Do You Practice This “Booking Hack”?

Recently, a travel article titled “This Airline Booking Hack Is Dividing the Internet” caught my eye. The article describes how some couples book a window and an aisle seat in hopes to get their own row, something my husband and I used to do all the time. I see this so often as I travel for business. I tend to be an aisle seat gal for many reasons — easy up and down for restroom access, a bit more arm room for working on my computer and just not feeling trapped by strangers to name a few. I also find myself attempting to do this when traveling with a colleague or companion when flying on Southwest, where you choose your own seats as you board. It’s nice to have a whole row to yourself, however these days that’s a ‘pie in the sky’ dream to say the least.

While my husband and I used to do this, and perhaps a colleague and I, we were always prepared to have one of us move so we wouldn’t have someone in between us. If that person insisted on being in between we would respect that and do our best to not converse over them and certainly would not be spilling wine on them. The prospect of spilling on the middle or aisle person is always there though with drink disbursement. On a recent flight, I was assigned a window and in the passing of a cup of ice the flight attendant jerked slightly, and my cup of ice went all over the middle person. It was unfortunate and could’ve been worse, but I still felt terrible, although it was out of my control, but I digress.

Honestly this boils down to the kinds of people in the world. There are those that are kind and considerate and hope for a bit of extra room who are willing to slide as necessary. Or there are those who aren’t considerate in nature, and don’t necessarily think of others in the long run.

I guess what I’m curious about is, as a travel advisor, how do you book your clients with this request? Do you recommend it? Do you practice this? No judgement here as I admitted to it myself!

Just in case you’re wondering what my husband and I do now, since I clearly stated it’s what we used to do … I’ve determined that my husband is a non-communicator when we travel so we now just choose aisle seats across from each other or as near as possible. That way we can talk across without being over anyone. I actually witness many couples with this practice too.

About the Author

Beth Kitzman is the business development manager for Trisept Solutions' Agency Channel for VAX VacationAccess. Beth focuses on nurturing business relationships and finding exciting, unique ways for VAX to support travel agencies. With over 20 years of experience in the travel industry, beginning with Walt Disney World then working for airlines and now focusing on travel technology, Beth loves using her education degree to find ways to educate and empower travel agents to grow their leisure travel business.