They want you to select a seat because they want to charge on top of what you already paid. Granted, there’s a chance that if you don’t choose a seat, you may not be seated next to whomever you are traveling with, assuming you are doing so.

My wife and I often travel, and while we like to sit together, unless it’s a flight over 4 hours or so, we don’t really care. I really dislike paying extra. That said, we had boarding passes that said “see agent” when we flew last month. We were assigned “extra room” seats on an exit row. Had I selected them, it would have been roughly $75 pp additional.

I’m flying the end of this month. Every seat under “select seat” has an additional charge, so we’ll just show up and see what we get. It’s only a 3 hour flight so if we sit together, great. If we don’t, it’s no big deal.

It means that all the seats the airline released for advance seat selection are taken. Airlines will not release all the seats for advance selection. You can still book your flight.

You will need to check in at the earliest opportunity. At check-in, most seats that aren’t taken will be available for selection. Depending on availability and airline policy, you may have to pay an additional charge for a premium seat such as an exit row or extra legroom seat if that is all that is left, but those costs may be waived at check-in.

Alternatively, you can take your chances and check in at the airport if you want to try and save a upgraded seat charge. You bought a seat at the fare offered; if all the airline has left is premium seats, they should give you one at no additional charge. However, if the flight is oversold and all the seats have been assigned, you’re on standby. If you get denied boarding, then there is compensation the airline will have to pay you (in many countries) for not allowing you to board the flight. They will also have to rebook you on the next available flight.

So how you proceed depends on how important it is to get on the flight you have booked.

No. It means the airline has preassigned all the seats they are going to. If this happens to me, I set a reminder on my phone for exactly 24 hours before departure and check in then. Most airlines release the remaining seats at that point. You still can't get a premium seat without paying, but others will usually be available.

If you can't get one at the 24 hour point, check again as soon as you get to the airport. Misconnecting flights will open seats, as will no shows. Have a seat at the gate and wait.

Best case scenario? You get a premium seat at no charge. Worst case? You could get bumped, but not before the airline looks for volunteers to take a different flight in exchange for compensation, usually a travel voucher. If you're flexible, you can volunteer even if you haven't gotten your seat assignment yet. You just have to be confirmed on the flight. Sometimes that can be a pretty sweet deal.

There are a few different situations here..

If you get to pick your seat with your airline/ticket.

If your airline/ticket supports it, you can choose your seat for free or a small fee at booking. This can be good to find the best seat and not have to worry later.

You decline to pay for your seat selection.

First, ask the gate agent for your preferred seat. Some airlines will tell you you are scum for having a cheap ($400) ticket and you’re not allowed. But 9 out of 10 airlines will look in their computer for any open seat and reprint your boarding pass right then and there.

If that doesn't work and you didn’t want to pay the $100 ticket difference for chosen seat, this is the trick I do all the time. I never pay for a chosen seat on the plane. Many airlines have different terminology like “Basic Economy”, and “Light traveler”. Basically this means you may have pay to bring your carry on, or pay to choose a seat. I NEVER pay to choose a seat (unless its like 5 bucks or something).

I board the plane last.. like one of the very last people before they close the gate. I then walk through the cabin to my seat paying very careful attention to any empty window seats (I prefer window), and noting their row number. I then keep an eye on those seats for other late passengers. I sit in my assigned seat until I hear “boarding complete” from the flight crew. I then get up, and walk the entire airplane to an open window seat and just sit there and buckle up. This sometimes works on exit rows and sometimes even premium class. It also helps to stow your carry on in the first available slot (not the one in your seat) The only issue is if the flight is sold out, then I have no choice but to sit in the middle or whatever. The only risk is having to sit where they randomly put you which probably a middle seat between two large men.

You don’t choose a seat at all

If you don’t choose a seat at online check in, or airport check in, you will be randomly assigned a seat by the computer and it will appear on you’re boarding pass.

There are three basic ways to check in for a flight - with an agent face-to-face at the airport, using a machine at the airport, or online.

Seats are usually be booked at time of paying for the ticket, either free or for an additional charge. Most airlines allow the possibility of selecting a different seat to that previously automatically assigned to you or previously selected by you. Some airlines allow this at any time after purchasing the ticket, either over the phone or online.

