Booking next to empty seats (is there an art to it?)
 

Last Sunday I took an AA flight home where not only the seat next to me was empty, but also the two seats behind me as well. As you can imagine, it was an awesome flight. :D

I was wondering if there's a way to increase the odds that a seat next to the one you book will be empty, or is it pretty much all the luck of the draw? I was thinking booking at the last minute might be a way as you can see beforehand if there are any unoccupied rows of seats left, but then you'd lose out on any savings by booking early..

I'm a newbie when it comes to flying, but it does seem like Airbus planes in particular are always booked solid, while the plane I was on last Sunday (767) tend to have empty seats on occasion.

On most carriers you can change your seat as often as you want.

Yes, you can change seats whenever. Keep in mind though that even if the seat next to you is empty an hour before flight, the airline might stick a standby passenger or non-rev there at the last minute.

It is more challenging to get an empty seat these days due to higher loads. Your best bet would be to focus on routes with less traffic and fly at off peak times.

I got lucky on my overnight AA flight from LAX-IAD on Sunday. Plane was pretty much at capacity apart from a couple of middles near the back, one of those being next to me :)

Seat map on yesterday's BA flight showed loads of space so picked a nice row all to myself. Arrived for boarding and all but 2 seats taken.
Same with my previous flight in Club world / Business. Right up to the time I checked in the seat map showed 3 out of 20 empty seats including my seat mate. Get on the plane and all 20 seats filled - coiuld be op ups, people who have changed flights, moved from a different section etc.

Don't think there's any reall pattern to it. If people don't have status or check-in online, then it's not always apparent that there will be 300 people on a flight when the seat map shows 30.
I've had flights showing as empty and when you board, half the cabin actually is free so a row each.

If you check in online with BA, that locks you into that seat. Might be able to change at the airport or by phoning up though but not online.

Middle seats towards the rear tends to be the last to be booked. They are also least desirable.

There's a long discussion thread someplace about it, but it would be hard to search for because the only terms would be common ones like middle seats, etc.

There were two trains of thought.

Some people did the aisle or window way in the back because nobody wants the middle seat in the back.

Others said they had tremendous success by booking a middle seat way in the back, because two people would not want to split up and most people don't want to book an aisle or window where there is already somebody in the middle.

You can keep moving your seat should somebody take the seat next to you, but with planes as full as they have been the odds of keeping an empty seat next to you are not that great.

Thanks so much for the suggestions. I never realized what a difference even having one seat next to you all to yourself could make.

I have noticed that with AA at least when you self check in, you have an opportunity to check the seating arrangements and change your seat if you find something better. I think with Frontier I also had that option as well, but with Southwest that wasn't a possibility.

I fly Coach all the time, except when I get upgraded with AA's "stickers".

You are right, it makes a world of difference when you have an empty seat next to you. Here's what I do:

-If possible, try to fly Tues, Wed, Thurs.
-Select an aisle seat in the middle section towards the back of the plane. The "Type A" personalities are towards the front.
-Watch the seat map before your flight, and quickly switch if some rotten person takes that seat next to you.
-Avoid selecting seats in two-across sections. All seats in two-across sections are either aisle or window, and they get filled before middle seats in the middle 3-across section.
-If you really want to get weird about it, get the numbers of a few flights you are considering, then look at "today's" flights to see which has the most empty seats. Do the crowds go for early morning flights? If so, you go for a later flight.
-If you see an opening (empty aisle seat with empty middle next to it), plop your derriere in it just before the doors close. If you wait until after the doors close, you may lose it to someone quicker on the draw. If you move too soon, you might have to slink back when the rightful owner shows up.

Finally, if you are flying Coach, learn to love it. Take your own IFE and zone out. An audiobook on my iPod keeps me entertained for hours. I check for someone behind me, first, then tip my seat back a bit (all the way if no one behind me), plug in the iPod, close my eyes and just veg my way across the sky.

