BREAKING NEWS

“Continental Airlines will begin charging coach customers extra if they want a seat with more leg room…

Prices will vary depending on the length of a flight and popularity of the route. A spokeswoman said extra room on a Houston-New York flight might cost $59. International fliers would pay more than that…

Starting March 17, coach customers will be able to pay the charge at check-in to get an exit-row seat with at least 7 inches more legroom than the other rows..

Top-level members of Continental’s frequent-flier program — those who rack up at least 25,000 miles a year — and their traveling companions will still be able to claim the exit row without extra charge…

.Some other airlines already charge extra for exit-row seats. United, for example, sells “economy plus” seats in coach, with up to five extra inches of legroom…

On its Web site, United says the upgrade costs $49 on Denver-to-Seattle flights and $109 going from Los Angeles to Tokyo.

JetBlue also charges more for legroom. Some carriers charge extra for aisle or bulkhead seats. On US Airways, window or aisle seats can cost $5 to $30 extra. ” (via seattletimes.nwsource.com  ) by DAVID KOENIG

Pointswizard.com Spin: Click here to read more – Continental to charge more for seats with extra leg room

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“ I won’t lie to you: the only truly easy way to get the best seat on a plane, every time is to buy it…

No, I don’t mean showing up at the gate lugging your own personal La-Z-Boy (complete with cup-holder armrests!) — I’m talking about flying first class, or your own fancy jet…

But those options aren’t available to everyone, so let’s lower our sights a bit and talk about getting the best seats available in steerage – you know, the holding pen that the airlines wittily refer to as “economy class.”…

Even economy has “good” seats: windows and aisles — with aisles leading ever so slightly –

and the best of best are located in the exit rows or bulkheads.

Unfortunately, someone has to fill all those middle seats; let’s try to make sure it’s not you.

Ten Strategies for Getting the Best Seats Available

1. Obvious Approach: Select your seat when you purchase your ticket. That sounds like a no-brainer, I know, but you’d be surprised how many travelers don’t do this and simply accept the seat they’re assigned without ever looking at it. Days (or weeks) later, they are horrified to discover they’ve been shunted into a middle seat. Pick your place as soon as you can.

2. Pay for Premium Seats: These are generally roomier exit rows or seats with a

little more leg room, but hold off before paying the fee for these seats. I’ve noticed that when the plane isn’t filling up, the fees for these seats can drop dramatically. Maybe you wouldn’t want to pay an extra $35 each way for a “good” seat, but how about an extra $10?

3. Promptness Pays: Some airlines don’t release seats until precisely 24 hours before departure, so you must be ready for seat selection then — at that very moment. In other words, if you’re on a 6 a.m. flight, set an alarm clock for 5:45 a.m. the day before, so you can fire up the computer and make your selection the instant seats are available. If you delay this by even a couple of minutes, all those wonderful windows and aisles can disappear.

4. Southwest Method: If you’re traveling on this no-frills carrier, check-in early. This won’t necessarily get you a seat, but it will get you a good place in line to claim a seat. Alternate action: consider paying the $10 charge for EarlyBird check-in, which lets you board the plane ahead of the masses.

5. Don’t Be Shy about Aches/Pains: Some airlines set aside sections that include “good” seats so families can sit together, or people with disabilities can be more comfortable. Do you have a legitimate medical problem? If so, contact reservations to inquire about your options and be prepared with a doctor’s note.

Do not, however, wait until you’re onboard to request a special treatment: one fellow who’d recently been in an accident tried that on a US Airways flight and became so demanding that the airline eventually diverted its flight to London to dump Mr. Injured off in Boston.” (via  abcnews.go.com) by Rick Seaney

Pointswizard.com Spin: Click here to read thr rest of Ten Strategies for Getting the Best Airplane Seats Available

“There are plenty of cheap shortcuts to a better travel experience…

Wearing an elegant outfit can open doors in business — and in business travel. Richard Rheindorf learned this firsthand, when he sported a well-tailored suit while waiting to board a flight from San Francisco to Vancouver…

Even though the coach cabin wasn’t oversold, the ticket agent bumped Rheindorf to first class…. “You looked the part,” the agent told him…

“It’s rare, but it does happen,” says George Hobica, president and founder of AirfareWatchdog.com. “If you’re standing there in a three-piece suit, they’re certainly going to pick you over the guy in gym shorts.”