Once you have checked-in online, it is usually not possible to cancel your check-in without cancelling your ticket. However, until the time you click the button to finalise check-in, it is usually possible to change your mind about your existing seat assignment or previous seat selection any number of times.

Your last opportunity to change your seat is always at the airport. Sometimes certain seats are blocked from being selected online. This could be for a variety of reasons, including load balancing the plane. The most frequent reason for blocking some seats is to keep more desirable seats available for passengers with airline status.

Usually airline check-in staff are quite helpful if you ask to change your seat assignment at the airport because preferred seats were not available to you online or at the airline check-in machine. They simply have to make the change and reprint your boarding pass.

I hope you find this helpful.

Depends on the airline. Possibilities include:

• Flight is overbooked — you might be on standby and could get assigned a seat at the ticket counter or more likely the gate. Or not. The earlier you check in, the higher you are on the ASL and the better your chance of getting a seat. You will know it’s a crapshoot when they announce they are oversold and are looking for volunteers to take a later flight.
• You booked late and all remaining seats are under the control of the ticket counter/gate. That can happen
• You booked a fare that doesn’t allow for advance seat selection. You should get a seat either at the ticket counter or the gate, although the overbooking lottery still applies
• The only seats available when you booked were “premium” economy seats reserved for elite flyers. Refer to 1st and 2nd bullets above

Others have provided good answers on airline policies for upgrade to First Class. However, let's assume after all the upgrades, there are still not enough seats left for all confirmed passengers. This is known as an overbooked flight. The airline expected a certain number of passengers to cancel or not show up for the flight, and everyone showed up.

Well, first they will ask for volunteers to not go on the flight, and be paid a compensation to go on the next available flight. Sometimes they will throw in a stay at a hotel overnight with a confirmed flight the next day. If no one volunteers, they will try increasing the compensation offer.

If still not enough volunteers, it gets interesting. Most airlines will look for passengers who checked-in late, or paid the lowest fare to kick-off the flight, even though confirmed. They will point to the fine print that allows them to do so.

Good luck!

Hope you have a good grip.

In all seriousness, if you haven’t selected a seat, the airline will assign you a seat when you go to get your boarding passes.

You need not be worried as you would be assigned a seat by the airline once you go to their counter for check-in. In case you prefer to block your seats, you can buy them online on the airline website at the time of booking/ web-check-in.

I would suggest you to do web check-in as it saves time and you can choose your choice of seat. You can check-in on the link provided here: Home

I hope this helps you.

Tips:

1. Please reach airport 2hrs prior to your travel as you are travelling for the first time.
2. Check-in Baggage only upto 15 kgs allowed & Hand-luggage 7kgs. Please do not carry any liquid or sharp items (prohibited items) in your hand luggage.
3. Check-in 24hrs prior to departure as you can get a window seat. Chances of getting a window seat at airport counter is comparitively low as everyone asks for window seats.

Have a Nice Flight!

It depends. First on the airline, then second some airlines have a different seat map for booking than availability. I’ll use American Airlines as an example:

When you look at the Seat Availability map where you input the flight number, origin/destination cities, and date, you’re given a map that shows all available seats in inventory that have not been restricted from consumer* selection. Seats that are restricted at this point may be broken or set aside for operational purposes (potential influx of rebooks, group travel, security, staff movement, weight restriction).

I put an asterisk on consumer - this is where airlines further integrate inventory management, revenue management and loyalty marketing. When choosing a seat during booking or modifying a booked seat, you are purposely shown seats that are available to you based on the cabin purchased, fare class, and your level of status with the airlines loyalty program or affiliated programs. American has seats that you can “buy up” (for some higher levels of status, the fee is waived), but further some seats that are reserved only for full fare or high levels of their program.

When selecting seats myself on any airline, I look at seats both in and out of context (with my booking open and status known the airline, and the other simply to view what is available that is not blocked). When I’m looking at a full fare, premium fare, or flight on an airline where I have status - I see more seats, and almost always all the seats that are physically available - I’ll put it at 99%. When the opposite, discount fare or no status, I’ve observed the seats available drop significantly, making it appear the only seats left are middles behind the wing.

