Get the Best Airplane Seat Available Every Time
Whether you’re traveling up front or in the back of the plane, who wouldn’t want to get the best seat available every time? Well, you can, and that’s where these tips come in handy.
1.) Select your seats at the time you make your booking. I know this sounds simple but not everyone is aware of this. If you don’t choose your seats, the airline will do it for you and that’s a recipe for a disaster. No one wants the dreaded middle seat, so choose your seat when you book.
2.) Use seatguru.com (my favorite) or seatexpert.com to help you choose a good seat. These websites rate the quality of the seats on any given flight. You just log in and enter the airline you’re flying and the route and they will show you which seats have restricted legroom or more legroom or are narrower or don’t recline or are near the lavatory/galley. These are the variables that can greatly affect the quality of your flight experience.
3.) If you didn’t get the seat you wanted, check back every few days to see if better seats have become available. This is especially likely the last few days before your flight as some travelers with elite status will get upgraded and their seats will become available and other travelers will cancel their flights and their seats will also become available. Checking exactly 24 hours before your flight when online check-in becomes available is generally a sweet spot of finding better seats.
4.) Set up a seat alert on Expertflyer.com. If all that checking back to get a better seat assignment is too much work for you, then you could always sign up for seat alerts on expertflyer.com and be notified when a certain seat becomes available. They will notify you by email or text when a seat you want becomes available.
5.) Choose your row wisely. This tip can raise your odds of having an empty seat next to you. Imagine you’re looking at a seat map and you see two rows of three seats each, the first row is empty and the second row has one of the end seats taken. Your first inclination might be to grab one of the end seats in the empty row. But hold on a minute, if you do that then the two seats next to you are likely to be taken by a couple, whereas if you select the available seat at the end of the row that already has a passenger then the middle seat is more likely to remain empty unless the plane is full.
6.) Earn Elite Status. The airlines hold back certain seats (exit rows, bulkheads, front of the plane) for their most loyal customers. When you earn elite status, you will have access to the more comfortable seats.
7.) Buy Premium Economy Seats. Many airlines allow you to pay a little extra for premium economy seats.
Fly Business or First Class
I think we can all agree that First Class is better than Business Class and Business Class is better than Economy. This difference is even more pronounced on international flights, especially with certain airlines.
So if you want the most comfortable flying experience you should strive to fly 1st or Business Class whenever possible.
If you’ve read my book, you already know that flying First or Business Class is something anyone can achieve even without being a frequent flyer.
You can do this by getting a good deal on paid premium cabin seats, by using FF miles to book premium cabin travel or by getting an upgrade.
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