If the plane is busy, you will be lucky to get 2 seats. I usually try for a centre aisle and hope to have the seat next to me free but ready to pounce on any 3 or 4 empty rows.

For me, I do ask at check in, look online if they have a seating plan and then take a walk around or toilet trip to see what is available.

Back in Dec 2004 I had a row of 4 out and back to BKK with Phuket air.

The outward was full, apart from one row near the back, as I am a very fat git,

I asked a stewardess if there was any space further back, as the gent next to me was squashed.

Just after the doors were shut she came to me and told me to follow her

to the back, there she told me to sit and make use of the row!

People around me were muttering, and appeared pi**ed off, but what the hel_l!!

Slept for 9 hours of the flight.

Coming back, half empty plane!! Got another row of 4.

It may have had a 747 with a tail that wagged on take-off, but I cannot fault

the staff!

One thing about EVA and I think other airlines like Thai as well. The Evergreen Deluxe seats have that little bit of an island in between the seats for the IFE controls, headset jack, etc. So they can't be lifted. I've flown them with an empty seat next to me many times, but had no ability to make use of it. In regular economy I lucked out more than once with a full row to myself on one or more legs. But then they really cut back on flight offerings.

Correct me if I'm wrong, but as I understand it, regulations require you to sit in your allocated seat on take off and landing. Once the aircraft is in the air and the fasten seatbelt sign is turned off, providing there are are empty seats - and nobody objects, you're free to sit where you want.

geoffphuket

Not forgetting about Air Asia of course where its a free-for-all to grab a seat anywhere and nobody has a clue which passenger is sat where !

When I made several trip by air in China recently with a group, the group leader was handed a handful of boarding cards with each passengers name on and was told to make sure each person had a boarding card but the name and seat allocation printed on it "didn't matter"

The boarding checkpoint could plainly see I wasn't 'Mrs Smith' - but they let me through anyway !