Getting A Good Seat On The Plane :-)

[chicowoodduck]

For any of you who fly the long haul flights and dread the thought of getting the "worse seat in the house," try this nifty little web site. It does a great job of letting you know in advance of your booking just what seats fall into the category of The Good, the Bad and the Ugly! www.seatguru.com

[Mighty Mouse]

It's a good guide. With on-line check in now in vogue, it is handy to know which seat to pick.

Unfortunately, it can't predict who might happen to be sitting alongside you. On my last flight to Thailand, I was forced to move seats because the woman next to me had no idea what baths and soap are used for.

[Chiangmai Foxy]

quite a nice guide that.

nothing for etihad though!

does anyone know if you can check in online for etihad(from manchester)

thanks

[ignoramus]

Thanks chico, Excellent stuff - added to my 'favourites'.

[chicowoodduck]

Thanks chico, Excellent stuff - added to my 'favourites'.

It's been a "god sent" item for me. I've been doing my Indian Rubber Man routine (I'm 6'7") for years. Something about that 31 inch pitch of the seat that makes my eating meals a snap 'cause the food tray in right under my chin.

[lomatopo]

Seatguru is OK, it was the first, but now a lot of people think SeatExpert is better (more airlines/aircraft, more accurate and up-to-date).

http://www.seatexpert.com/

[ClaytonSeymour]

quite a nice guide that.

nothing for etihad though!

does anyone know if you can check in online for etihad(from manchester)

thanks

If you book with them directly, their web site allows you to select your seat at the time of booking which is even better.

[enyaw]

quite a nice guide that.

nothing for etihad though!

does anyone know if you can check in online for etihad(from manchester)

thanks

If you book with them directly, their web site allows you to select your seat at the time of booking which is even better.

This also applies to booking with an airline consolidator as GDS's like Galileo, Worldspan, Sabre and Amadeus have a seat map

function which allows the agent to allocate the seating when reserving the flights. If the airline doesn't allow this function (a few of the middle eastern airlines don't) the agent would be able to allocate the seating with a quick phone call or as you say allocate via the airlines own website.

Edited November 26, 2007 by enyaw

[onethailand]

Seatguru has always been one of my favorite travel tools. Seatexpert was developed later and might be better, I haven't used them yet.

With most good airlines, however, you can reserve your seat online regardless of whether you booked directly with the airline or not, provided you have the confirmation code. Each airline has different rules, however, as well as different timeframes during which you can reserve a particular seat.

Always use online check-in if you can, it will save you quite a bit of time. Especially important for airports like Manila where lines are *always* long at check-in.

As for using a GDS, it is not as good as doing it yourself online - some airlines, most notoriously Thai (in my experience) - don't always confirm seat bookings made through the GDS, the request is only "noted".

[david96]

My experience is to check in at the airline counter early at least 3 hours before departure. The airline staff check your passport ,ticket,weigh your unaccompanied baggage and the issue you your boarding pass. They will generally issue you with a window or aisle seat if you request it. I prefer an aisle seat. The boarding pass will have your seat number on it.

It is suprising how many travellers arrive late due to poor planning to check in.

[andy1308]

Thai offered the seat selection service when I booked online with them a couple of weeks ago. That was the first time I have ever been offered that with them. I don't know if this applies to all of their flights - mine was down to Singapore and back.

I'm one of those annoying people that likes to be at the airport three hours before my flight, and the only time I have not got my preference of a window seat was when I left it late to check-in. If you care about having a window or aisle seat and haven't pre-requested one then I'd echo the comments above and check-in early.

[onethailand]

Thai offered the seat selection service when I booked online with them a couple of weeks ago. That was the first time I have ever been offered that with them. I don't know if this applies to all of their flights - mine was down to Singapore and back.

I'm one of those annoying people that likes to be at the airport three hours before my flight, and the only time I have not got my preference of a window seat was when I left it late to check-in. If you care about having a window or aisle seat and haven't pre-requested one then I'd echo the comments above and check-in early.

Yes, it works online. Their online service is not nearly as good as some of the other airlines, but at least most of the functionality is there.

If you ever book at an agent with less than 72 hours before your flight - your outbound seat will almost surely not be confirmed, it will be "on request" - the best thing to do in this situation is to take your confirmation code online and reserve the seat right away.

[stevenjm]

Heres my best tip - don't bother with pre seating worries, make sure your last on the plane and just keep walking straight past your seat to wherever theres a few spares then put up your feet and put on your blanket and sleep for the whole flight - works a treat. I've even got a few tactics for getting people to move away so you get more seats but I'm not sharing those trade secrets.

[onethailand]

Heres my best tip - don't bother with pre seating worries, make sure your last on the plane and just keep walking straight past your seat to wherever theres a few spares then put up your feet and put on your blanket and sleep for the whole flight - works a treat. I've even got a few tactics for getting people to move away so you get more seats but I'm not sharing those trade secrets.

LOL - works if you're on a flight that's not full Unfortunately for me, I'm always having to fight for space - though I have a reasonable amount of success at selecting seats which have at least one empty next to them

[ClaytonSeymour]

My experience is to check in at the airline counter early at least 3 hours before departure. The airline staff check your passport ,ticket,weigh your unaccompanied baggage and the issue you your boarding pass. They will generally issue you with a window or aisle seat if you request it. I prefer an aisle seat. The boarding pass will have your seat number on it.

It is suprising how many travellers arrive late due to poor planning to check in.

In the past I agree however, pre-selection at time of booking and online check-in makes it risky to say the least i.e. my Brother and his girlfriend flew with Air France, to Johannesburg earlier in the year, didn't check-in online, got to the airport early & still ended up being seperated from her.

[brianw]

I always request the aisle seat right at the back of the plane and then you can watch everyone coming on board and then you can observe all the empty seats in front of you and when the doors are closed you can grab the best empty row or seat

[stiffoak571]

With Thai I could book the seats for the BKK-LHW bits of the route - gone for aisles both times nothing worse than having to push past bunch of strangers if you on window or middle of the middle - and most of flight will be dark anyway - leave 9.35pm so many hours of darkness - also went for aisles with no one yet booked for the other 2 seats by window though will probably change before March when I go

Cant book seats for Phuket even though it says one way will be on 747