I'm going to tell you right now that the actual travel part of traveling does not need to be
dreaded. If you want to take your airport and airplane experience to the next level,
keep watching because I'm sharing 15 ways to upgrade your flying experience [Music]
When you're booking a flight somewhere, you typically do it months or even weeks before
departure and if you want that better economy seat you typically have to pay extra for it.
Except I'm going to teach you a way where you don't have to do that, and you can get
it for free. You can check into your flight 24 hours, sometimes 48 hours, before departure. So,
set an alarm on your phone that will alert you when it's the earliest time that you can check in,
so you can be one of the first, if not the first person, to check in. This will give you the best
options for the seats that are still available including the ones that were going to originally
cost you more in economy. Choose a seat in row 13 and get the whole row to yourself! A seat in row
13 is the least likely to get booked and here's why... It is a long-held belief in many cultures
that 13 is an unlucky number. Several Airlines have actually gotten rid of row 13 and they
just go right from row 12 to row 14. So, airlines like Alaska Airlines, United Airlines, Lufthansa,
Air France, just to name a few. But then there are other airlines like American, Delta, Southwest,
JetBlue that still have row 13. So, if that row is available, and you're not a superstitious person,
choose a seat in that row and you're more likely to get the whole row to yourself. If the flight
isn't overbooked, book the middle seat. If you're flying solo, book the middle seat only on flights
you know aren't going to be overbooked. So, those are flights that are in the very early morning or
late at night. People are less likely to book the window or aisle seat if someone's already
sitting in the middle, so you're more likely to get a whole row to yourself. If you're flying as
a couple, one of you books the window seat, one of you books the aisle seat and people are less
likely to book that middle seat unless the plane is full. And if that's the case that the flight
is fully booked, you can always ask the person who's sitting in the middle to switch with you
to have either the window or aisle. Which I'm sure they would be fully up for. And if no one
is sitting in the middle seat, that gives you and the person you're flying with some extra
elbow room. Be loyal! If you're loyal to one or two airlines, then there's a better chance that
you'll get loyalty status on these airlines, which leads to free upgrades and other perks. Just be
sure to choose an airline that you love traveling with and that goes to many of the destinations
that you want to travel to. And before you know it, you'll be climbing up that loyalty
ladder and finding yourself in first or business class. Use ExpertFlyer to get the seat that you
want for free. You can use ExpertFlyer to set an alert that will notify you when the seat you want
becomes available if someone decides to cancel or change their flight. This feature is free
to use and when you do get that notification, you just go and change your seat by checking into the
flight again. Ask for an upgrade. I know it seems like a simple thing to do but it works sometimes,
especially if you're traveling solo. Get to the airport a little bit earlier, dress a little bit
extra nice, go to the check-in counter and talk to the agent there. Ask them if they have any
upgrades available in first or business class. Ask them how much it is and when they tell you
you can say along the lines like, "oh, that's a little bit too much for me," and sometimes,
it's happened to me twice in the last 10 years, you may be lucky and get a really nice agent who
will upgrade you free of charge. Even if you don't get boosted to business or first class, there's a
chance you could get boosted to a better economy seat like premium economy. If that doesn't work,
once you get through security, you go to your gate and as it gets closer to departure time,
go to the gate agent and ask them for an upgrade. At this point, a better seat might
be available because someone canceled or didn't show up for their flight, and it's time to you
know start boarding so you might get a chance on getting an upgrade for free at this point.
Claim your spot! Once you actually board the plane and there's an announcement that they're fully
boarded, doors are closing, ready for takeoff, stand up look around see if there are any rows
that have nobody in them. And if there are, ask the flight attendant if you can go and claim
that row once you are in the air and it's safe to move around. They will have no problem with
it. They usually just don't want you to do it before takeoff because you have to stay in your
assigned seat for safety reasons. Bid on a first class seat. Did you know you can actually bid on
a business or first class seat? Now, this does come at a bit of an additional cost but really
that additional cost depends on you. Once you book your flight, a lot of airlines actually email you
before departure at some point to see if you would like to bid on an upgrade. That means you can
actually set a price that you are willing to pay to be upgraded to business or first class. Other
passengers on the flight do have an opportunity to also bid, but if you are the highest bid at $200,
you will get upgraded to First Class. If you you don't win the bid, no problem, you don't have to
pay anything. So, really it's a win-win situation. 24 hours before departure call the airline and ask
for a bulkhead seat. If the person asks why you want a bulkhead seat, you can make up an excuse
like "my child kicks the seat in front of them" or "I have restless leg syndrome" or you can just be
honest and say you want the extra room. It's up to you. Even if you don't get the bulkhead seat, your
name is officially in the system for a potential upgrade. Then when you get to the airport,
make sure you're nicely dressed, go up to the desk agent, and kindly ask, "Is the flight overbooked?"
If they say yes, this is good. Most of the time, airlines like to overbook economy because people
don't show up and they still want a full flight. And in this situation, because the economy
section of the flight is already overbooked, you're more likely to get an upgrade because
you're already on the potential upgrade list, you asked nicely, and they have to put you somewhere
because they've already overbooked economy. Scope out SeatGuru. Before choosing your seat,
there is a site called SeatGuru, which allows you to put in the aircraft that you are going
to be flying. It gives you a full diagram of what that aircraft looks like and the seats as
well as all the details about each seat and what they have. So, if they have like outlets, Wi-Fi,
extra leg room, SeatGuru will let you know, so you can see which seats are the best seats for the
flight that you are going to be taking. Book your flight for the very early morning or overnight and
save big. Flights that leave in the very early morning or are overnight flights are typically
the cheapest because they are the least in demand. This means that they are least likely to fill up,
which means a better opportunity for free upgrades or very discounted business and first class seat
tickets. Choose the middle of the plane. Sit in the middle of the plane if you don't like
turbulence. This area is less bumpy than in the front or back it will make for a smoother flight.
Choose a special meal. Meal time on airplane can be a little cray-cray. If your flight does include
a plain meal, choose a special meal. There's so many to choose from if you haven't done it before
because you can get vegan options, gluten-free options, kosher options, vegetarian, pescatarian,
the list goes on. By choosing a special meal, you don't have to pay anything extra for it and
you are one of the first ones to get served at meal time. You'll also be guaranteed a meal that
you'll you know enjoy enjoy as much as you can enjoy plain food. Often when it's a full flight,
the best meal option goes to those who get served first and those who get served second or last
don't have any options to choose from. They're just getting what's left over. So,
if you don't want to be that person who's looking at their meal looking at the person beside them
and really wishing that you could just swipe theirs, get a special meal. Get yourself a points
card ASAP. You're already spending money daily, so why not earn points while you're doing it that
could lead to free flights and seat upgrades. We put everything on our points cards. Gas,
groceries, clothing ,and even travel. And then each year, we're able to use these points we've
accumulated to book flights for the whole family without paying an extra dollar. And that is it for
these travel hacks. Let me know if you've already tried out some of these hacks before by leaving a
comment below. And if not, go and test them out and then come back and let me know which ones
worked for you. And if you want more travel hacks, be sure to check out my 27 packing hacks as well
as more airplane and airport travel hacks, and I will see you in the next video. Happy travels!