出门旅行, 航班座位怎么挑选的学问

United says customers with tickets but no seat assignment almost always get seats at check-in. Seats without extra legroom open up as customers decide to pay the fee for Economy Plus and elite-level customers get upgraded to first class or to Economy Plus. Silver-level frequent fliers, for example, don't get Economy Plus seats free of charge until 24 hours before departure. As they get moved to open Economy Plus seats, 'traditional' coach seats open for passengers without seat assignments.
美联航说，订票未订座的乘客一般都会在值机柜台分到座位。当有乘客决定付费预定豪华经济舱座位、贵宾乘客升级至头等舱或豪华经济舱时，常规空间的座位就会开放。以银卡常旅客为例，他们在起飞前24小时才会免费获得豪华经济舱座位。随着这些人的座位移至豪华经济舱，“常规”经济舱座位就会开放给没有分配到座位的旅客。

On average, United says, 22% of its economy seats are Economy Plus. But that runs up to 40% on some planes. When there is little demand for Economy Plus, a significant percentage of passengers may face the anxiety of no seat assignment.
美联航表示，他们平均22%的经济舱座位是豪华经济舱，但在有些飞机上会达到40%。当豪华经济舱的需求很小时，相当一部分乘客可能就得因为座位分配问题而焦虑了。

'In the hugely overwhelming majority of situations, people will get a seat assigned before departure, ' United spokesman Rahsaan Johnson said.
美联航新闻发言人雷萨恩·约翰逊(Rahsaan Johnson)说：“在绝大多数的情况下，乘客在出发前都能分配到座位。”

American Airlines blocks a large number of coach seats, both with extra legroom and without, to make them available to customers with top-level status in its frequent-flier program on every flight. Those seats show up on seat maps as occupied for customers without elite status, leading them to conclude seats are scarce. This prompts a portion of them to pony up.
美国航空(American Airlines)在每架航班上锁定了大量经济舱座位，不仅有加长空间座位，也有常规座位，以便提供给常旅客计划中的高级别乘客。对于非高级别乘客来说，这些座位在座位图上显示已被占用，令他们认为座位紧缺。这促使他们中的一部分人加钱选座。

Two weeks before its July 16 departure, American Flight 34 from Los Angeles to New York showed only two middle seats in the back of the airplane available, plus 11 Preferred seats岸regular coach seats toward the front without extra legroom岸available for a $56.44 fee. Logging in with elite status, however, showed the same flight had far more regular coach seat availability. Flight 34 actually had 12 open window seats and nine open aisle seats.
7月16日由洛杉矶飞往纽约的美国航空34号航班在出发前两周只显示后排有两个中间的座位有空，外加11个预定费用56.44美元的受欢迎座位──靠前而无加长伸腿空间的经济舱座位。以贵宾身份登录系统，则显示同一航班上有多得多的经济舱座位可供选择：实际上有12个靠窗的座位和九个靠过道的座位。

A week later on Tuesday, the seat map available to non-elites showed only one available middle seat, 38E, in the back of the Boeing 767-200, plus the same 11 Preferred seats at $56.44 each. But elite-level customers saw a total of 41 of 128 coach seats empty.
一星期后的星期二，非贵宾身份登录后的座位图显示，在这架波音767-200型飞机上，只剩后部的一个中间座位38E，以及同样的每个需收费56.44美元的11个受欢迎座位。但是贵宾级别的乘客看到的是128个经济舱座位中的41个都有空余。

American says it doesn't think blocking open seats from view pressures customers into paying for extra-legroom or Preferred seats. The number of seats blocked for elite-level customers varies with demand and 'a large percentage of specific seat assignments are still available to all customers at no additional cost, ' spokeswoman Cameron King said. 'And for our customers who value additional legroom, a certain type of seat or the ability to reserve a specific seat, we have made products available for them as well.'
美国航空公司说他们并不认同在显示图中锁定空余座位会迫使乘客购买加长空间的座位或者受欢迎座位。其新闻发言人卡梅伦·金(Cameron King)说，为贵宾乘客所保留的座位数量因需求而异，“大部分特定区域的座位仍向所有乘客开放而无需额外付费。至于那些喜欢加长空间的乘客，我们同样为他们打造了特定产品，让他们能够选择特定类别的座位或者提前预定某一个座位。”

Unlike American, Delta Air Lines shows the Preferred seats it has held back for elite customers, but doesn't allow regular customers to book them until 24 hours before departure. At that time, Preferred seats are offered for a fee to nonelite-level customers.
与美国航空不同，达美航空(Delta Air Lines)会在图上显示为贵宾乘客预留的受欢迎座位，但直到起飞前24小时才允许普通乘客预定。那时，受欢迎座位会收费提供给非贵宾乘客。

US Airways also blocks seats for elite-level customers and labels them Preferred. The airline sells what it calls Choice seats in rows near the front of the cabin for $5 to $99 one-way that don't have extra legroom but do have early boarding privileges. On the whole, US Airways says 9.5% of its coach seats are labeled Choice. Preferred, Choice and exit-row seating, which is sometimes sold for a fee, account for an average of 30% of coach seats on the airline's planes.
全美航空(US Airways)同样为贵宾乘客锁定部分座位，并标为受欢迎座位。这家航空公司销售所谓的“精选座位”，这些经济舱座位单程售价为五至99美元、靠近机舱前部、没有加长空间但可以优先登机。全美航空表示，总体来看，有9.5%的经济舱座位被标为精选。受欢迎座位、精选座位和靠近逃生门的座位平均占据机上座位的30%，有时会收费提供。

Those seats open up to customers without seat assignments who don't want to pay starting 24 hours before departure, US Airways said.
全美航空还说，那些座位会在起飞前24小时开放给还没有安排座位、不愿付费的乘客。

Consider US Airways Flight 12 from Phoenix to New York on Wednesday. Two days before departure, a seat map showed only 12 Choice seats available for purchase. A day later, less than 24 hours before departure, nine coach seats, five of them middle seats, were available free of charge. Also, 11 Choice seats remained and two exit-row seats opened.
以全美航空7月10日由菲尼克斯飞往纽约的12号航班为例，出发前两天，座位图显示只有12个精选座位可供付费选择。一天后，也就是起飞前24小时，九个经济舱座位免费提供，其中五个是中间座位。同时还剩余11个精选座位和两排靠近逃生门的座位开放供选择。