I read somewhere a quote from an airline official that said the greatest factor in whether or not a person has a good flight experience is whether or not they had en empty seat next to them.

pick a seat in the rear of the plane....on routes w/many nonstop flights [aa dfw-lga/ord] you can look at the seats on the flights that will fit your plans & pick the one that shows the most open seats....

you can increase your chances through wit and witchery
 

There is an art and a science. The science is what others have said -- keep tracking your reservation, keep switching your seat to where nobody is sitting next to you. If possible, if you can get an exit seat at the last minute (say, all the elites have upgraded out of that seat) then you can reduce your odds of someone like a mother with child taking the seat, since 15 and under, and the very obviously inform person, can't be seated in the exit row. However, if there are a lot of standbys, then those seats are going to be filled anyway, and all your hard work goes for naught.

As for the art to it, well, in 2009, I was twice seated next to the ONLY empty seat on an otherwise completely full flight. On AMS-ATL, it was pure quick thinking, I saw that the only empty seat in the cabin was an aisle seat and I advised my lady in the middle seat to QUICKLY ask the FA if she could have the seat, the minute the doors were closed. The FA said yes, so scoooorrreee! She gets a better seat, I get elbow room. On the other flight, MIA-VVI, I can only credit lucky chance or maybe crystal power. The seat next to me was taped up as broken. Just in case the magic crystals didn't want to do all the work, the second time I booked that flight, I went ahead and sprang for business...

Also, booking a VERY empty flight can really backfire. My original AMS-ATL was the day before and very empty, with lots of room to spread out. They cancelled it and combined the flights. Yes, with plenty of warning ahead of time so I could have backed out of the trip if I wanted to...but still...not that many planes are going out these days with oodles of empty seats.

I remember one flight, LAX-LHR, 10 hours, I had FIVE seats to myself in Coach. I put the armrests up, made a little bed with all the pillows and blankets, and zonked out. It was wonderful. I slept 180 degrees flat.

Another flight, coming back from LHR, I had three seats in the side section: window, middle and aisle. I also had the Sunday Times of London. It was luxury to spread out and leisurely read the entire paper, sections A through O.

I've given up on this one.

When traveling alone, I always chose an aisle seat in a row in which the window was taken and middle open (or the reverse). More recenltly, I have found this strategy invariably leads to three strangers in a row.

Now, I look for a row in which the window and middle are taken and the aisle is open (or the reverse). This way, I sit next to a couple (or at least two people traveling together). While I understand that some couples despise each other, I find that couples tend to need less personal space between them. This leaves the middle seat occupant more likely to shift or lean in the other way.

Pretty pathetic, isn't it?

These are some great responses, I'm writing down notes for future bookings too. :D

That some of the empty seats were flights out of LAX, since that's where I lucked out as well.

LOL that's actually pretty clever, I've noticed that myself about couples in seats next to me.

CO/UA
 

All of this only applies to flights that I think are going to have light loads. My goal is to generally get a whole row to myself (or to my Silver wife).

On CO/UA flights, I look for ELR or Economy Plus rows where I think one of the aisle or window people have a high chance of being upgraded. Since only Golds and above can pre-assign, there's a reasonable chance at scoring one of these. I then watch the seat map on pda.continental.com religiously; if a seat I was sitting in gets snapped up, I can change until an hour or so before departure when airport control kicks in.

Until recently, my biggest problem was self-upgraders moving into my otherwise empty ELR row. I used to book a window and sit in the aisle if the seat map showed an empty middle & aisle, or sit in the middle if the seat map showed a middle, expressly to keep self-upgraders out. Lately, CO/UA has been policing these rows and keeping them empty for us, so I don't have to keep up this charade anymore.

When I do lose an otherwise empty row at the last minute, it's almost always a non-rev, who (it seems) *NEVER* put their luggage in front of the empty middle seat (even if I offer) and generally do not make a nuisance out of themselves or try to chat with me all night on a 5 hour redeye.