Want to sit with your friends or family on a flight? Bloggers share 10 top tips

▲ Illustration of in-flight service by flight attendants. (Photo / Reporter Chen Ruizhong)

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Have you ever had this experience: you board a plane to travel from one city to another, and a passenger with their young child asks if you’d be willing to switch seats. You smile and agree, allowing the father and child to sit together. Not only do you receive their thanks, but you might even get a small snack as a token of gratitude to satisfy your cravings.

What exactly leads to this outcome? BloggerGeorge HobicaonThe Huffington Postexplains that many airlines initially hold back a large number of standard economy seats, even when more than half of the seats are still empty. Airlines do this to allow their frequent flyers (those who travel by plane often) or passengers willing to pay extra for an upgrade to choose better and more comfortable seats. On some flights, if you book very late, usually only scattered seats remain in standard economy, while premium economy still has plenty of available seats—but you’ll have to pay an extra NT$1,500 or more. Sometimes, even if you book early or there are unsold seats, the seat selection page always shows those less desirable middle seats.

Sitting together on a flight isn’t always easy unless you’re willing to pay more to upgrade to “Main Cabin Extra,” “Economy Plus,” or “Preferred Seats” to choose your desired seats. This need isn’t just for parents traveling with kids—it also applies to adults with autism or elderly people with dementia.

Here are some tips to help you sit with your friends or family on a flight

1. Book your tickets as early as possible. It’s not guaranteed, but it can help.

2. Entering your child’s age when booking won’t get you a discount, but reportedly, some airline computer systems will automatically assign seats for children under 12 next to accompanying adults.

3. Communicate with the airline. If you can’t find adjacent seats when booking, call the airline to see if they can accommodate opening up neighboring seats.

4. If the above three methods don’t work, try to get to the airport as early as possible and speak with airline staff—preferably before the flight departs. This gives you a good chance of securing the seats you want from those premium passengers who paid extra.

5. Change your itinerary or airline to find a flight where you can sit together. Even if it means altering your plans or taking a more expensive flight—or flying with U.S.-based Southwest Airlines, which doesn’t assign seats but prioritizes boarding for families with children under 4 and those with special needs.

6. If none of the above works, try bribing others. A Starbucks gift card, movie tickets, or a drink might just do the trick.

What else can we do? If these strategies fail…

7. Just bite the bullet and pay up. An unfeeling blogger from overseas once said: you chose to have kids, so pay for a “preferred seat” yourself. Consider it a parenting fund—like diapers, kindergarten fees, and college tuition.

8. Ask airlines to change their policies and stop reserving certain seats in advance. British Airways is currently the only known airline that ensures all children can sit with their accompanying parent.

9. Change the law. New York lawmaker Jerry Nadler once proposed a bill requiring airlines to seat families with children together, but the bill ultimately went nowhere.

10. Other passengers can show kindness by voluntarily swapping seats with elderly or children who need assistance.

None of these are ideal solutions. Airlines certainly don’t want to give up such a profitable business model, and even when bribed, most people are reluctant to switch seats. Sometimes, even when flight attendants try to mediate, the effort fails because everyone wants to sit in their chosen seat.

Current laws have many loopholes. How do you define the age of a “child,” or prove a child’s age on a plane? If only middle seats are left on a flight, should the airline bump passengers who booked months ago and chose aisle seats to accommodate families with children or those with special needs?

Do you have any better suggestions?