Seat Selection - empty seat

There are few things in the world more satisfying than having an empty seat next to you (apart from having two empty seats next to you) as anyone who has spent 7 hours wedged next to a fat, smelly person, engaged in armrest war will attest to.

Here's a trick I use (when I'm travelling in a party of two) to maximise my chances of getting an empty seat next to me:

When selecting your seat, either at the time of booking online or when you check-in online, choose two seats with one empty seat between you.

For example, if the configuration is three-seats together, choose the A seat and the C seat.

Unless the flight is absolutely full, check in agents will usually not allocate that seat to anyone. And if you were checking yourself in, you wouldn't either, right?

It may seem like a risky tactic and even though there are some heart attack moments as both of you eye everyone as they board thinking "I hope this fat, smelly dude is not going to sit between us", it's almost always paid off for me.

But you see, even if someone IS allocated that seat, you can always ask him to swap (after all, a window or an aisle is better than the middle seat), leaving you no worse off than before.

Just make sure you explain this tactic to your travelling companion first. Especially if it's a new girlfriend...