Verified answer

yes, this is the way to get a good seat:

when the flight is booked and the reservation is confirmed, check your itinerary to see what aircraft you are flying on. then theck the website of that airline, they have a layout of each aircraft. all the seats are marked in the layout. find a seat in the first row of a new partition, like the first row behind first class, and call the airline to have your seat changed to one of these, it will give you more legroom and you will be able to streach out more on long flights. i do it all the time

also, if you are going to fly on the same airlines all the time, sign up for the frequent flyer mile program, you get miles each time you fly, on most airlines, once you get 25,000 miles, you can pay a $250 proccess fee, then use the 25,000 miles to travel fram any location in the US, to another location in the US, just for that. they use to be just the miles, but most airlines have added the processing fee, i gues they were losing to much money, but check with the airlines you are flying with, they will have all the details.

Good Luck at your new job!

dress adequately - in fact if you look rough there may be no chance of an upgrade

sign up to frequent flyer programmes - that's another way of helping to get an upgrade

be polite and kind to all ground staff and crew - this will also increase your chance of an upgrade

pack appropriately - don't take too much

listen to the safety demonstrations for each flight - aircraft are different and have different seating configurations and you'll need to know the emergency exits

try and sit at the front - that way you'll get off the aircraft quicker (assuming they only exit passengers from the front)

take some reading material or do your work

as for food - eat before you fly. don't drink alcohol before or during the flight and try to avoid caffiene aswell. drink water to keep hydrated

enjoy!

As for food, check out this new website that just got up and running - www.airportfoods.com.

For easy passage through security, check the TSA web page frequently and know the rules and procedures as they change on occasion. Wear slip on shoes and go very light on the jewlery. You'd be surprised at how often people don't know procedures, wear tons of jewlery, and shoes that are hard to get on and off. It causes lots of delays.

For seats, remember that exit rows and bulkheads are not always the prime seats people seem to think. Depending on airline configuration, you may not get extra room at exit rows, and the seats often do not recline either. With bulheads you get more room in front of you, but foot room often suffers due to a wall instead of an empty space under the seat in front of you.

Sign up for every frequent flyer and hotel guest program you can as well.