change seats after checkin
22% God Save the Points
19% One Mile at a Time
16% Your Mileage May Vary
43% Other
Changing your seat after you’ve already checked in can be a bit tricky, but there are several options depending on the airline and how far you are from departure.
Ask airline staff at the airport
- You can approach the check‑in counter, the customer‑service desk, or the gate and request a seat change, especially if the flight isn’t completely full.
- If the doors have already closed, staff may initially say they can’t help, but they often revisit the request once the cabin is settled and may move you a row forward if space allows. 🔗
- Gate agents sometimes reassign seats after check‑in, as in a case where a passenger was moved to an empty seat and given extra space.🔗
Use the airline’s app or website
- Many airlines let you modify your seat selection online before departure by entering your booking reference and surname, then choosing a new seat from the seat map.
- Some carriers, like Qatar Airways, allow you to swap an assigned aisle seat for a window seat through their mobile app up until the check‑in window closes. 🔗
- After a recent policy change, Etihad now assigns seats at check‑in and charges a fee for any subsequent changes, so you’ll need to be prepared for a possible cost.🔗
Consider third‑party seat‑swap services
- Apps such as Seateroo enable passengers to buy, sell, or trade seats with each other, even after boarding, for a small fee starting at $5.
Be aware of airline‑specific rules and fees
- Some airlines require you to have a confirmed seat map on the operating carrier’s website, especially for partner bookings, and may charge for preferred seat selections.
- If you have a special ticket (e.g., a business‑class fare) and the aircraft changes, you can ask the sky‑club or gate staff to move you to a flight that offers the seats you paid for, though compensation may come in the form of miles or vouchers rather than a cash refund.🔗
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Remembering when a Lufthansa Boeing 747-8 Flew to Mallorca: Palma to Frankfurt
Few aviation enthusiasts can dispute the fact that the Boeing 747 is a legendary aircraft, yet one that is becoming increasingly hard to fly (unless of course, you happen to be a piece of freight). With the emergence of modern and capable fuel-efficient long haul twin-engined aircraft, more and more airliners have struggled to see the need to retain their ‘old’ four-engined jets. Unfortunately, the pandemic has accelerated the retirement of such aircraft. For example, whilst I had previously planned to catch at least one final ride on the Boeing 747s of British Airways and KLM, the premature retirement of
14%
Aisle Seats Win: 6 Reasons Smart Flyers Never Pick The Window
The best flyers prefer aisle seats, and airlines even value the business more of those who do. Aisle seats are just better than window seats, and we don’t even need to talk about the dreaded middle. If you’re in the aisle seat you don’t get those window seat views, but those are better in theory than practice outside of the first and final minutes of a flight. And you do have to get up to let other passengers into the aisle if they need to use the restroom. So there are tradeoffs, but they’re minor compared to the 6
16%
Airlines’ Favorite Fake Rule That We All Fall For
When you purchase a plane ticket on a commercial airline in the U.S., you either pay to choose your seat, have a credit card or another way to choose your seat for free, or are eventually assigned a seat (the only outlier to this, at the moment, is Southwest…but their days of choosing your seat once you get onto the plane are numbered). You may have read that I’ve been on a bunch of JetBlue flights recently, as I’m in the midst of completing their 25 For 25 promotion. Having been on 20+ JetBlue flights in the past month
22%
Want To Swap Airline Seats? New App Allows You Buy, Sell And Trade With Other Passengers…
One man’s gold is a another man’s garbage and either way you cut it, Seateroo plans to take a cut. Trading seats, even for a reasonable request, is never easy. I once had a business class seat, but needed to give it up to sit with my wife in economy. Unbeknownst to the person I was requesting to switch with, who denied, he actually could’ve gotten a huge upgrade. Next time, rather than haggle, there’s an app for that… Seateroo will be the black, or perhaps blue market of airline seats. It won’t work through an airline, it
10%
Does Delta have to honor the MONSTER NYC billboard ads or can they say anything they want?
The above photo from FlyerTalker landeej “outside the NYC Midtown Tunnel” clearly, without any fine print whatsoever, says: “Flat-bed seating available on all nonstop flights from JFK to LAX” – BOLD MINE As mentioned, I see no little star or asterisks or fine print that says that if irregular operations happen or an equipment swap, that is, another type of aircraft is flown, that you may NOT get a full flat bed seat in business class. But the question is, despite the fact that you maybe paying MUCH MORE for this promised perk, compared to say connecting
7%
A different kind of Delta upgrade
Yesterday morning, as I waited to board a small Delta jet (a CRJ200 for those keeping score), I was called up to the desk. I had no idea why. This flight had no first-class, and I was already seated in Comfort+ so I wasn’t expecting an upgrade. But, I did get an upgrade of sorts. The desk agent asked if I’d like to sit by myself. Apparently in the time since I checked in, someone had filled the seat next to me. So, the agent moved me up to 2B, where 2A sat empty. In a single stroke, she upgraded two people. I got to stretch out across two seats and presumably so did my original seatmate. Of course I could have used the Delta mobile app to change seats myself, but I hadn’t thought to even look at the seat map that morning. While it’s a minor thing, it certainly helped make me a more loyal customer. Thank you gate agent lady!
FrequentMiler 4%
How to select seats on partner bookings
It’s common to book a trip through one airline that includes segments flown by other airlines. For example, a trip booked through American Airlines might include segments flown by Alaska Airlines, British Airways, Qatar, Qantas, or other AA partners. In some cases the partners are so well integrated that its possible to select seats through the airline you booked with (e.g. you may be able to select Air France seats when booking through Delta), but often you cannot. Often, it is necessary to go directly to the operating carrier to select your seats. Here’s how… When you book a
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New Etihad Seat Assignment Policy & Fees
Back in 2018, Etihad Airways introduced fees for selecting economy seat assignments in advance. This is something that we see many full service airlines do — after all, a lot of people book economy tickets based on price, and with how razor thin margins are, being able to sell ancillaries can make a big difference for airlines. Well, Etihad has now revealed it will be making additional changes to its economy seat assignment policy as of November 28, 2023, so let’s go over all the details (thanks to FlyerTalk member Wharfe for flagging this, as this has been revealed
Economondo 7%
Very Short Haul Done Very Well: Abu Dhabi to Doha on a Qatar Airways 737 MAX
Having booked Etihad Airways’ promotional fare from Rome to Abu Dhabi to sample the delights of their Boeing 777-300ER for almost nothing, I now needed to find a reasonably cheap way to get back to Britain. Whilst plenty of options exist for those needing to travel between the United Arab Emirates and Britain, most options that weekend seemed to be priced at above-average levels unless I fancied squeezing myself into a Pegasus or Wizz Air seat for the long journey back via Istanbul or Bucharest. Fortunately, having a few miles to spend in my British Airways Executive Club account,