Finding Your Sweet Spot on the Plane

Seat yourself and suit yourself.

Airplane seat assignments used to be controlled by customer service agents with special access to secret screens, with the options usually limited to "window or aisle" and seat numbers doled out randomly.

These days, you can swipe a credit card at one of the self-serve ticket kiosks popping up in airports around the country and print out a boarding pass, examine the layout of the plane and choose your own seat. Nearly every single airline is replacing customer service personnel with computerized kiosks to save money on labor costs, cut down on lines and give customers greater flexibility.

"Four years ago, you really had very little to do with booking and the entire travel process, but the Internet has forced you to become your own travel agent," said Matt Daimler, CEO of SeatGuru.com, a site that provides detailed information on seat assignments. "The natural extension of this, of course, is that you can pick your own seats."

The kiosks are proving popular. In May, 2.5 million passengers used one of United Airlines' 700-plus EasyCheck-In self-serve kiosks, now available in nearly 60 airports. Delta Air Lines' system has also proven very popular with travelers.

But not all airline seats are created equal. Picking the right one is harder than simply having access to a screen. In smaller planes, noisy engines are in the rear, making sleep difficult, if not impossible. On older planes, some seats in the front have an obstructed view of monitors, making it hard to watch a movie. Fear not. With these pointers, you can find the perfect seat to suit your needs.

Tip 1: The Early Bird Gets the Aisle Seat.

Like a fancy nightclub, the airlines have a door policy when it comes to seating passengers, often reserving the most popular seats, like those on the aisle, for elite frequent flyers.