Sneaky ways to snag the best seat

on the plane
Yahoo Travel

Leah Ginsberg, Lead Editor, Yahoo Travel

Photo: Thinkstock
The best seat on the plane means different things to different
people. According to a 2012 Skyscanner survey, seat 6A was
a winner, taking into account that 46 percent of people prefer
to be seated in the front of the plane, nearly 60 percent prefer
window seats, and 62 percent want an even-numbered aisle.
But whatever your personal preferences, travelers now have a
ton of competition for coveted seats. Airlines predict they will
have 222 million passengers between June 1 and Aug. 31 this
year, which is 2.4 million passengers a day, and 4.5 percent
more than last summer, according to the Associated Press.

So how can you get the seat you really want on your next
flight? Yahoo Travel got tips from the experts.
Do your homework.
With sites like SeatGuru.com and SeatExpert.com you can
find out the important details about your seat choice
everything from how much leg room youll have to whether the
seat reclines (some in front of exit rows dont, even if theyre
considered premium) to what kind of entertainment system
there is to how close youll be to the gross lavatory or noisy
galley. Site Routehappy.com allows you to sort by Happiest,
which is determined by quality-of-life factors like newness of
the jet, type of entertainment, size of seat, power outlets, food,
etc. Seatguru.com also has a similar system to search flights
using what it calls the G-Factor.
Related: Are You Enlightened or a Control Freak? What
Your Airline Seat Choice Says About You
Book early and pick a seat assignment at the time of
booking.
Flights generally open 335 days before departure, says Jami
Counter, senior director of TripAdvisor Flights, but its often six
or seven months before you see any activity. If you get in
early and book a seat, youll have the best choice of whats
available. Plus, youll probably pay less for your flight leaving,
more budget room to upgrade to premium economy if you
need to. According to site SeatGuru.com, Even if your first
choice seat is not available, select another option to ensure
you have a seat assignment; it can usually be changed later.
Sign up for open seat alerts.

Get a free account with ExpertFlyer.com and you can set an

alert to be notified via email when aisle and window seats
become available on your flight. For 99 cents, you can set be
notified when exit rows, two seats together, or specific seats
become available on your flight. Information is available for
Alaska Airlines, American Airlines, JetBlue Airways, United
Airlines, and Virgin America but not for Delta and other smaller
carriers.
Confirm your seat assignment the week youre flying.

Photo: Thinkstock
According to SeatGuru.com, Airlines sometimes switch the
aircraft type close to the departure date due to load factors
and maintenance. When these changes are made, prereserved seats are re-assigned and you could lose the seat
you so carefully selected. If you check ahead of time, you can
select a new seat and head off any issues.
Check in early online.

Airlines often allow passengers to check in up to 24 hours

before a flight, and the sooner you check in, the sooner you
secure your seat. Plus, many airlines open up new seats
(including coveted bulkhead and exit rows) anywhere from a
week to the day before a flight, so better seats may be
suddenly available at online check in. Caveat: if theres no seat
youre happy with, it might make sense to hold off and check
again when you arrive at the airport. Some airlines wont let
you change your seat after you have checked in online and
printed your boarding pass.
Check for seats again with the gate agent.

Your gate agent may be able to work miracles if youre nice.

(Photo: Thinkstock)
If youre polite, gate agents can often find seats youre not
aware of. Both better economy and premium economy seats
may become available at the last minute as elite passengers
from those seats are upgraded to business or first class.

When traveling with one other person, always book an

aisle and a window.
Its a way to help set yourself up for an empty seat in your row.
People are less likely to to book the middle, explains George
Hobica ofAirfareWatchdog.com, often making them the last to
go. And if the flight is full, chances are the person in the
middle between you and your travel companion will probably
be willing to swap for an aisle or window if you want to sit
together, considering just about one percent of fliers surveyed
prefer the middle, according to the Skyscanner study.
Related: Best Seat on the Plane: 7 Secrets I Learned
Sitting Next to a Pilot on My Las Flight
Pay to upgrade with miles or money.
With new rules for many airline loyalty programs, it can be
very hard to use miles to buy a ticket, but you can use them
for a seat upgrade, even if its just to premium economy. I
think its a really good way to use your miles, says Hobica.
And it can be worth it to pay cash to upgrade, too 10 to 15
percent of the ticket price is a great value, according to
SeatGuru.com. This is especially true on long-haul
international flights, where premium economy seats can feel
almost like business class (just expect to pay more for those
upgrades).
Fly at the right time and the right day of the week.
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