Let’s Talk About Seats Baby

I’ll be honest—prior to working in the travel industry I never spent much energy on thinking about my seats on a flight because I was just excited to be traveling. Fast forward to today, I have been quite surprised with how much seats have played a role in our business and with the daily questions and calls pertaining to this topic.

Air travel is constantly changing and even more so in the post covid era. It seems like everything now (even seats on a ticket you’ve already paid a pretty penny for) comes at a cost. My advice on the topic:

• If you are adamant on sitting in specific seats (even in the same fare class), you will be required to pay if you are doing this prior to the check-in window.

• For anyone traveling with wheelchair assistance, seat selection is free. A limited amount of airlines (a shout out to Delta here) still allow you to pre-select seats at no additional cost.

• You are able to change the seats that the airline would have assigned to you at no cost during the check-in process (typically opens 23 hours prior to the flight)

• For families who are on the same booking, some major airlines (Lufthansa and Swiss) will typically not separate passengers.

• For anyone traveling with a lap baby under 20 pounds, you may either request a bassinet (every airline is different) or they are offered on a first come first serve basis. There are over 1.5 billion websites out there, but your story is what’s going to separate this one from the rest. If you read the words back and don’t hear your own voice in your head, that’s a good sign you still have more work to do.

Final Take: Unless you’re purchasing extra legroom or upgrading, paying for seats is just a waste of money. For those who are interested in extra legroom I highly recommend purchasing early because they do fill up quickly.