Selecting seats

For us, where we sit is crucial. I always pay for the seats we want, especially on international flights.

If you wait too long you may not be seated together.

Yes, I realize some people are picky about where they sit. My question is, will we have to pay for seats no matter what? If we arrive at check in without seats, are we assigned seats and still have to pay, or will we not have to pay and be able to choose from the seats that are left?

Tammy, I think you are making some wrong assumptions, and potentially a poor choice.

First, what you are seeing on the online seat map only reflects which seats have been assigned -- not how many have been sold. Plenty of people buy tickets but only later (or sometimes never) proactively select a seat. For example, you bought a seat, and the seat you own (but have not yet chosen) is not reflected in that seating chart. Lots of others who will be on that flight have, too.

Second, "July" is a long time from now, and lots more seats (probably the majority of them) will be sold/assigned between now and the day of your flight. It's quite possible that at your check-in time, the flight will be 100% full. Most flights are full or nearly so nowadays.

Personal opinion, it's a major mistake to not seek out and select a good seat. The quality of your flight experience depends to a large degree on which seat you end up in. The last thing I want is to be assigned some random seat at the last minute, and only then discover how bad it is and try to fix it -- when the options to improve it are very limited.

Exactly how much of an issue this would be depends on how long the flight is, how particular you are about comfort and convenience, and other factors. But this is a case where "the early bird gets the worm". If this is a long flight, look out. Less of an issue for a 30 minute hop. 8 hours?! Sheesh, I want to know where I'm parking my butt for 8+ hours!

Most airlines will assign you a seat (semi- or completely) randomly when you check in. If you hate what you get in the Great Seat Lottery, you can (usually) try to change it then at no cost, but (usually) all the best seats are long gone at that point, and your options typically consist of only the seats most people have already rejected.

How much are you paying for your ticket on that 8 hour flight? How much do you save by not paying for and choosing a good seat? The difference is what I'd chalk up to "the cost of doing business." Personally, I never, ever get on a plane unless I have personally curated and carefully selected the best of what's available. There can be a big difference between the best and worst seats in any cabin (well, all First and most Business class seats are usually at least pretty good -- but the difference back in coach can be huge). Middle seats. Seat's by the toilets. All the seats that somebody has already looked at and said, "No way I'm sitting THERE..." That's often what you get to choose from at check-in time. Maybe you'll get lucky and the bulkhead aisle seats with six feet of legroom will miraculously have been passed over by the other 200 people who have already picked their seats before you. But I wouldn't count on it. This is a risk that can easily be eliminated -- I like to do that.

Others may be happy in any seat at all, but I'm unapologetically picky about where I'll be sitting. Makes all the difference in the world to me. YMMV.

Did you book this through KLM or Delta? Delta does not charge for Economy seats unless you booked the flights in Basic Economy. (KLM also typically does not charge for Economy seats). You should be able to pick your seat in the class of service you paid for without any additional charges for both these airlines. However, if you booked your seats by way of basic economy, you will be assigned seats at check in. You will not be charged but will be given the best available seats, which may or may not include a middle seat. If your ticket class allows it, I suggest picking the best seats available to you now.

I found this on the KLM website, but you need to check whether it applies to your particular service

You can choose a standard seat during check-in, at no additional cost. If you’d like to ensure that your preferred seat is yours, or if you want a more comfortable seat, you can reserve a seat via My Trip.

https://www.klm.us/information/travel-class-extra-options/economy-class-seats

I pretty much always pay to book seats on transatlantic flights because 8 hours is a long time to be stuck in a middle seat. I rarely pay for a seat assignment on short flights because I can tolerate any seat for 2 hours.

100% agree with David.

I have silver medallion status on Delta so when I have an upcoming flight, I check the seat map often as departure day gets closer to see if I might be in the running for an upgrade. I am always suprised at how often a flight will go from half full to completely full in the last week before a flight. I flew from ATL-AMS in April on Delta. Our flight went from 3/4 to full the day of because of a cancelled ATL-AMS flight on United the day before, and a lot of those folks were booked on my flight.

I care very much where I sit on a long flight. I will never buy the kind of fare that won't let me choose my seat for free. Being stuck in the middle, in the back, would make me miserable. If where you sit truly doesn't matter, then wait and see what's available when the window opens for you to choose your seat for free. If it does matter, assume your flght is going to be full and bite the bullet and pay for seat selection now.

The other thing to do if you don't want to pay for advance selection, (but I think you'd be much happier if you did), is be sure to check in online right at the 24 hour before the flight mark...if your flight leaves at 3pm, check in at 3pm 24 hours before.
then you can select a seat.
You'll still have to see someone at the airport with all your covid papers, etc.
Never wait till you get to the check in desk to check in nowadays, or you will definitely end up in bad seats.
The other thing about doing this is that because you have already checked in 24 hours before, you will be way less likely to get bumped than the last guy who is checking in 3 hours before flight time.
You can check seat maps all you want, but when you arrive for your flight, most every seat will be occupied.

Actually on most airlines check in time has little to no impact on your risk of involuntary bump.

Hi Tammy, not sure where you’re headed, but my flight from Amsterdam to Milan last week was 100 percent full. I purchased through Delta at the Economy Plus level. On the KLM flight, I was halfway back in the plane but had my usual aisle seat.

I hope you have a great trip. I think most of us that recently completed international travel saw full flights, at least headed to Europe. S J mentions checking in online in the 24 hr.window to get your seats. I just wanted to say that I spent a sleepless night because we could not make the online check-in work and we had not paid to pre-select seats. It did work out O.K.and it was the flight home so it was not 100% full, but not sure I’ll do that again. Between this forum and FlyerTalk, I’ve read about lots of people struggling to get the online check-in to work.

Honestly, if I was flying KLM with the mess they are having and the fact that they are basically canceling flights constantly I would be booking a seat regardless of what it cost.

Maybe by July things will be better but right now they are canceling multiple flights. So All those people on cancelled flights are getting pushed onto the flights that are actually flying. So by the time you check in one of two things will happen. One those people that have been rebooked will be taking the empty seats. two KLM will have just blocked the seats while they try to deal with a mess at the airport. I don’t know for sure that KLM does the seat blocking. I know that their partner Delta does that. During Irregular operations they’ll just block every seat on the plane while they deal with the problem.

Personally I'd get those seats selected, but I'm not a gambler and for sure wouldn't want to be stuck in the middle seats. FWIW as a real time example, I'm flying on Delta today (direct flight to Amsterdam) and had selected my preferred seats way back in December. I've checked every so often and the flight has been consistently pretty full. Yesterday, as I was trying to check in (though I can't because I have to show passport/covid vax, etc.), I noticed my seats were changed and not what I would prefer (two rows from the way back, though still a two seat aisle/window). Then not five minutes later a real live person from Delta called me (eep, creepy!) and said they had a plane change which affected seating and resulted in an overbooked flight. Their incentives were not enticing enough to give up my direct flight, but because of the new plane schematic we're stuck with the seats we were reassigned. Anyhoo, point being, even if you pick your seats ahead there is no 100% guarantee you'll get them. I'm just thankful to have seats on the plane (and going to airport a little earlier just to make sure that stays true). Good luck Tammy!

AMS is your real issue. If you have flights into our out of there over the summer - Good Luck! Watch them CLOSELY and if you are flying out of AMS do NOT arrive late and hope you can make your flight!

Thank you everyone! I took the overwhelming majority advice and booked seats! Now, fingers crossed that the Schipol airport gets back to operating smoothly.