出门旅行, 航班座位怎么挑选的学问

When airline customers try to choose seats while purchasing tickets, what they see may not be what they can get.
许多飞机乘客喜欢在购票的同时选择座位，但所见和所得并不相同。

Airlines routinely block coach seats for a variety of reasons, reducing the pool of available seats to reserve free of charge in advance when you book a trip.
基于诸多因素，航空公司常会锁定一些经济舱座席，这使得人们在预定机票时可以提前免费预留的座位有所减少。

On many flights now, 30% to 40% of coach seats are held back by the airline for premium customers, people with special needs or available only for a fee. Facing what look like, but often aren't, high odds of getting a lousy seat at check-in, sitting apart from children or even getting bumped from an overbooked flight, many travelers feel pressured to pay for a reserved seat.
如今在许多航班上，航空公司会为贵宾乘客和有特殊需求的乘客预留30%到40%的经济舱座位，普通乘客预定则需要付费。面对可能出现的情况（可能性看似很高，其实通常来说并非如此），例如办理登机时被分配到糟糕的座位、和自己的孩子分开坐甚至由于航班超额预定而坐不上这趟飞机，许多旅客倍感压力而选择付费订座。

That pressure has increased as airlines have expanded the number of seats they block from early assignment and added more rows of extra-legroom coach seats, which are offered free or at a discount to elite-level frequent fliers but sold to others. Airlines say all the seats they block or assign for a fee are opened up shortly before departure and customers without advanced seat assignments almost always get accommodated. There is a higher risk of getting involuntarily bumped off flights if you don't have a seat assignment, but it is rare.
如今这种压力更大了，因为航空公司将更多座位划分在了可提前预留的范围之外，并增加了多排加长了伸腿空间的座位，这些座位会免费或打折提供给贵宾常旅客，而向普通旅客则需要收费。航空公司表示，他们锁定的或者收费的座位都会在起飞前不久全部开放，没有优先分配座位的乘客一般总还是会得到安置。此时如果没分到座位，坐不上这趟航班的风险更高，不过这种情况很少见。

Doug Berg, a frequent business traveler from Detroit, was surprised to see the only spots open in coach were Economy Plus seats with extra legroom for a United Airlines flight from Denver to Spokane, Wash., in May. He had a seat for his Detroit-to-Denver leg, but didn't realize his travel agent hadn't been able to reserve a seat for the flight to Spokane until he went to check in online and print boarding passes.
道格·伯格(Doug Berg)来自底特律，商务出行非常频繁。5月份他搭乘美国联合航空（United Airlines）的航班由丹佛飞往华盛顿斯波坎(Spokane)，他惊讶地发现，经济舱内开放的都是拥有加长伸腿空间的豪华经济舱座席。在从底特律到丹佛的航程中，他订到了一个座位，但直到他在线办理登机并打印登机牌时，才知道旅行代理人未能帮他在飞往斯波坎的航班上预留座位。

Worried he might get bumped, which would have been a huge problem, since it was a night flight and he had to be at work at 7 a.m. the next day, he paid United an extra $44 to reserve an Economy Plus seat.
他很担心自己会无法登机，这将是个大麻烦，因为那是夜间航班，而他必须在第二天早上七点开始工作。于是他多付了44美元预定了豪华经济舱的座位。

At the airport, kiosks showed lots of available free seats in the economy section of the Boeing 737. At the gate, Mr. Berg polled fellow passengers about when they got their seat assignment and learned many reserved coach seats a few hours before departure. Mr. Berg felt ripped off because it appeared United had created an artificial shortage.
到了机场，自助值机台显示这架波音737客机的经济舱仍有大量可免费预定的空座位。在登机口，伯格询问同行的乘客何时被分配到座位，得知许多人都是在起飞前几小时预定了经济舱座位。伯格感觉自己被敲诈了，因为美联航似乎是人为制造了座位短缺的假象。

'Either seats are available or they are not, ' he said. 'It frosted me having paid a fee to get an assigned seat to ensure I would get to Spokane while there were seats in my class available.'
他说：“座位无非就是有空没空两种状态。在我的舱位有空座的情况下，我被迫花钱选座以确保自己能到达斯波坎，这很让人寒心。”

Mr. Berg wrote to United to complain and the airline responded saying if he sent documentation, the airline would refund the $44.
伯格写信向美联航投诉，该公司回复说如果他发来证明文件，公司将退还44美元。

I had a similar experience on a recent United Express regional jet flight. At booking, no seats were available to reserve. Two days before departure, two Economy Plus seats became available, and I paid $39 to grab one. The next day, 24 hours before departure, 10 seats opened for free seat assignment.
最近我乘坐美联航快运(United Express)的一趟支线航班也有相似的遭遇。订票时，没有座位可供预定。出发前两天，有两个豪华经济舱的座位可以预定，我花了39美元抢到一个。第二天，也就是起飞前24小时，又有了10个免费分配的座位