Not paying for seat selection in coach, how does it work out (usually)?

If you are willing to accept any seat on the plane, then it really doesn’t make sense to pay for seat selection. It does seem that there is a great deal of conflict reported in the news over people who did not want to pay for seat selection, who suddenly found they did care when they saw their seats.

I know I care about where I sit, so I always purchase.

Somebody has to sit in the last row, by the bathrooms, with traffic passing by all thru the flight.

Someone has to take the middle seats left unfilled- it’ll be people who didn’t pay to select seats. If that’s ok, if you don’t care at all then don’t pay. If that would bother you, pay for your seat.

I wonder, are the ones with no seat selection the first ones bumped?

I never pay for seats in coach. I just check-in online at the 24 or 48 hour point and get the seats I want for free. I honestly assumed that everyone else did the same thing because I always get the seat I want. And I fly A LOT.

It's sometime ago now, but I seem to remember thinking that the price I paid for a coach seat limited the seat options available to me when checking in on-line - I had the lowest of the lowest fares and the only choices were middle seats and this was right on the 24-hour before flight time.
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Anyway, I no longer fly coach domestically or internationally and because legroom is important I will hand over the $15-$25 extra at booking.
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Travel is not meant to be tortuous so I'm not going to leave the vagaries of airline seating up to the airlines. The advance purchase of a seat is pittance.

The most miserable I can remember being on a plane was in the very back row, fortunately an aisle seat, of a BA flight to Edinburgh. The AC wasn't working and they had run out of the water they usually sell in coach. I'm not usually claustrophobic, but was in this situation. I will avoid that airline in the future if at all possible.

Pointing out transatlantic is over $30/ person for aisle/window in the back third, so it’s not peanuts. Also on a jumbo the toilets are in the middle of the plane; there’s a galley at the back although there may be a toilet or 2 also.

Emily: Good to know! The airlines are exploiting fear and uncertainty.

Mr E: I don’t have an answer to your question but there are times flying for work when at ticketing a week before travel there are only middle seats left to choose. Since there’s no advantage to intentionally selecting a middle seat for a solo traveler, I have not selected a seat and once got a comfort seat for free checking in at the airport,

We flew Swiss Air earlier this year and even upgrading to regular economy did not give us seat selection (although I thought it would when I purchased it), since we bought through United. I went online to get a boarding pass as soon as it opened up and easily chose seats I liked.

The year before we flew Delta (2021). Economy got you ability to get credits for your seats which were probably extra popular given that Europe had just reopened. My son and his girl friend, however, stuck to economy lite to save money and ended up with comfort seats for the flight back! They got seats together in economy on way to Italy.

Delta lowest class seats domestically have always resulted in my husband and I being in separate rows in the middle. We have bought them for short flights.

Delta lowest class seats domestically have always resulted in my husband and I being in separate rows in the middle.

I think this is bad luck. For basic economy domestic Delta flights we have always got an aisle seat at check in for one passenger, when flying as a group of 4 we were spread in the same area of the plane with 2 on aisles, 2 in the middle.

Noting that domestic is a different animal, since several passengers who had selected aisle seats will be upgraded to First just before check in freeing up some aisle seats for basic economy check in @ 24 hours.

One of the perks of having achieved a higher status in the OneWorld system that I most highly value is the ability to select seats in advance for free—including 'extra legroom economy'.

Without that, the seat map for your flight can be a tool for informing decision-making here. If there are lots of seats open as the travel date nears, then more than likely there are lots of pax awaiting free seat selection. This would tell me that most assigments will happen from 24hrs before travel, and the chance to check in early could offer a decent chance for good seat options. But of course, it's all a gamble, and the best advice is to just pay for what you want if you'd be truly unhappy with the worst case outcome.

If I can select my seat on-line for free, sometimes I do that but not always. I take my chances at being given a seat at check-in. If that's not preferable, then I ask if another more preferable location-wise is available. I always fly Economy both domestic and trans-Atlantic, taking the overnight flight non-stop from SFO or OAK to London LHR or Gatwick, Paris CDG or Frankfurt.

Paying extra for a seat is not an option. If offered an upgraded seat at check-in for an additional charge, I always reject that offer.

Ideally, I prefer the aisle seat, not the window, and to be avoided, the middle. If assigned the middle, (nothing else left), then I just put up with it for the next 11 hours. Not really comfortable but I know I'll sleep anyway.

It’s funny that I see this post today. Because last night I flew home from Boston to Atlanta, and there was a woman in the gate area having a royal hissy fit because she was in the middle seat in the back. She actually wasn’t upset with the airline -she was letting her other half have it up one side and down the other because he had booked these cheap tickets and she had to sit in the middle seat in the back. I bet he never does that again.

Noticing that Air France has periodic sales on seat selection pricing, about 15% off right on the seating chart, the normal price has a line though it and a lower price noted.