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. ...