That said there are some strategies that can vary by airline and situation. If I had no assignment on a flight and only ‘bad’ seats were available, and I’m not worried about being “bumped” due to oversell, I’ll keep myself with no seat assignment until the last minute and hope for a better seat to become available - I’ll scan myself on the airlines app, otherwise hoping the gate agent will assign one of the held back aisle seats. They’re held back in case someone pays for them - so I’ll hope to get it free. There is also a likelihood someone upgrades to first class (perhaps a frequent flier on that airline or someone paying the fee, [as low as tens of dollars- you know who you are …United]), that person probably had reserved a decent seat before the upgrade, which is suddenly available. I’m probably more obsessive than most and view a seat map a few times before a flight, even looking at seatguru to get feedback on the selection, but the most important moments in seat selection are 30 days prior and the final hour before flight - everything else in between depends on how much you’ll pay and who you are to the airline.

Seat selection guarantees that if there are no aircraft changes to your flight, you will be sitting in that seat.

Forgoing seat selection means that once you check in, you are at the mercy of whatever else is available from everyone else that selected their seat at purchase or have checked in before you.

There are several pros and cons of not selecting a seat.

Pros; don't pay extra, not having your expectations dashed if the small chance of an aircraft change happening.

Cons; if traveling with other people, you may not be able to sit together or near each other. Some flights are heavy on international connections and passengers can check in for these flights way before the 24hr mark that you can. Not paying for a seat at purchase on a long-haul flight can lead to a pretty uncomfortable ride. Being in the middle of the 4 middle seats on a 10hr flight while your family/friends are 20 rows back is absolutely possible, especially in the summer months.

If you don't choose your seat at purchase, the best/only option you have to get a decent seat is to check in ASAP. Consider it a travel hack if you will. I often check in at 23:55 before the flight.

But if you haven't purchased a seat, arrive to the airport a little late due to some traffic without having checked in, I hope no one takes it out an the airport staff. There should be no real surprise when you see the “39B Middle” or “34E Middle”.

Yes they can change your seat. Sometimes they must change the seat because of a change in airplane with a different seating configuration. Sometimes an air marshal will override your seat, generally if it is an aisle seat. I suspect there are other reasons. If you really want your seat, the best thing to do is check in online. You are never likely to have your seat changed, but even less likely if you have already checked in and have a boarding pass. But be warned. I have heard of people losing their seat even after boarding and occupying said seat. Almost always there is a specific reason why you lose a selected seat. Some reasons would not depend on whether it was free or paid. Others, such as oversold seats, might depend on whether you have a paid or have a free seat.

They would put you on see gate attendant for your seat and they would upgrade someone to first and you would get their seat. it’s possible if you were a high enough level that you could get upgraded instead, but it would depend on the price you paid for you ticket and your status level.

I’ve traveled and booked a seat last min in coach and got upgraded to first class but i was traveling just about every week and i paid top dollar for my seat.

But don’t assume just because you couldn’t get a coach seat that they will upgrade you especially if you bought your seat way in advance and paid very little for your seat.

I’d be more concerned if the flight was overbooked and i bought a cheap seat and didn’t have transfer at another airport since if the flight is oversold, they are more likely to bump you off and pay you than to bump off someone with an expensive ticket.

Seems that's the first time you've booked an air ticket and first time you are flying!!

Confirmed air tickets usually do not have seat numbers on them( They may if you paid extra for a seat preference)/.. but usually they do not) . so When does the seat get allotted? - on the day of flight, when you check-in( and almost all the airlines allow web checkins upto 24/48 hours earlier). The 'thing' carrying the seat number is your boarding pass !

So what do you do now! — enjoy the anticipation of your first flight, and go through the baggage rules at airline's website so you do not get into hassles of paying extra/repacking at airport !

You can't tell. Even reservation agents cannot tell.

This question is rather confused. How can you tell if a flight is overbooked but still has available seats.

If there are seats available the flight isn't overbooked, is it?

Virtually every airline overbooks virtually every flight.

A typical flight has four fare categories, 14-day advance purchase (international flights often have 21-day advance purchase fare), seven-day advance purchase, full economy, and business/first class.

Each fare category has a certain number of seats available. When those seats are sold, the fare is no longer available. So, a month prior to departure, all the 14-day seats may no longer be available even though it is 28 days prior to departure.

In that 14-day fare category, the folks at airline yield management may allow overbooking by say five additional seats at that low fare because that flight historically has five no-shows.

