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The Travel Detective

The Travel Detective: The Airline Game of Choosing Your Seat

So what kind of airline seat do you want the next time you fly? Let me guess: you probably don’t want the dreaded middle seat.

So how do you get the seat you want? Most of you go online to look at the airline seating chart. That’s where you make your first mistake. Why? Because more often than not, the seats that they’re showing available on that chart are, the dreaded middle seat!

So what do you do? Talk to a real human being. Call the airline. Why? Because what they’re showing on the online chart does not reflect their full inventory. They hold back roughly 30% of those seats on the airplane. So talk to a human being, and get the aisle or window.

Because if you don’t, you’re going to get caught in the upsale game. The airline wants you to pony up to move to the front of the cabin in coach. They even define a middle seat in coach as a premium seat. How ridiculous is that? Making that phone call is your best bet. It gives you the best chance at getting the aisle or window seat.

By Peter Greenberg for PeterGreenberg.com