COST OF COMFORT

Teacher Tina Perrault of Richland, Wash., said she'd pay $25 for a comfortable seat on an Allegiant Air flight from Las Vegas to the Pacific Northwest.

Just before paying Allegiant $3 per bag to check luggage on a flight from Las Vegas to Fort Collins., Colo., Devin and Pamela Kurtz said they'd rather save money taking whatever seats happen to be open.

The value of comfort in the sky is tough to gauge because fliers like Perrault and the Kurtz couple vary widely in what they're willing to pay for the intangible commodity.

But airlines, faced with more pressure than ever to depress fares to attract customers, can no longer afford to ignore any potential revenue source -- even if it comes from charges for the few extra inches of legroom that comes with an exit row seat.

That's why Allegiant, which already charges passengers $11 for an assigned seat, is taking a la carte pricing a step further by installing software to allow the airline to adjust the price of preferred seats based on demand and location in the cabin.

"It certainly is aggressive," said Jay Sorensen, president of IdeaWorks, a Shorewood, Wis.-based airline consulting firm. "But many things they have done have been aggressive and have been successful."

It's that type of aggressive move that has placed Allegiant at the forefront of the industry when it comes to boosting ancillary revenue, or money coming from everything that isn't airfare. It can include charges for preferred seating assignments, checking bags, the sale of snacks and even hotel and rental car packages.

On board an Allegiant flight, passengers pay $2 for a soda, $2 for a snack and, on routes to Las Vegas, they can purchase Elvis-style sunglasses for $5.

"I personally would pay up to $25 for a seat assignment," said Perrault before her flight. But she stays away from the sunglasses, shot glasses and other souvenirs for sale between Las Vegas and Washington.

"I don't think everything else is worth buying on that short of a flight," she said.

The airline's approximately 200 non-union flight attendants earn about one-third of their pay on commission sales of on-board food, drinks and merchandise, said Ponder Harrison, Allegiant's managing director.

"Many are able to generate more monthly income under this concept," Harrison said.

Including hotel deals Allegiant packages with flights to Las Vegas and Florida, the airline squeezed almost $21 in ancillary revenue per passenger during the second quarter for a total of $15.8 million, an increase of more than 125 percent from the same period last year.

And that came during a quarter during which the average passenger fare was just $87, which means Allegiant got nearly a fifth of its scheduled service-related revenue from ancillary sources.

There's evidence other airlines will follow Allegiant's lead, even if they haven't said as much publicly.

A survey Sorensen distributed to more than 140 airline managers suggested that many expect new fees on everything from booking by phone, paying by credit card, getting a preassigned seat or checking a bag. In one example 20 percent of respondents said they were already charging extra for preassigned or exit row seats. Another 24 percent expected to add such charges in the future.

"Airlines seem to be very timid in the area of charging for seat assignments," Sorensen said. "They seem to be losing some of their reluctance to do that."

Other airline experts disagreed over what passengers should expect when it comes to airline fees.

Michael Boyd of the Boyd Group in Evergreen, Colo., said Allegiant's business model of low-cost flights from small cities with little competition to Las Vegas and Florida puts it in a unique position to capitalize on ancillary opportunities.

Not only do Allegiant passengers have little choice when it comes to booking direct from their hometowns, they like the convenience of booking a hotel through the airline's Web site and, once on board they are eager to start their vacations, which makes them primed to spend money.

"Allegiant can do it because Allegiant isn't competing with other airlines," Boyd said. "From time to time airlines have tried to charge for aisle seats or window seats. Most of them have pulled back. In this country the consumer is looking for more for less money. Not less for less money."

Minneapolis-based airline observer Terry Trippler, though, predicts fees for everything from seating choice to soda will soon be commonplace.

"I don't think there is any airline that has met a revenue source they didn't need," Trippler said. "It is getting to the point airlines are going to be tourist class. You add on your amenities for whatever you want."

That's fine with Devin and Pamela Kurtz, the Colorado couple who decided against paying extra for assigned seats. They said the value of direct service from Las Vegas to the tiny Fort Collins airport far outweighed the cost of paying $3 for every checked bag.

"I guess most people would flip about $3," Devin Kurtz, a painter, said of the charge. "That's just really not that much."