united airlines has a Mileage Plus Premiers program and annual pass holders, access to their Economy Plus section (space permitting), which provides up to 3″ to 5″ inches of legroom depending on how big the airplane is.

Exit rows tend to offer more seat pitch that offers quick evacuations in emergencies. Most of the time front seats in exit rows don’t recline providing a clear path while offering passengers a lot more space.

Most times exit row seats are mainly given to passengers who can help out in an emergency situation. Exit row airplane seats are normally given at airport check in. Get to the airport early to grab a seat in an exit row.

Real-time seat maps lets you see which seats on Southwest Airlines or Jetblue are still open before you purchase a flight.

You can gain access to these maps on most airline and travel booking sites or try your travel agent.

Seat assignments can spell trouble. If you are not able to buy dirt cheap airline tickets seat, it might be a sign that the flight is overbooked. Passengers stuck without seat assignments get the remaining seats.

Speak up: Whenever you are unhappy with your seat, request to be placed on the waiting list for a better seat when booking your flight and again at the airport. Before take-off, airlines offer the no-show seats.

Abandoned Flight Delay Seats: Many times during a flight delay some business travelers switch to alternate flights and this can open up better seats.

Use the middle-seat trick: I think we can all agree that an open middle seat makes any flight more comfortable. I try to choose an aisle seat at the rear of the airplane where another passenger is already placed by the window.

If aisle and window seats are taken, the middle seat is probably open. Whenever you select an empty row, you are basically asking the next couple to grab the two available seats near you.
It’s a good idea for couples to reserve the window and isle seat.

Hopefully this will cause the middle seat to be open unless the flight is booked solid. Most fliers in the middle seat will happily trade for the aisle or window seat and then couples can sit together.

If you follow these tips, you’ll increase your chances to get a good seat on Southwest or Continental Airlines.

The jump in airfare prices is the first increase by the major airlines in 2008 but follows over a dozen 2007 airfare increases. Once one popular airline increases their dirt cheap airline tickets, others often follow.

The airfare price hikes demonstrate the growing effects of costly oil. The commodity’s rally has increased transportation and travel costs and caused companies all over the market place to hike prices.

2008 could make for more challenges to increase traffic. The airline industry’s international trade group spoke Friday of a challengingg 12 months ahead.

“We go into 2008 with a warning bell,” said Director General Giovanni Bisignani of the International Air Transport Association. ”

Customer demand growth is expected to fall to 5.0%.” Through November, passenger demand was up 7.5% in 2007.

Worry over higher fuel costs and low traffic weighed on the rest of the air travel sector.

Passengers are charged $5 to check a bag, $8 for a blanket, $15 for a pillow, and $10 to be at the front of the line, because there are no designated seats.

Except for babies and people with medical needs, passengers are not allowed to bring food or drink on board so Skybus eliminates any competition for its $5 Budweisers and $10 meat loaf dishes.

They don’t show movies. And by doing away with first class seating, it squeezes 144 coach seats on a model of plane that has 124 or 126 seats in two classes on most other carriers — although Skybus’s 30-inch coach ‘‘seat pitch,’’ or spacing between seats, is identical to Northwest Airlines and US Airways in coach.

To continue to hold down costs: They don’t offer a phone number customers can call. Tickets are only offered online, and the only access to Skybus customer service is the gate agent at the airport.

One big money maker for the airline is making its jets flying advertisements for Nationwide Insurance, which pays a hefty premium to get its name and website on the fuselage and inside the cabin.

In the beginning, Skybus is flying to seven other destinations besides Portsmouth from its Columbus hub: Richmond; Greensboro, N.C.; Fort Lauderdale, Fla.; Kansas City, Mo.; Burbank, Calif.; Oakland, Calif., and Bellingham, Wash.

Like Portsmouth, which is 55 miles north of Boston and had no regularly scheduled jet service to or from anywhere before Skybus began operations Tuesday night, Bellingham, Burbank, and Oakland are meant to be low cost, if remote, options for getting into the big metropolitan markets nearby of Seattle, Los Angeles, and San Francisco.

So what do I think of the new UA business class? Two opinons:

To begin with, the seats themselves look pretty nice. 180-degree lie-flat. Cool. Forget those angled flat seats — gravity always overcomes, people! Nice large screen. Wider (23.5″) than the current-generation first seats.

They’re the best looking seats offered by an American airline right now.

Next, the moving forward- and rear-facing seats will be difficult for some people, but British Airways has been doing it for sometime now, and they’re still selling tickets.

Finally, the service is said to improve along with the seat.

But “service” is mainly “features.” That is, new food from chef Charlie Trotter, and better in-flight entertainment.

