Travel Deal of the Day (Mar. 12, 2007)

You purchase your ticket and pull up a seat map on an airline website, only to find that all the aisles and windows have been taken. This likely occurs because only a small percentage of seats are available to be booked by ordinary passengers in advance - some seats are reserved for elite frequent flyers (generally 25K, 50K or 100K miles/year) and other seats are reserved for airport assignment only. So, if you book close to the date of departure, you may not get an advance seat assignment or might only find middle seats. But all is not lost -- you still have a great opportunity to get a great seat assignment.

The Deal:
Obtain a great seat assignment on what appears to be a full seat map by selecting your seat exactly 72, 48 or 24 hours in advance of flight departure. Why are these times key times for finding a seat? Because these are the times that elite level frequent flyer members obtain free upgrades to first class. Since those frequent flyer members often have the best coach seats, this is a great time to obtain a coach seat, especially if you have previously been unable to obtain anything other than a middle seat in cach.

How:
Go to the seat map on an airline’s website exactly 72, 48 and 24 hours in advance.