Do you obsessively monitor the seat map before your flight?

I’ve been known to monitor the seat map before a flight from time to time. Since I place such a high value on sitting in a decent seat when flying, an occasional preflight review is worthwhile.

Often you will find seats suddenly open up when other passengers cancel flights or change plans. That means you could end up getting your first choice somewhere down the line, if you were unable to get it when you originally booked.

Monitor Each Flight

Even when I have the seat that I want, I still login to Manage My Booking on airlines websites from time to time. It’s interesting to see how things are panning out as travel day gets closer.

Ideally I would not have anyone sitting next to me, as that is generally my holy grail of flying. However as the above a short flight, I’ll stick to where I am so I can be served my meal straight away and have ample time to get through it. Something like the above is much better for me, as I mentioned. The more space you have when inside a plane directly correlates to a higher level of enjoyment. Whether that is a free seat beside you, sitting in the exit row or taking a bulkhead seat – it all works.

Overall Thoughts

While I don’t check the seating THAT frequently, I certainly do monitor it from time to time. Often you’ll find all bets are off at online check-in, when what is taken and not taken changes quite substantially. Luckily you can still make changes that late on most airlines.

If you are going to be anal about selecting your seat, you are best off having a tool like aeroLOPA in your arsenal. They produce seat maps for many airlines, to scale, with the window positions and so on all accurately marked. It’s my go to site before making a seat selection.

What say you? Do you monitor the seat maps in Manage Booking before flight? Or are you someone who just selects a seat when they check-in? Thank you for reading and if you have any comments or questions, please leave them below.

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Featured image via Finnair.