Cheap travel deals, including cheap airplane tickets, discount hotel rooms and cheap vacation packages are great ways to travel over the holidays. However, with most planes flying full, particularly over the holidays, it can sometimes be challenging to figure out how to have your entire traveling party sit together.
Airlines have made it more challenging for groups of travelers to sit together unless they are willing to pay more for seats with additional legroom or for seats close to the front of the plane. Over the last year American Airlines, Delta, Frontier and United have all increased the number of coach seats that can only be reserved by paying an extra fee.
The end result is that it has become more difficult to find adjacent seats unless passengers agree to pay an average of an additional $25 per person, each way.
The following are steps that fliers can take prior to departure to try to secure seats together:
Confirm seat assignments online with your airline now. Sometimes plane types are changed between booking and departure resulting in passengers no longer having assigned seats.
Sign up for seat opening alerts. A website called ExpertFlyer offers free notification when a window or aisle seat becomes available. For 99 cents it will send an email if two adjacent seats are open.
Start checking your airlines website five days prior to takeoff. That is when airlines start upgrading select elite fliers to first class, freeing up their previously assigned coach seats. Additional waves of upgrades take place every 24 to 48 hours.
Check in 24 hours prior to departure which is when airlines usually release more seats. If connecting, check to determine if seats have become available 24 hours before your second flight takes off.
Keep monitoring seat availability even after checking in. Sometimes seat assignments can be changed at airport kiosks and on select airline mobile applications.
Ask an airline representative when you check in at the airport. Sometimes agents are able to seat families together immediately prior to departure in seats that were held in reserve for disabled passengers.
Ask yet again at the gate and speak to flight attendants who are sometimes able to find volunteers to exchange seats.
If you remain unable to seat your party together, offer nearby passengers an incentive (such as candy or a drink) to switch seats. Frequent fliers have found that such bartering can be quite effective.
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