Tag Archives for seats.
Christopher Elliott has a rather silly piece that argues “Plane seats are too small: Airlines continue to prioritize profit over comfort, safety.”
I wonder if he knows that the U.S. airlines with the least space per passenger also generate the least profit? Spirit Airlines is in bankruptcy! Frontier Airlines is struggling. Airline margins overall are small, underperforming most industries even for the most profitable players.
Parents flying Delta first class from Tampa to Atlanta allowed their child to place stickers all over the seating area around them – and leave it that way. After all, they probably had a connection to catch!
Tampa – Atlanta is only 406 miles and seems like a lot of work for a child to accomplish so quickly, but apparently they had the process automated.
Southwest Airlines will begin assigned seating for bookings made in the second half of next year, for flights operated in the first half of 2026.
They’ve announced what this means for their A-List and A-List Preferred elite members, and how this will affect Companion Pass.
United Airlines now offers an easy way to buy extra seat space for comfort and earn miles, a strategy also possible on other airlines, though occasionally complicated by gate agent errors or policy confusion.
A Delta Air Lines passenger complains that the person in front of them draped their jacket over their seat back. This took up the passenger’s space who was seated behind. It’s rude and it’s disruptive, but people do what makes them comfortable, blissfully unaware of the consequences their actions have on others.
Sometimes the middle seat passenger is the one who’s just out of luck. Even worse is if the couple talks to each other throughout the flight, leaning over the stranger between them.
“Check-in chicken” is the idea of not checking in for your flight 24 hours in advance – and instead waiting until much closer to departure.
This benefits you if you don’t have a seat assignment because you aren’t eligible to get one in advance, or don’t want to pay for one of the better seats in a cabin but you’d still like a better seat.
When you’re last to board you have few options for comfort anyway. You might as well make the most of your seat choice.
In the spite play, you target passengers you believe are violating social norms and punish them by sitting next to them. You can sit next to the one putting crumpled tissues on the middle seat, or avoiding eye contact hoping you won’t sit there – and reward the passengers who don’t do that.
A woman with her toddler came over and plopped themselves down in that middle seat. She explained that she didn’t have enough space in the middle seat she’d been in further back in the aircraft – so she self-upgraded to “economy plus” extra legroom seats.
That way, she said, she’d be “more comfortable” with her kid – while her husband remained in an aisle seat farther back.
Here’s an underrated problem that will be solved once Southwest Airlines finally moves to assigned seating next year. We already know that it will end seat savers and wheelchair cheaters. But that’s not the only effect.
Gary Leff is one of the foremost experts in the field of miles, points, and frequent business travel -- a topic he has covered since 2002.
Co-founder of frequent flyer community InsideFlyer.com, emcee of the Freddie Awards, and named one of the "World's Top Travel Experts" by Conde' Nast Traveler (2010-Present) Gary has been a guest on most major news media, profiled in several top print publications, and published broadly on the topic of consumer loyalty. More About Gary »