Dressing up for a flight — and charming gate agents — works on occasion, but there are more sure-fire ways to score the best airplane seats. Whether it’s knowing a plane’s layout, requesting an exit-row seat or obtaining high status in a frequent-flier program, there are myriad routes to avoiding that non-reclining seat next to the back lavatory.

To uncover the most effective methods, we polled a roster of travel experts including Matt Daimler, founder of SeatGuru.com; Joe Brancatelli, founder of JoeSentMe.com; Patrick Evans, spokesman for STA Travel; and Hobica. They agreed: All seats are not created equal. There are tremendous differences even among coach seats on the same plane, not to mention other airlines and classes.

“Obviously there are seats that are more comfy than others,” says Hobica. “Pinpoint a seat and buy intelligently.”

Game of inches
Flying coach always seems to entail sitting with knees at one’s chest, squeezed by the encroaching bodies of corpulent neighbors. Though it may not seem like it, there are many ways to avoid this scenario. For one, know your airlines. Different carriers configure their planes differently; though most offer 32 inches of legroom, some, like JetBlue, offer 34 inches for the same price.

To get even more space, reserve a spot in an exit row. These seats typically offer six inches more legroom than the typical coach seat, and they’re often the same price. Airlines usually release these seats via online check-in 24 hours before departure; some, like JetBlue, sell them for a modest premium.

“For about $10 more, you can get an exit row seat with 38 inches of legroom — that’s more than some airlines’ first class,” says Hobica. “Personally, I always buy the exit-row seat.”

Another tip: Know your airplanes. There are tremendous differences even among the coach seats on a single plane; the disparity between different jets operated by different carriers can be even greater. Web sites like SeatExpert.com and Daimler’s SeatGuru.com offer color-coded seat maps that reveal which seats have the best amenities.

“Some airlines on certain seats have power outlets and seatback televisions,” says Evans. “That’s not always indicated on an airline’s Web site.”

JetBlue and start-up carrier Virgin America offer seatback televisions for every passenger on every flight. On other airlines like Allegiant and Southwest, video entertainment is notoriously hard to find.

Cheap upgrades

Another method of escaping coach’s doldrums is to obtain an upgrade to business or first class. Doing so needn’t be terribly costly — upgrades on domestic flights can be had for as little as $50 per trip segment.” (via msnbc.msn.com ) by Zack O’Malley Greenburg

Pointswizard.com Spin: Click here to read the rest of Tips and tricks for finding cheap airline seats

“Sitting in economy can be downright dreadful, but it doesn’t have to be. Put these tips to use and you might just enjoy yourself.

Dragging your wheelie down the aisle past business class and premium economy, toward your final resting place in steerage, doesn’t have to feel like entering Dante’s Ninth Circle of Hell. If you choose your airlines and aircraft wisely and then engineer your way into their coach cabins’ best seats, the amount of extra comfort you can get might surprise you.

The most pleasant airplane experience my family of four has had, for instance, was a Continental flight from Barcelona to Newark last December. If you’re wondering how on God’s green earth a nine-and-a-half-hour confinement on that one-aisle winged sardine can known as a 757 can possibly be described as anything remotely resembling “pleasant,” I have one word for you: AVOD.

Audio Video on Demand has now been installed on all of Continental’s 757-200s. Each passenger gets his own nine-inch screen with up to 25 movies that can be started, stopped, paused, rewound, or fast-forwarded at will. I watched two movies back-to-back—good films that I’d actually wanted to see in theaters but had missed. The well-chosen computer games and easy-to-use touch-screen controls amounted to the equivalent of a built-in babysitter for the kids. There was even an interactive Berlitz World Traveler program for learning foreign languages.

Thanks to my seat’s AC power port, which did not require an adapter, I plugged in my laptop the same way I would at home. And, miraculously for a 757, my knees did not dig into the seat in front of me—apparently because Continental’s Spectrum Seat (from BE Aerospace) affords more knee room, not to mention a “comfort cut” tray table and multi-position adjustable headrest.

In times like these, when planes aren’t flying full, even if you can’t choose your airline and aircraft you can at least choose your seat. My family’s outbound flight to Spain did not have AVOD, but it did have something key: empty middle seats. I was able to snag six seats for my family of four.

How? The aircraft was a 767—a two-aisle plane with a 2-3-2 seating configuration. My family had been assigned to two of the two-seat rows, but at the airport, when I learned the flight wasn’t full, I asked the Continental agent to move us to the aisle seats in two of the three-seat rows. Middle seats tend to be filled starting from the front of the aircraft and moving toward the rear—which means that if your flight isn’t full, you’re likely to get an empty seat next to you if you request an aisle seat in the center section in the back. My family and I ended up with two three-seat rows to ourselves.

