Airline seat assignments and fees

Thought I mentioned we have no reservation or dates,as we are not yet sure of the destination.
We are in the information gathering stage

As far as pric i see tat on tap it's 32 or 40 each way

You can look up seat maps at https://www.aerolopa.com/

United -- https://www.aerolopa.com/ua

TAP -- https://www.aerolopa.com/tp

And before anyone says,they are free if you wait,we are seniors,who walk with canes and want to sit next to each other

Well, United seat selection is free, and you do not wait. On United you will select your seats during the booking process and prior to payment. The only seats that you buy up to are either economy + or priority seats. Even then you are selecting those before payment/checkout.

You can look at airline seat maps by airline and plane type here: https://www.aerolopa.com/

If you want to sit together for sure and not leave it to chance, you should purchase a fare that includes seat selection. If you use Google Flights to search flights, there are usually enough details to figure out what fare covers that. For example, I am looking at flights on Delta for this summer. When I pick the two flights I am interested in, it shows several different fare classes with prices and what they cover, including seat selection. Usually "basic" economy covers nothing but your ticket, economy covers some things, premium economy others. On Delta specifically, you can see what seats are available before purchasing the tickets, but I don't know about other airlines.

So far I havent run into an airline that wouldnt let me choose a seat as part of the booking process. Sure, most burry it pretty deep into the process, but not before you push "BUY", so work the process till you get to seats and then decide for the flight you are interested in. If the seat selection is a deal breaker, you can always stop the booking process ... or have I been luck and are there airlines out there that make you pay before the seat selction?

Not a big thing for me. i go for an asile seat in the center section on a row were the opposite asile seat is already sold and hope not one volunteers to take the center seat .... most times it stays empty. But I am a budget traveler, so I dont worry too much about 6 hours out of the 200 hours of the holiday.

On United Airlines your seat selection is part of the process and made prior to payment.

United goes in this order --

Select outbound flight => select inbound flight => enter traveler information (or you signed into your account and it populated) => select travel add-ons (or skip) like a club trip pass, buy extra miles etc => Seat Selection => buy or decline their insurance => then select payment methods, money, points, credits => finally payment.

Many airlines, including United, display available seats for each flight on the booking page before you select a specific outbound and return flight. I always check this first so I know that my favored seats are available before proceeding with booking. Then I select my seats as part of booking process. Some preferred seats may require a payment. Many foreign airlines, like British Airways, require a payment for any seat you reserve prior to check in. Hope this is helpful.

I know you can book as part of process
I just like to have as much info prior

@Virginia
I see,so on united,yo choose seats prior to pay.
Ok thank you

Just a note to add to the discussion about our experience. We booked flights to Paris back in September..selected our seats and then got a notice late in December that our flight had changed to a different plane, thus a different seat selection. They had assigned us two different rows with seats that were nowhere near each other.. it did allow us to change our seating assignments but I check the reservation every 10 days now. Our returning flight is still the same.

On most airlines you can also place your reservation on a 24 hour hold without paying. This also holds your seat selections.

I have "heard" that there are also websites that can show you how full a flight is and which seats are currently reserved. I have not used one.

Change of aircraft is quite common so those seats you thought you owned, may now be elsewhere. Happened to me leaving Paris on a Delta/Air France codeshare, they didn't bother to mention that my travel partner and I were now seated nowhere near each other. There were also a few folks who had boarding passes listing the same seat (not sure how the computer allowed that to happen ...).

I'm also going to suggest that to a certain extent planes are planes, and seats are seats, and airlines are airlines, and if you're not upfront does it really matter that much what the name is on the plane?

The only true way you are going to tune into the actual impact of seat assignments and fees is to go online and research all airlines and variables. It is often a learn as you go sort of thing. I would say that if you want to sit next to each other, make it so. If you wait and get random seats that may not happen. Do you want to take that chance. Using a cane has nothing to do with seat assignment as far as airlines are concerned.
Overall, you will probably have to pay something for an advance seat assignment in the range of $55.

Check to be sure this applies to you, but it’s standard for any major airline to allow free cancellation (prompt full refund) within 24 hours of booking. If so, no need to stress about seat assignments that follow purchase.

It’s also common (for some European carriers on relatively budget-level tickets) to charge for any seat reservation and otherwise just assign seats. But they try hard to seat travel companions together.

If you are a frequent flyer with an airline and have a credit card associated with that account, you have an advantage with seat selection, at least with Delta and American.

With Delta, before you purchase your ticket, you have the choice of a bargain airfare without a seat selection, then a main cabin, which includes seat preferences. The fare difference is usually 10 to 15%,

FYI, our plane has changed twice since we booked. Once to a bigger plane and our prebooked seats were completely messed up. Now it appears they switched back to the original plane configuration. Our seats are still together so I will continue to monitor. Only about 6 weeks to go so maybe no more changes.

As others noted, when booking with United, you will select a seat prior to payment so you should be in good shape if buying with them. The seating chart will show you what is available, and depending on your travel days, seats next to each other may or may not be an option. Never flown TAP, so not sure about that one.

As a side note. Of the 3 major US airlines American, United and Delta I believe that only AA offers to hold the fare for 24 hours without payment. The free cancellation within 24 hours is probably a US regulation so applies to all airlines. Someone please correct me if I’m mistaken.