As good as going on holiday is, the actual journey there can be less than pleasant. Airports are stressful, airline staff can be so
mean about the weight of your luggage and the flight itself is usually very unpleasant.
Especially if you're in the middle seat, wedged between a smelly man eating an even smellier sandwich, and someone who clearly doesn't understand elbow etiquette on a shared armrest.
The good news is that now – thanks to some very special top secret insider know-how – you'll not only be able to snag an aisle or window-seat at your own discretion, but you could have a whole entire
row for yourself, all without paying a dime extra. Where does this insider knowledge come from, you ask? Travel blogger Gilbert Ott.
His blog God Save The Points is all about travel tips and sneaky hacks everyday plebs like me and you can use in order to make traveling a little more bearable. He's blessed us with a solution to cramped plane trips in a new blog post, where he shares exactly how he manages to get himself that sweet,
sweet row all to himself.
It's all thanks to a clever app called ExpertFlyer (in some markets called Seat Alerts), which monitors available seats on flights right until the plane leaves. You can use it to get seat alerts for your fave spots, so when you see a spot free up that you'd prefer to the one you were assigned, you can contact the airline to have you moved there.
Here's how Ott explained it in the blog post:
"[The app] allows users to view up-to-the-moment seating charts and, better yet, allows users to set alerts for when and if their ideal seat pops up.
"A smart flyer (which you clearly are) sees the cabin as a game of musical chairs. If the best seat in the house is available immediately - book it. If not, get the next best available seat - and set free alerts on ExpertFlyer for any and all the seats you’d prefer. By doing so, you can keep improving up until final boarding.
"Once everyone else has settled their fate, you can often stand in the boarding line with your app open seeing if final seating assignments have created any opportunities - like an entire row to yourself. It really does happen."
So basically, you just need to nab the best seat as soon as you can before your flight, then have your alerts set to be notified when better seats come available. If you're lucky, you might see during your hawk-eyed surveillance of the seat map that an entire row has freed up, which is when you make your move. Of course, not all airlines will be so nice as to agree to your random urge to change to seat 17D, but it's worth a shot.
Even if you're not lucky enough to get a whole row for yourself because the plane's full, the app still allows you to scout out any better economy seats. If that means I won't be sitting right in front of the constantly flushing toilet or banished to the furthest spot from the door, then sign me up!
