Just because you are determined to travel via cheap travel dealssuch as cheapairplane tickets, cheap vacation packages, or discount travel packages doesnot mean that you have to passively accept the worst seat on a plane.
The following are ways according to Smarter Travel ofgetting the best possible coach seats:
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Keepchecking before departure to see if better seats open up. This can be done by checking your reservationand the flights seat chart hourly. Given that the best seats are usually held by frequent fliers, they areoften upgraded to business class or at least one of them cancels at the lastminute.
Start checking open seat availability acouple of days prior to departure. Remember once you check in online you are not able to change your seatuntil you get to the airport.
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If youdont want to spend the time to keep checking your reservation, create a seatalert via the website ExpertFlyer. Thereis no charge for a single seat alert. Ifyou are looking for multiple alerts, additional ones can be purchased for 99cents or you can sign up for a Basic or Premium account, starting at $4.99 permonth.
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Bypaying extra, most airlines allow passengers to upgrade their coach seats. Before agreeing to do so make certain what isbeing offered (such as extra legroom) is worth the money. Some airlines, including American, chargejust for placing passengers towards the front of the plane, without anyadditional perks.
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Besuper friendly to the gate agents. Bringing them a box of chocolates never hurts. Better coach seats often become available atthe gate as frequent fliers are upgraded to premium seats. Such vacated seats in coach are often in anexit row or bulkhead.
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Do youbest to earn elite frequent flier status. Airlines typically only allow their frequent fliers to sit in the mostdesirable rows. To attain elite statusyou usually will need to fly 25,000 actual air miles in a calendar year on oneairline and/or its partners. Be diligentmonitoring your miles and do not throw out any boarding passes until your mileshave been posted.
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Todetermine when seats are best on specific planes go to a websites such asSeatGuru or SeatExpert. Both sitesidentify the best seats on every plane and list how much legroom and pitch eachseat has. They also state if there arepower ports or personal TVs with each seat.
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