Don’t get stuck in the middle

There are many ways you can avoid the worst seats on the airplane, writes Christopher Elliot.

Oh, the things passengers do to avoid the worst seats on the plane.

They beg. They negotiate. They even lie.

If you’re flying somewhere this summer and aren’t willing to pay extra for a preferred seat in economy class, chances are better than ever that you’ll end up in the dreaded middle seat or relegated to the back, engulfed in engine noise. Why? It all comes down to money. Airlines want more of yours, and they think you’re willing to fork it over in exchange for (relatively) desirable seating.

Several years ago, discount airlines cleverly separated confirmed seat reservations from tickets in an effort to lower their fares — or so they claimed. For the most part, prices didn’t change significantly; airlines just added a new fee.

More than half of air travellers say they’re annoyed by uncomfortable airline seats, according to Qualtrics’s latest Airline Pain Index.

Yet charging passengers to avoid pain is immensely profitable. Airlines made almost $11 billion in a la carte fees last year, which includes seat-reservation charges — a 24 per cent increase over 2014.

But it turns out there are ways of avoiding the worst airline seats. Some practical, some ethical, some borderline.

“Book well in advance,” says Mark Beales, a retired mortgage banker from Mill Creek, Wash. “And only with an airline allowing seat selection at the time of booking, if possible.” A frequent traveller, Beales has used the strategy often.

James Goodnow, a lawyer and frequent air traveller from Phoenix, prefers to negotiate. He advises appealing to fellow passengers’ nobler natures. “If, for example, you’d like to sit closer to your kids, kindly ask the person in your target seat and explain your predicament,” he says. If that fails, you can always pull out your wallet and offer to buy your seatmate a drink.

Laura Marzola, a former flight attendant based in Charlotte, says pressuring fellow travellers or telling tall tales often is unnecessary. “It’s been my experience that most people — especially solo travellers and those travelling without children — are pretty flexible about seating,” she says.