Airlines have set their sights on the last remaining perks of economy class.

01

Some time ago, a friend of mine took Hainan Airlines from Edinburgh back to Beijing. Shortly after boarding, he sent me a message saying that the cabin was surprisingly empty, with several rows around him unoccupied, so he could lie down comfortably and rest all the way back to Beijing that night.

The next day after landing, I asked him how well he had slept. He said he was completely exhausted and asked if we could reschedule our dinner for two days later. I was a little surprised and asked him why he hadn't slept well when there were so many empty seats available.

My friend said he had been careless. After the cabin lights were turned off, he noticed the entire row next to him was empty, so he moved over to lie down. Not long after he fell asleep, a flight attendant came over, woke him up, and asked him to return to the seat marked on his boarding pass. She then gently told him that if he wanted to keep lying down, he could pay for a triple seat package. My friend asked, since the seats were empty anyway, and his lying there for a few hours would not affect other people, why he had to pay extra. The flight attendant only emphasized that the flight offered a paid triple-seat service, and no one could occupy other seats without purchasing the service.

After listening to his story, I initially thought it was just a particular crew that implemented the rules too strictly. But after searching on social media later, I found out that not being allowed to lie down freely in Hainan Airlines' economy class has become a common experience for many long-haul passengers.

Relevant posts have appeared intermittently since the start of this year, and complaints have increased significantly in recent months. Some passengers who saw an entire empty row on the plane were asked to go back to their seats right after they lay down, and some foreign passengers who wanted to occupy one separate row each with their travel companions were quickly stopped by the crew.

In the comment section, some passengers mentioned that they could still lie down freely when taking Hainan Airlines last year, but the rules seem to have changed this year. More people only found out when checking in that Hainan Airlines had already put price tags on those empty rows of seats.

A photo of the counter at a European airport circulating online shows that Hainan Airlines' paid upgrade price is 760 euros, the seats in the first row of economy class and the emergency exit seats cost 110 euros, and if you want to have exclusive use of a triple seat, you need to buy the two adjacent empty seats, with a total price of 220 euros.

It is not new for airlines to sell extra seats for one passenger in economy class.

Air New Zealand launched Skycouch in 2011, setting up dedicated triple seats in the cabins of some Boeing 777 and 787 aircraft. The leg rest under the seats can be flipped up to form a sofa bed about 1.55 meters long and 74 centimeters wide.

Among domestic Chinese airlines, China Southern Airlines also launched the one-passenger-multiple-seats service in 2019, and Air China is currently selling adjacent empty seats in its app.

Hainan Airlines has drawn extra attention recently not because it is the first airline to sell the one-passenger-multiple-seats service, but because the strict rule enforcement on board together with the clearly marked prices at the counters is the core reason for frequent complaints on social media recently.

After all, although passengers generally accept that front-row seats and emergency exit seats are charged, the situation of empty rows on long-haul flights is different.

If the passenger load factor is not high and there are still entire rows of economy class seats unoccupied after the cabin door is closed, it is not uncommon for passengers to move over to rest. Most domestic long-haul flights turn a blind eye to the behavior of economy class passengers lying down on empty seats. Therefore, what really upsets passengers is that Hainan Airlines has completely put an end to the possibility of getting a free lie-down by luck on board.

02

When I used to write civil aviation articles, I put forward a point of view many times: airlines are increasingly becoming a business that creates pain points for customers first, and then provides paid solutions.

Hainan Airlines' move to prevent passengers from lying down for free follows the exact same logic. The so-called "waking up lying passengers" service is exactly that airlines take back the comfort right that was accidentally given to passengers in the past due to low passenger load factor, and then mark a separate price on it.

Looking back many years ago, a flight ticket usually included checked baggage, and passengers could also select seats in advance. Later, airlines found that customers had different demands for each service, so they could completely separate these services from the ticket price.

Later, some US airlines went even further: not only could the cheapest tickets have restrictions even on carry-on baggage, but if passengers did not pay the seat selection fee, their seats could only be randomly assigned by the system during check-in.

Airlines call it pay-as-you-go, but consumers feel so annoyed that they want to complain: the things they used to get with a ticket are taken away from the ticket one by one. However, this practice has a very obvious effect on airlines' revenue.

Aviation consulting agency IdeaWorks estimates that global airlines' ancillary revenue reached 157 billion US dollars in 2025, accounting for about 15.7% of the total industry revenue.

It is more noteworthy that the average revenue related to ticket prices of traditional airlines decreased slightly in 2024, while the ancillary revenue contributed by each passenger increased by 5.3%.

To put it bluntly, tickets can be sold cheaper, even so low that airlines can hardly make money only from ticket fares. But as long as passengers keep paying before and after boarding, the business can still keep running.

