You could end up with some stranger between you if the flight is sold out!!!

I don't personally believe in 'tricking' the seating request or whatever. There are to many uncontrollable variables. Reserve two seats you'd be happy with and if you get a free seat next to you see it as a bonus.

I totally disagree! If the flight is so sold out that someone is assigned that middle seat, believe me they will be more than happy to switch with one of you. Leaving the middle open is the way to go -- I always do this on every airline. There is no "trick". You are allowed to have whatever seats you want.

You would hope would, but it doesn't change the fact you should probably just book the seats you want to avoid disappointment.

This is most definitely not a right on any airline. You are assigned a seat and you can take it or leave it

Seat Assignments Online?
 

I know the earliest you can assign seats for a flight is 100 days in advance. I did this for a previous flight and found at on-line check in that they never were. Now I have an upcoming flight where I called again at the 100 day mark. Not wanting to go through a similar experience. Is there a place online to see a seat map/assign seats? When I bring up my reservation on the TK site there is nothing that has to do with seats on the page.

I think you have to call them, unfortunately. Never hurts to confirm things twice with TK.

If you book a flight on thy.com within the 100 days, the website will let you select seats on a seat map as part of the booking flow. But if you've made your booking outside of that time period or elsewhere, the only way to get seats assigned before check-in is by calling TK.

So I called to assign my seats. Is there a place to verify those seats were assigned correctly?

Unfortunately not, only by calling.

I booked a OW J ticket IAH-IST on Turkish ; why cant i do advance seat assignment
 

I get a message "Advance seat assignments are not available on united.com for this flight. Please see airport agent on check-in..."

When I called Turkish Airlines, they said in order to assign a seat, I would have to go to the airport to do this (call center said they have no way to do it over phone)

Ideas? I have never heard of this

Last time I flew TK J class, the call center assigned seats for me. Did they say they can't do it because of policy, or couldn't they find your reservation to make the seating change?

because its an award seat I got from united.com.

I called united, and the agent called TK, and they were able to provide the record locater for TK.

Now i just need to wait until July 2 and they said i can do it myself online

odd to me

When is the trip? I think that the last time I booked a TK flight, I had to wait til 100 days in advance to get a seat assignment.

Check this FAQ, point 10.

On Turkish Airlines flights, on the confirmation page you will be displayed interactive seat map to make a seat preference 100 days prior to flight only in Business Class for domestic flights and in both Business and Economy Classes for international flights. You can make your seat selection according to your seat preferences.

SanDiego1k's quote from the FAQ is correct, but that only applies to TK flights newly booked within 100 days.

For flights booked outside the 100 day window, you can call TK once within 100 days of departure and they can then make a seat assignment for you. Instead of the TK record locator (which is proprietary to their TROJAN CRS), just give them your ticket number, starting with 016 if booked via UA.

This has always worked for me, even when travelling on award tickets booked on 014 (AC).

Booked an award on TK through Aeroplan. Will I still be able to call TK directly on the 1800 number and give them the booking ref # to pick the seats when it's at the 100 day mark?

An alternative is to send a tweet to @TK_HelpDesk. I've booked seats for two flights now this way at the 100 day to go point. The first time it took 3 hours to get a response, the second time 35 minutes and in both cases I got the seats I wanted.