Join their frequent flyer program. Most airlines give you preferred treatment if they see a frequent flyer number on your boarding pass. You won't get all the same perks as the special elite members, but sometimes that little number can go a long way.

Call the airline? Miss out on the online only deals??

Book on the airlines website and pick the seat yourself...

I do pick seats in advance whenever possible, but then, regardless of my pre-existing seat assignment, when I do my online check-in, I wait until the check-in period has been open for 3 or 4 hours. The people who hit it at exactly the moment it opens to get the best seat have already checked in by that point, and most people on the plane will already have some kind of seat assignment anyway, from booking online.

Then, I flip to the back of the plane and select the furthest back row that's not the last row but for which the other window/aisle seat has been claimed, but the middle hasn't. That eliminates parties of two being sat next to you, and guarantees only on a really, seriously, full flight, where someone has to take the dreaded middle seat all the way near the back of plane, will you end up with someone sitting next to you.

If you're a road warrior who times their departure from airports to the second, that won't work for you, because, of course, it also means you're stuck at the back of the plane, but I'd rather be comfortable for 3 hours and spend 10 extra minutes waiting to get off the plane than be uncomfortable (and making other people uncomfortable, since I'm a large person) for 3 hours just to get on the road a few minutes faster.

Maybe I'll pick my seats for my trip to San Diego. Here is a question. Does the back seats leave the plane first or is it the front? This may be helpful on my first flight to Phil since I have a short layover.

@Brian Rutzen: Seatguru.com

@montusama:

The front. The door is in the front.

I hope you aren't flying US Air.

@montusama: The door is at the front of economy. It's not like boarding, though, where they officially call rows; it's just that you're likely to be off later if you're farther back and behind more people. (There have been two-door loaders, especially with the larger planes, and there may be with the new jumbos, but you're not going to run into those.)

@floraposte: Sorry, old-fashioned moment. The door for yer basic domestic aircraft is in front, period. No more division based on "do you turn left or right?"

Look for domestic flights configured for international travel, the ones out of major hubs that then connect to international destinations.

Roger on that -- especially for First Class. I booked a First Class ticket out of PHX to PHL on US a few weeks ago and it ended up being a 737-200 continuing on to Europe. That meant Envoy seats instead of the usual crap FC seats on their Airbus planes. 80" seat pitch instead of 38" ... was sweet!

I only fly short regional distances (Manchester, NH to Newark or Boston to Washington DC) and the Bos-Wash route to Dulles on JetBlue (operated by Embreaer) has one seaters the aisle and then 2 seaters. I always fly in the one seater. I get both a window and the aisle!

What I need are tips & tricks to prevent the airline from assigning different seats after letting us choose the ones we want.

We can't be the only ones who experience this more and more frequently! It's especially annoying because we travel with our young son. We book the tickets, we get three seats in a row. We check in at the airport hours early (my name is on the Watch List so I can't check in online) and discover our seats assignments have changed. And then the airline counter folks say Gosh no, they can't reassign seats on a full flight! And we say, A) you already did, and B) you can't put our six year old in between two strangers. And then we wait for ten minutes while they figure out what to do. Occasionally they make us go to the gate and start over. Sometimes they get all three of us back together, but sometimes they best they can do is two seats together.

Anyhow, an aisle seat near the back? Ick. The back five rows you'll spend the flight with people standing at your elbow in the queue for the potty. Or just hanging around the galley, chatting with the crew.

Since I'm usually way early (usually), I always very politely ask the attendant at the counter if I can have an emergency exit seat. I've always been accomidated - probably because I asked nicely.

@mxjohnson: The back five rows mean that I don't have to wait in line for the potty.

@sponica: JetBlue has flights with planes configged 1x2?

Is this the cape air thing?

@mxjohnson: No kidding. I've always lived by the words: Don't sit in the last three rows of a plane unless you have diarrhea or want to meet people who do.

If I'm flying alone for work near the holidays I have been known to ask for that dreaded middle seat. During the holidays there are many people flying alone with a child. One Thanksgiving on United a toddler got the middle seat and gave me the gift of orange juice all over my suit which I didn't have time to change out of before boarding.

@mxjohnson:

Your name is on the watch list??? What does that mean?

@wcnghj:

Well....this might be an issue. I am flying US Airways. I really hope I don't miss that one flight because I doubt they will be kind enough to give us an alternative flight.

I know the door is in the front, I just wasn't sure if they let people out from the front or not. Though I don't think its an issue on my flight from Buffalo to Phil. I'm in row 4 according to orbitz. I'm just not liking the short layover, it seem perfect before I booked it. I can't believe I forgot how sucky airplane travel is now.

Fly Southwest - they have open seating and the earlier you check in within the 24-hour check-in window, the earlier you get to board. Of course, I guess this doesn't prevent anyone from sitting by you, but you can improve your chances of sitting in the exit row and at least have more leg room!

@mxjohnson:

Wow, that has literally never happened to me (they changed my seat assignment without telling me) over hundreds of flights and hundreds of thousands of miles.

