How to Get the Best Airline Seats Without Paying Extra ?

[wanaberetiree]

I will be flying to Europe soon and would like to get better seats.

To pay for premium on United takes ~190$ per person. So the question is - what do you do to get better seats?

Do premium seats become available for grabs 24 before the flight ?

Thx

 

[Catmandu]

I don't have the exact answer but Scott's Cheap Flights has excellent fares and you can sign up for free. Since your fare is cheaper, you may be able to afford the upgrade more easily. Hope that helps a little!

 

[Sojourner]

On long haul international flights, I would pay to upgrade to at least "premium economy" in order to secure a more comfortable seat. Being able to rest somewhat comfortably and get a few hours sleep before landing in Europe is worth some extra money, IMHO, so this is one area where I'm not highly price sensitive. I would pay the extra $190 you mentioned.

Regardless of which seat you end up getting, though, I'd recommend getting a prescription for some generic Xanax or Ambien from your doctor if you have any trouble sleeping on planes. The best way to enjoy a long flight is to be unconscious for most of it.

 

[Red Badger]

Paying customers come first. Most, if not all of the remaining premium seats go to those with status. That includes exit row seats.

 

[Bamaman]

Shoot, the seats we get on our budget airline seats are back in steerage. Upgrade gets you another 3 inches of legroom and maybe a meal of airline food.

We have the same audio/visual system, and it takes exactly the same time to get to our destination. And I sleep just fine too.

Our tickets to Barcelona and home from Paris were about $500. Our tickets round trip to Berlin next April are $425 on a 2 hour sale on British Airways.

 

[Rianne]

Personal experience, purchase tickets from the airline, not cheaptickets.com or Kayak or anything else. Customer service is key going overseas. We booked directly with SAS, got the best seats b/c they gave us a choice and we did not pay extra. Plus, our tickets were cheaper than US cheapo online sites, we were able to take more luggage for free. SAS was awesome and I'd book with them again. Polite and they opened the back door of the plane that was late so we could make our flight back to the U.S. We literally were able to escape the long wait to get off by exiting the back door with a bus waiting to take us to the main airport. I've never known an american airline to do that.

 

[audreyh1]

I will be flying to Europe soon and would like to get better seats.

To pay for premium on United takes ~190$ per person. So the question is - what do you do to get better seats?

Do premium seats become available for grabs 24 before the flight ?

Thx

Only, perhaps, for high loyalty status customers. Otherwise you gotta pay extra unless coach is full and the airline assigns you the seat.

 

[davebarnes]

Fly business class. Seats are better.

 

[Bestwifeever]

... Upgrade gets you another 3 inches of legroom and maybe a meal of airline food.

We have the same audio/visual system, and it takes exactly the same time to get to our destination. And I sleep just fine...,

We’re flying British Airways to London in late fall in premium economy seats, described here: https://www.britishairways.com/en-us/information/travel-classes/premium-economy/world-traveller-plus I think it’s a lot different than coach seats.

We went with it mostly because the footrest and wider seats let us sleep well and we’re only going for four nights so want to hit the ground running but didn’t want to pop for business class for such a short trip.

 

[joeea]

So the question is - what do you do to get better seats?

I pay the premium.

But then, most of the flights we have taken recently have been full. So, no free lunch there - both literally and figuratively.

 

[SecondCor521]

One thing that some airlines in the past (Emirates maybe?) have let us do is upgrade specific legs. So if (for example) you're flying Chicago to NYC to Paris and are concerned about the cost, you can perhaps fly regular economy on the domestic leg and upgrade to premium economy or whatever on the trans-Atlantic hop.

Come to think of it, I did have a flight that was booked in mixed classes, so I was First Class part of the way and regular Economy the rest of the way. That was on Alaska and was a miles ticket, but I think how you pay for it doesn't / shouldn't matter.

 

[ivinsfan]

You are going to have to pay for the seats. If you want them you should do it ASAP..try for a bulkhead premium economy..it's worth it..

 

[CRLLS]

If premium seats are the only way you want to fly, pay for it, either at the time you book, or by buying an annual subscription. United does that. I have purchased it because I travel to Asia a couple of times a year and I desire a premium, aisle seat. If none is available, I will select an isle seat in steerage. I'd rather that than a middle or window seat in premium. It is just the way I go. With the subscription, you can select the seat at the time of ticket purchase instead of waiting 24 hrs ahead of flight time during check-in. United's subscription covers you and can for a little bit more, 1 travel companion on the same itinerary.

 

[sengsational]

I agree with the ideas surrounding "you need to pay for better seats".


But I have been successful at getting free domestic exit row seats by grabbing my boarding pass at the earliest moment (often 24 hours before departure).


Nowadays, even a minimally better seat is sold for an additional $15 or something. Exit row seats, with the extra rake distance, often go for an additional $35 or something. But if these seats don't sell, they become available at check-in for free.

