When I bought the tickets, a few months ago... I paid extra THEN to get my seat. BUT.....
They changed the plane.... bigger plane now, more seats. So I lost my "paid extra" seat.... now they want another $80.
Pretty sure flying will soon have small print that says: "Send us $5,000 per seat, non-refundable, for us to consider you as a passenger.... which we won't do but we will then put you on our 25 year waiting list to be considered again for a later flight...which we won't do either BUT... you can make easy payments to not be be considered". - JamesJM