For families traveling together by air, it remains a continuing and frustrating problem. How can you make sure your family can sit together on a plane if the airline has priced every seat differently?

One solution is to buy your tickets as early as possible, before the airline reprices the individual coach seats. Always book everyone on the same reservation, never as individual tickets. Call the airline for more seating options. What you see on your screen is more often than not only a partial inventory of available seats.

One piece of good news. One airline — Delta — now has dynamic seat maps that automatically block rows for those who have reservations for three or more travelers.