How else can you get comfortable in coach?

Fly at off-peak timesThere are more likely to be empty seats, which means you’re more likely to be able to arrange for one next to you. Midweek and midday flights tend to be off-peak, though that’s not the case for all destinations. Use Orbitz’s Flexible Search tool to find the lowest fares within your travel window—these will also be the emptiest flights.

Consider flying aircraft that have the fewest middle seats
I love 767s because there’s only one middle seat per row. This means that your chances of getting one are less than on any other two-aisle aircraft: A 767 can be 86 percent full before anyone gets stuck in the middle. Two-aisle planes tend to give you bigger seats, more legroom, and larger overhead bins than one-aisle aircraft. Within the United States, try to travel on planes configured for international flights. These often fly from an airline’s hub to an international gateway before continuing overseas (e.g., certain American Airlines flights between Dallas and San Francisco).

Compare seat dimensions

On domestic flights, coach seats vary in width from 16.5 to 18 inches and in pitch (the distance between two rows of seats) from 30 to 36 inches. Internationally, they usually range from 17 to 20 inches in width and from 31 to 42 inches in pitch. The seat you’ll find most comfortable depends in part on your body type. Say you’re choosing between one aircraft whose seats are 17 inches wide with 32 inches of pitch and another whose seats are 18 inches wide with 31 inches of pitch. The tall and skinny will prefer the former, the short and hefty the latter. Charts on SeatGuru let you compare seat dimensions on a slew of carriers. Remember that you can pay a few extra dollars for more legroom on JetBlue and United.” ( via concierge.com ) by Wendy Perrin

Pointswizard.com Spin: Click here to read the rest of How to get the Best Seats in Coach

Our reader Robert G. reports this interesting story.
He tried to use Amex points to get 2 Continental Airlines OnePass tickets to Europe.
Continental Airlines had no seats available.

To his disbelief, by placing his miles in Delta Airlines Skymiles, he was able to get the flights on Continental Airlines that he needed.
Robert is rightfully pretty fed up with Continental Airlines.

Pointswizard.com Spin: Our reader ran into the same problem we have had in the last few years. Continental Airlines is very stingy with frequent flyer tickets. Although Continental Airlines releases statistics stating how many rewards it redeems – this is not reality based for the average traveler.
Maybe these redemptions are for trips going to Alaska in January?

We earned those miles through travel and credit card purchases. We should be able to redeem them even on good flights for example Florida in the winter or Europe in the May or June.

If you’ve spoken to people less than 40 years old you know a large number of them are also totally fed up with Continental Airlines. Therefore they are switching to JetBlue and Southwest. They switch because they can buy one-way fares and not be penalized and for easy frequent flyer reward redemption.

Continental Airlines may be losing customers in the same way as General Motors lost customers in the 70’s and 80’s.

Will they ever come back or will they stay away like GM customers have done?

“Many travelers would swear that they get sick after every trip or vacation. They wonder if it was the food, the water, the pina coladas — or, like me, the airplane ride. While I don’t think you can count out the pina coladas (or that burrito you bought on the street), it turns out you would be right about airplanes.
Airline carriers are also formidable carriers of the common cold; a recent study says you may be more than 100 times as likely to catch a cold on a plane as in your normal daily rounds, according to a study publishing in the Journal of Environmental Health Research: Common cold transmission in commercial aircraft: Industry and passenger implications.Why this is the case isn’t perfectly clear, but the publishers of the study investigate a panoply of possible causes,”( via msnbc.msn.com)
Pointswizard.com Spin: Click here to read the rest of the article.

“This info comes from Peter Greenberg, The Travel Detective:

American Airline 767 – Two secret seats on domestic flights, 17H and 17J. On international flights, these two seats, located across from the galley and actually curtained off as a special section, are designated “crew rest” seats. They can be sold for domestic flights.

American 757 – Ask for 10A or 10F. They are window seats, but because there is no 9A or 9F you’ll have more legroom.
Delta 757 – Same as American 757 but seat 20A.
United 757 – Same as American 757 but seat 8A.

Northwest 757 – Same as American 757 but seat 16F or 15E.
USAir 737-200 – Same as American 757 but seat 11A or 11F.
United 767 – In business-class ask for either 10A or 10F. These are single business-class seats, with petite desk areas on their sides.” [tesh.com]