@slickdealer:

Probably that there's a "M[ichael] X[avier] Johnson" out there who has pledged his life to destroying the Great Satan, and the poster has the misforture of sharing a name with aforementioned nefarious person.

@italianscallion33: I usually only fly Southwest now, and am always forgetting to check in the last day of my vacation so I get a good seat on the way back. This last time I didn't remember to check in until an hour before I left for the airport, and then I was incredibly late getting to the gate and was the last person on the plane. Much to my delight, the seats at the very front of the plane have TONS of leg room. They don't have tray tables and you can't keep your personal item with you, which is probably no one was sitting in that row. But it was only a 45 minute flight anyway, and I was able to leave first. It was the best flight ever.

@mxjohnson:

You can lose seat assignments if the aircraft type is changed, so I usually try to select seats that exist on the various types of aircraft used on the route flown for the airline I am using. I find this information from www.seatguru.com. An example of this is that if an airline uses A319 and A320 aircraft on a route, I would choose seats that exist on both types. (Row 25 & 26 exist on A320 but NOT A319 aircraft for United.)

Also, I favor seats on the ABC side versus the other side. If an aircraft is changed from a 767 to a 757, then I would probably retain my seat if it were 22A but would lose my seat if it were 22J since 22J doesn't exist on a United 757.

I once got randomly assigned the front row on a westjet flight and joked with the flight attendant about needing the leg room (I'm about 5 inches too tall to be classified as a little person). A guy behind me offered me $10 to switch seats and I took him up on it. Made literally no difference to me and paid for my lunch!

Ask the check-in person for an exit row seat ahead of time. More often than not, assuming you are qualified for it (read: reasonably fit) they will give it and all that sweet, sweet leg room to you.

I can attest to the fact that this doesn't work. I have a FF number and fly almost exclusively with a single carrier, but I rarely get the seat I request. (Then again, I do get inexpensive upgrades to business or first class one out of every three flights or so. Nonetheless, airlines have no need to honor seat requests.)

@montusama: If both your flights are on USAir (which really isn't any worse than any other airline, frankly), you're coming into PHL on a little regional jet. They'll empty out pretty quickly regardless of where you're sitting. The downside is that since that's a commuter flight, it'll likely be coming into terminal F at the end of the airport; your flight out will be leaving from terminal B or C (you can click for further detail on the map here: [www.phl.org]). That's a bit of a run, so be prepared, and know where you're running when you start. If your first flight is running late, you might ask the cabin attendants if there's any way they can tell the gate agents at the second flight that you're coming.

If your itinerary is what it looks to be, you're likely to be okay; it's the first flight out in the morning, so they're not waiting for the plane to come in to Buffalo. Good luck!

@floraposte: Oh, and don't forget to check your gate number on the display once you get to PHL and before you head out to the end of a concourse--you don't want to kill yourself to get to a distant B gate only to find you should have been at C.

I like Jet Blue (for many many many reasons) because they let you choose AND change your seat as many times as you want to. I've found that the open seats change frequently. So I'll book the best one available when I get my ticket, and I usually check every few days to see if a better one opens. I'll always pick an aisle, but sometimes someone winds up sitting next to me, so I'll move to an empty row. I've actually changed my seat 2-3 times within 2 hours of departure on multiple occasions, just to make sure no one sits next to me.

Finding flights that continue on as international flights is a good tip. I used to fly ORD->SFO on L-1011's and 747 (back in the day) because the flight went on to / came back from the Far East.

Sigh, nowadays the jumbo jet is waiting in SFO and the ORD-SFO leg is all MD-80's. :(

@weave: 737-200 wouldn't make it to Europe--757 or 767, maybe?

No matter how hard you try, there are issues that may not appear until you have boarded - such as screaming toddlers or extremely obese people who can't fit unless they raise the armest and invade your space.

If you are flying Southwest, print your boarding pass online (this can be done as early as 24 hours prior to the scheduled departure). This will almost insure you'll be in the first group to board. When you find an open row, grab the aisle seat and place a newspaper or magazine on the middle seat. It creates an illusion the middle seat may be occupied - if the flight isn't full, it's less likely someone will ask if the seat is taken and the fact you're blocking the middle and window seat makes it less tempting for someone to join you.

Plan "B" is to grab the window seat in a row where the aisle seat has been taken by someone using the above strategy. Again, use a newspaper or magazine to "occupy" the middle seat.

If you're on an airline with assigned seating and it's a non-stop flight, stash anything larger than a purse or briefcase in the overhead bin. Scan the plane for open seats. If you're jammed in and you see open seats, either ask the flight attendant if you can switch (right before the plane leaves the gate) or - once the seat belt light is off in flight, make a quick trip to the bathroom with your small bag and, when returning, help yourself to a better open seat.

