their seat of choice through travel agents as well, a pre-paid facility which so far was available only on the airline's website. Travel agents can now pre-select seats up to 48 hours prior to departure for guests booked by them and such seats would be available on a pre-payment of Rs 500 per passenger on domestic flights and Rs 800 for international travel, Jet Airways said in a release.

"The pre-selection of seat initiative is based on strong guest feedback, as it affords them a comfortable cabin experience and the convenience and ease by which such a selection can be made. We are confident that this option will prove extremely popular with our guests," Jet Airways Chief Commercial Officer Raj Sivakumar said.

"We appreciate the move by Director General of Civil Aviation of unbundling of services charges," he added. Aviation regulator DGCA had recently allowed airlines to charge fees for 'unbundled services' like check-in baggage, preferential seats, meals, snacks or drink (barring drinking water) and sports and musical instruments on their domestic flights.

The scheme enables guests the opportunity to pre-select their preferred seat, while booking through the travel agents, the airline said adding this will be valid on select international and domestic routes serviced by the airlines' Boeing 737 aircraft to begin with, and will include the entire network shortly, Jet Airways said.

The 'Seat Select' option is available on domestic routes between Delhi, Mumbai, Bangalore, Kolkata, Chennai and Hyderabad for flights operated on Boeing 737 aircraft. Similarly, the offer is available on international routes such as Singapore, Bangkok, Colombo, Kathmandu, Dhaka, Doha, Sharjah, Dammam, Kuwait, Bahrain, Dubai, Muscat, Jeddah, Riyadh and Abu Dhabi, the airline said.

Jet Airways, however, said that the scheme is not valid for its flights to Abu Dhabi and Bahrain. The pre selection of seat will continue to be free of charge for executive and business class as well as for the Platinum and Gold members of the loyalty programme JetPrivilege, it added.