 

[audreyh1]

If premium seats are the only way you want to fly, pay for it, either at the time you book, or by buying an annual subscription. United does that. I have purchased it because I travel to Asia a couple of times a year and I desire a premium, aisle seat. If none is available, I will select an isle seat in steerage. I'd rather that than a middle or window seat in premium. It is just the way I go. With the subscription, you can select the seat at the time of ticket purchase instead of waiting 24 hrs ahead of flight time during check-in. United's subscription covers you and can for a little bit more, 1 travel companion on the same itinerary.

That’s what we do. We fly United often enough that it pays for itself.

If you have Gold+ status you get to pick economy plus at time of booking, but we don’t fly enough to reach that status.

 

[brett]

We typically check airline seating on seatguru.com

 

[wanaberetiree]

... But if these seats don't sell, they become available at check-in for free.

This is the key question I had.
And whats the best way to get them ? Are they becoming available for seats change online 24 hours before?

 

[YVRRocketSurgery]

It's flight dependent but you can try to be last on the plane and try to snag an empty row since everyone should be seated then and it should be easy to identify empty rows.
There's obviously risks like less overhead baggage space which I find is more an issue on domestic and transborder flights than international flights. We also typically select seats near the back of the plane because we find there is a better chance there are empty rows in the back (if free exit row seats aren't available during check in). YMMV of course.

 

[wanaberetiree]

It's flight dependent but you can try to be last on the plane and try to snag an empty row since everyone should be seated then and it should be easy to identify empty rows.
There's obviously risks like less overhead baggage space which I find is more an issue on domestic and transborder flights than international flights. We also typically select seats near the back of the plane because we find there is a better chance there are empty rows in the back (if free exit row seats aren't available during check in). YMMV of course.

Good points! That's why I hesitant to pay for something I am not sure will be necessarily better

 

[frugal-one]

Shoot, the seats we get on our budget airline seats are back in steerage. Upgrade gets you another 3 inches of legroom and maybe a meal of airline food.

We have the same audio/visual system, and it takes exactly the same time to get to our destination. And I sleep just fine too.

Our tickets to Barcelona and home from Paris were about $500. Our tickets round trip to Berlin next April are $425 on a 2 hour sale on British Airways.

How did you find out about the 2 hour sale? Did you sign up for BA emails?

 

[frugal-one]

Personal experience, purchase tickets from the airline, not cheaptickets.com or Kayak or anything else. Customer service is key going overseas. We booked directly with SAS, got the best seats b/c they gave us a choice and we did not pay extra. Plus, our tickets were cheaper than US cheapo online sites, we were able to take more luggage for free. SAS was awesome and I'd book with them again. Polite and they opened the back door of the plane that was late so we could make our flight back to the U.S. We literally were able to escape the long wait to get off by exiting the back door with a bus waiting to take us to the main airport. I've never known an american airline to do that.

What is SAS?

 

[frugal-one]

If premium seats are the only way you want to fly, pay for it, either at the time you book, or by buying an annual subscription. United does that. I have purchased it because I travel to Asia a couple of times a year and I desire a premium, aisle seat. If none is available, I will select an isle seat in steerage. I'd rather that than a middle or window seat in premium. It is just the way I go. With the subscription, you can select the seat at the time of ticket purchase instead of waiting 24 hrs ahead of flight time during check-in. United's subscription covers you and can for a little bit more, 1 travel companion on the same itinerary.

What is an annual subscription? Never heard of this??

 

[CRLLS]

From United:

https://www.united.com/ual/en/us/fly/products/subscriptions/economy-plus.html

Stretch out and enjoy more space on your next flight – and the next, and the next...…Starting at $599

Not inexpensive but if you fly enough it can easily pay for itself over upgrading to economy plus on each flight.

 

[tulak]

Nowadays, even a minimally better seat is sold for an additional $15 or something. Exit row seats, with the extra rake distance, often go for an additional $35 or something. But if these seats don't sell, they become available at check-in for free.

I think a lot of this depends on the airline.

I just flew BA to Europe. I had both premium economy and basic economy seats.

With BA, you can pay prior to check-in or get seats assigned at check-in. The price of the seats depends on the location.

For basic economy, even after check-in and getting assigned seats, you have to pay to change your seat. I didn’t expect that, but the seats they assigned were good (window/middle seat), with the added bonus that the aisle seat was empty.

For premium economy, I paid extra when booking the ticket to get an assigned seat. During check-in, BA mentioned that upgrades were available, so asked them how much. $930 to upgrade from premium economy to business, which imo is pretty steep for a one leg upgrade. When I left the plane, I noticed a few seats in business class that weren’t occupied.

 

[atmsmshr]

Norwegian airlines sports competitive fares - especially first class.