In my experience, starting a year or two ago airlines will never give you an empty exit-row seat or any of the other "premium coach" seats unless you pay the fee. In fact, those seats often are left empty because no one wants to shell out the extra $15-$40 per leg. (In fact, sometimes the entire exit row is left empty, which means there's no assurance that an able-bodied person will be there to handle the door in an emergency.)

@TedSez: I've seen this happen on flights I've been on (all exit rows empty due to passengers not wanting to pay for "premium".) I do hope the FAA clamps down on this. Although I doubt it, until a plane crashes and people die because nobody was ready to pull the exit doors. I hate to say it, but that's how it works here.

I think there's something to that advice about asking for an aisle seat in the back. On my most recent trips (Moscow-to-Paris flight, Paris-to-Los Angeles flight, Guadalajara-to-Los Angeles flight) I asked for a window seat toward the back and never had anybody sitting next to me -- twice, I had the entire row to myself.

When I get seated near the front of the plane, I usually end up sitting next to some poor 6-foot-tall guy who wedges his legs in my space (I'm 5 feet tall).

I exclusively fly Alaska Airlines (and by proxy, Horizon) and they let you select your seats when you're buying your tickets. I actually always prefer window seats, but it's always nice to have the option to choose beforehand and know that you won't have to fight over a seat.

@sponica: I hate flying planes that tiny unless there are nuns on them!

(On the theory that God doesn't kill nuns in plane crashes.)

@NeverLetMeDown: They did it to me on my "honeymoon." (In quotes because the whole adventure was complicated.) I have it happen ALL THE TIME. Whereas if I don't pick seats in advance? They always let me sit by my husband. But almost every time I've picked seats and gotten an early seat assignment, they've moved us and split us up. British Airways is seriously the only airline that didn't do it to us.

@humphrmi: MD-80s are brutal for ORD-west coast flights. My husband's 6'4" and there's only one direct flight a day to his parents' city from ORD, and it's on an MD-80. He can usually barely walk when we get off.

(Know what makes strangers really judgy? When the wife carries all the luggage.)

@b.k.: Those are bulkhead seats and I don't believe any airline has tray tables, just FYI for others/

No question about it: the best thing you can do is be nice and friendly. As someone who used to work for an airline, I can tell you that most of the problems that happen are beyond the control of the employees. Over-booking, understaffed baggage handling, delays, and bad weather are just as bad for the employees because they have to deal with the wrath of angry passengers. Being nice in the face of that can often get you better treatment.

I fly pretty consistantly with Delta and Northwest, buying my tickets online, and have always gotten the seats I assigned myself when purchasing my tickets. The only time's I haven't was when I was bumped to first class.

Just because a flight number continues on to an international destination after a stopover doesn't mean it uses the same aircraft.

@mxjohnson: I've personally never had that trouble, but then again, the route I usually fly (Shanghai-Chicago-Nashville on United) never has any issues other than being delayed ridiculous amounts of time. One time it was the inbound flight arriving late, causing a domino effect that ended with the Shanghai-Chicago flight departing 4 hours late (ended up staying overnight in O'Hare due to missing the last connection of the day, words are not sufficient to express my dissatisfaction here), while another was due to swine flu (even more worrying was the PA announcement- "Paging passenger **** ****, please proceed to Quarantine immediately." "There has been a confirmed case of H1N1 flu on the inbound flight. Decontamination of the aircraft will take approximately one hour.") but at least that time I got "Rule 240'd" onto an American flight. I'm only going to be on UA for the Chicago-Nashville portion next time; I think ANA would do a better job of getting me there on time.

@italianscallion33: Now if only Southwest flew trans-Pacific. But for that there are other, better airlines.

@xoforoct wishes he lived in chasm city: Sometimes they do it, sometimes they don't. But I luck out in other ways. Like the time it turned out that the UA check-in person was a long-lost classmate of one of my traveling companions. Free upgrade to Economy Plus (I would never pay for that- if you're going to charge me I better be getting an improved seat like JAL offers in their version of Economy Plus).

@Eyebrows McGee (now with more baby!): I'm in a similar bind, though I fly Chicago-Nashville. But there's not even an MD-80- it's an Embraer with a 1x2 seat configuration. Or that time flying to upstate NY on a turboprop aircraft that had all of 30-some seats.

@Eyebrows McGee (now with more baby!): flown those plains multiple times on international routes (between houston and monterrey for business) and must say they are a bit more susceptible to the wind when landing. I also find myself bumping my head getting in and out of that single seat, and I'm only 5'7"

And if looking for an upgrade, be careful, I learned. Last week, for the first time ever, I asked about the potential for an upgrade for the second leg of my flight (first leg didn't qualify). The customer service person was very pleasant, and confirmed me on the list for an upgrade, gave me instructions when I got to my next airport, said I was all set. So when I went to take care of the mileage payment like she said, and found that in addition to mileage, there was a $200 payment which she'd neglected to mention to me (which I couldn't afford), and that in confirming me for the upgrade list, she also took me out of my confirmed seat. On a full flight. On an already 27-hour travel plan.