It is worth mentioning that some domestic intercontinental routes used to rely on local government subsidies to cultivate the market. After 2024, the scope of route subsidies has been greatly restricted, which weakened the ability of airlines to muddle along relying on subsidies.

The Russia-Ukraine conflict has also changed the China-Europe aviation market.

European airlines cannot fly over Russian airspace. British Airways and Virgin Atlantic have successively withdrawn from some Chinese markets, and Lufthansa has also cut some of its capacity for China routes. Chinese airlines took the opportunity to expand their market share in the China-Europe market, and low-price competition has become increasingly fierce as a result.

However, the European routes are long, so fuel and crew costs are difficult to reduce. Especially in months when outbound travel demand is weak, even if ticket prices have dropped significantly, there may still be many empty seats in the cabin. Therefore, airlines like Hainan Airlines began to look for new revenue sources on the same flight.

If the two adjacent empty seats can be sold for 220 euros, airlines hardly need to add any extra cost. On long-haul European routes, this extra income is extremely attractive. After all, before the aircraft door is closed, airlines cannot determine how many seats will be left in the end. After all passengers have boarded, those seats, even if they remain empty, will fly to the destination with the plane and cannot be reserved for sale on the next flight.

But at this point in the business operation, it becomes inevitable for flight attendants to wake up passengers who are lying down for free. If someone pays 220 euros for the triple seat, but the passenger next to him can get the same experience for free after takeoff, no one will be willing to pay for it next time. To put it simply, if airlines want to sell those empty rows at a real price, they must first eliminate the possibility of passengers lying down for free.

03

From the perspective of airlines, charging for extra seats is not completely unreasonable. What passengers buy is the seat marked on their boarding pass, and they do not get the right to use other empty seats in the cabin at the same time. The commercial logic for airlines to sell remaining seats before takeoff also makes sense.

Besides, for passengers who are not willing to pay for business class fares but urgently want to sleep for a few hours on night flights, buying two extra seats is still attractive.

A fully flat long-haul business class seat usually takes up the cabin space of three to four economy class seats. If passengers only care about sleeping and have no interest in lounges and fancy meals, the triple seat just fills the gap between ordinary economy class and business class.

However, the rationality of the charge does not mean that Hainan Airlines' current practice is decent enough.

When ordinary economy class seats are put together, the armrests can be raised, but there are still gaps between the seats. The lateral length of three seats is also very limited, so adults usually can only rest in a curled posture, and they are easy to hit the back of the seat when turning over slightly.

After the plane enters the turbulence zone, the ordinary seatbelt may not be suitable for lying horizontally.

Air New Zealand has done a much more mature job in this regard.

Passengers who purchase Skycouch will get seat cushions and bedding. The airline also provides special loop seatbelts for lying down, and the flight attendant will explain the usage after boarding to ensure the safety of passengers during the cruise phase.

Lufthansa's Sleeper's Row is more similar to Hainan Airlines' service. It also uses remaining ordinary economy class seats before takeoff, with a charge of 159 to 229 euros, but it is equipped with mattresses, as well as pillows and blankets of business class quality. In comparison, Hainan Airlines only added the words "lie-flat" on the price list, while the supporting services did not keep up.

Such operation also leaves the most difficult part to the flight attendants. Waking up guests after they fall asleep easily causes dissatisfaction, but if they allow other passengers to use the empty rows for free, passengers who have paid will feel that they are at a disadvantage. If different crews have slightly different standards for implementation, the rules will seem loose and tight at different times. A more appropriate way is to inform all passengers of the remaining available seats and the corresponding prices uniformly before the cabin lights are turned off.

Airlines can open the purchase through the in-flight mini-program, and put obvious signs on the seats after the transaction is completed. What passengers buy should not only be the empty seats, but also the supplies suitable for lying down and clear safety instructions. In this way, flight attendants do not need to "enforce the rules" after passengers fall asleep, and passengers who do not make the purchase can know the boundary in advance.

From the perspective of industry trends, economy class sleeping services will be split into more detailed items. In November this year, Air New Zealand plans to launch Skynest, where economy class passengers can pay 495 New Zealand dollars to rest in a real sleep pod for four hours. United Airlines also plans to launch the Relax Row that can be turned into a sofa bed starting from 2027.

In the future, what long-haul flights sell to passengers may not just be a chair for passengers to sit on from takeoff to landing. How long you sleep and how much space you occupy can all become new chargeable items. My friend told me later that he actually does not mind paying for the triple seat, but he just cannot accept being woken up and told the rules after he has already fallen asleep.

The free lie-down on board may really disappear, but after airlines take away this lucky benefit, they should at least leave paid passengers with relatively decent space and services.

This article is from the WeChat Official Account "Travel Daily", written by theodore Xishao, published with authorization from 36Kr.