But what’s lacking from the company’s PR pitch is the actual service in flight. A nice restaurant is more than a upscale-sounding menu and a great decorated room.

It’s how the customer is treated that counts in my mind. The same is true of an airline, and United’s in-flight customer service has been hit-or-miss lately.

It’s not proven that the company understands this, either.

The publicity materials focus on the hardware, and not the human “software” that really makes or breaks the experience.

In closing, the new seats are a move forward for the airline. The new seats will only be on internationally-configured three-class Boeing 747, 777, and 767 planes, and the rollout will take thirty months to complete.

I’m hoping to try them for myself really soon.

Airline Complaints: Management cares a lot about the company’s image, and the most serious airline complaints are sent right to the top with threats of talking to the media or the Department of Transportation.

Most of those complaints are handed off to someone, whose job is to make you feel like a ‘valued’ customer—which can mean free tickets, if management is in a good mood that day.

Mishandled luggage: Airlines know that about 1 percent of checked luggage will be lost, damaged, or stolen, and they even forecast this in their budget.

The maximum that domestic airlines have to pay for damaged or delayed bags is $3,000 per passenger, as per the Department of Transportation.

But airlines rarely ever dish out anywhere near that amount because they don’t pay back for cash, cameras, video equipment, computers, jewelry, antiques, or other expensive items.

Canceled flights: Whenever flights are delayed or canceled, most of the times airlines promise to reimburse passengers only for most important needs (such as meals, ground transportation, and lodging).

Airlines will never reimburse for losses that are caused because of missed meetings or lost wages. If you complain the right way, however, they may provide tickets or discounts on future flights, as a show of goodwill.

Forget the annual membership

Many travelers, the annual fee is just a bit much. Try a day pass for around $25 to $50.

Frequent business travelers are the main ones who benefit most from annual memberships.

Inspect your wallet…

American Express Platinum members often times receive access to Delta, Northwest and Continental lounges. Visa Signature Platinum cardholders receive a subscription to Priority Pass, a large network of over 500 lounges from diverse airlines.

Don’t forget your ticket

Most airlines provide free lounge access to passengers traveling in first or business class on an international flight.

Bump and Deal

Whenever you get bumped, or volunteer your seat, request to get access to the airline club as part of your compensation.

EBay to the resuce

Airlines prefer that travelers purchase club day passes in advance. Most of the time they go unused. Because of this, you’ll find a nice supply on eBay, for discounts of up to 25%.

Keep looking

Due to partnership agreements between airlines, your ticket on one airline may allow you to access the club of another.

Northwest Airlines passengers, for example, are allowed access to Continental and Delta lounges. What’s more, Delta will let travelers purchase $25 day passes to its clubs no matter what airline they are flying.

Look before you buy

Clubs at airport hubs can get very busy. Oftentimes it’s difficult to find a place to sit. Before you pay for a pass, take a quick look around the club to ensure that you can get what you want out of your visit — whether that’s a conference room with speaker phones or a free fax machine.

But they don’t send in your money to the airlines for a couple days. These agents pay airlines mostly once a week.

If you are working with a nice agent he or she may allow you to cancel and receive your cash back. This strategy will not work when using a credit card, because agents are required to submit credit card sales everyday.

Most of the general public don’t even know this system exist.

Welcome to the secret world of y up fares. The ticket looks like a coach ticket, costs what a coach tickets costs, but when you board the plane and take seat you are sitting in first class!

One of the easiest ways to take advantage of this secret first class upgrade is to log onto a web site called www.fare compare.com.

This site actually lists the y-up fares and tracks them for you.

“Y-up fares are not perfect for every occasion,” Fare compare says. “Some are very low at $280 roundtrip; most y-up airfares are very similar in price to the business walk-up and 7-day advance purchase airfares.”

The site takes you step-by-step through the process of doing it on your own.

What a great way for business travelers to go around the company ‘no first class’ travel policy.

Upgrades are subject to capacity controls and seating limitations and are valid for travel on American Airlines marketed and operated flights within and between the U.S. and Canada, Mexico, the Caribbean, The Bahamas, Bermuda and between the U.S. and Central America.

Even though most airlines are promising to do better, travel experts say it’s up to you.

Check out flightstats.com to find your flight’s on-time history.

I find it easy to be true that some planes are one hundred percent late every single day. It you want learn more about your airlines record, log onto the Department of Transportation’s Bureau of Statistics website under related links.

Use the airline’s cargo website.

For reasons unknown, some airlines reveal the true reason for flight delays to their cargo customers, but not their passengers.

But not all airlines share this information.