Reservation agents and travel agents aren't told of overbooking amounts otherwise they might not sell a seat defeating the purpose of overbooking.

Customers seemed to be obsessed with overbooking and the potential for denied boarding. In real life denied boarding happens rarely.

If you are petrified of denied boarding there is a simple solution. Make your reservation on off-peak flights. Everyone wants to travel Monday morning. Business people off on their work week.

If you have to travel on Monday, reserve on a late-day flight. Everybody went out on the morning flights

Do not book on Fridays because all those Monday morning people are coming back at the end of their work week. AND everyone is flying off for their weekends.

The easiest way to avoid denied boarding is to pause for a moment and think about when others are flying. Try it, thinking doesn't usually hurt too much.

You can get hints by looking at fares that are based on demand. Monday morning fares will be much higher than say a Tuesday afternoon fare.

Air travel is no different than a daily commute to work. There are two daily rush hours, morning and late afternoon. If you want to avoid the rush, what do you do?

To see the truth of what I say, pick a Wednesday, say in the middle of May. Check and take note of a few fares through the day. Now go to the last Wednesday in November, the day before American Thanksgiving.

Notice any difference?

Yopu have fallen intothe marketing o airline seats.

The airline makes its revenue on selling seats. There are normallly business class seats, premium economly seats and economy seats and basic economy seats.

When you select business, P/E seating, the seat map comes up. You can select a seat. Why? These are the higher priced seats and the airlines want to give you an opportunity to select a seat over and above no seat selection and having to pay a higher price, normall $300-$400 more. So they give you a opportunity to select a seat.

If you by an economy seat, you may be able to select a set but you have to pay for it. Another way the airlines make money. Some airliies allow you to select a seat in Economy/coach and some do not.

In basic economy, you do not have the choice of selecting a seat. The map does not come up, and the airlines select the seat for you. However you are paying the lowest rate for your seat on that airline!

It is all about price or in other words “follow the money”

Have a great trip!

Sample of an Airline Boarding Pass as above.

Dearest Quora Prompt Generator

i,m quite sure you are confused between Airline Ticket and Boarding Pass.

Airline Ticket will not have seat allocation.

What happens if you did not turn up for the flight?

You may have deprived someone a place on an emergency travel.

It should have stated “Check-in Required”.

During check-in seats will only be allocated.

Sample of my own booking ticket.

6 months earlier for free Tourist visa (VOA)

Two way (To & Fro) fixed date pre-paid 6 months ago (booked online)

No passport number required.

Soon you will get allocated to one of those “standing room” seats.

Why can't airlines show available seats or at least availability of 2 consecutive seats prior ticket purchase?

They do.

You select your flights first, then select your seats (some seats and sometimes all seats have some kind of upgrade cost that can range from $15 and up). Once you finish that process, you pay for the flight.

I remember one flight I took, the entire front area of the plane was marked as unavailable. I assumed some type of group was going to be flying on the plane and those seats had been set aside for them.

I probably wouldn't have thought about it again except that when I got on the plane, as we were ready to depart, I noticed that all those seats were empty.

I speculated that the airline anticipated that the flight would be only half full so they didn't allow seating in the front so that the "weight and balance" would be distributed more toward the center of the aircraft.

What airline(s) are you trying to book on?

There are two general categories: those that don’t offer any seat selection before boarding (e.g. Southwest), and those that do (almost all the others).

For the ones that do, usually you are allowed to choose seats after selecting all your flights, but before actually purchasing the tickets. You may have to pay an extra fee to reserve the seats in advance. Most airlines that allow prebooking seats will allow you to check the available seats before selecting the flights.

Sometimes, a flight will be full (overbooked) or nearly so, and the airline will place control of the remaining seats under local agent control, for allocation during the boarding process. Sometimes this is shown during seat selection (but still prior to purchase) as “seats will be assigned at the airport”.

Sometimes, for certain aircraft, passengers have to be distributed along the length of the cabin to maintain weight and balance limits. For example, Horizon’s Q400s will often have five or six rows at the middle of the aircraft marked unavailable until they fill the seats at the front and back.

For me, whether or not seats show available is usually a dealbreaker for whether or not I book a flight. I almost never have a flexible enough schedule to accept a delay, so minimizing the odds by avoiding overbooked flights helps.