How to Beat Budget Airlines at Their Own Seat Selection Game

When you book a flight on a budget airline and don’t pay to select a seat, there’s always a risk you’ll end up with one you don’t like.

Mexican budget airline Viva, which I flew with recently, takes this to the extreme. (For those unfamiliar with Viva, imagine what Spirit Airlines would be like if more of the passengers wore suits.)

With Viva, only the most expensive fare type includes standard seat selection. I booked the “middle” category, which included a checked bag but not a seat. The fee to select even just a standard aisle or window seat was quite hefty, and my flight from Mexico City to Guadalajara was only an hour. So I decided just to “risk it” and check in without paying for a seat. I suspect most other passengers did the same.

I suspect this airline gave me a middle seat on purpose

Naturally, my bet didn’t pay off and I got allocated a middle seat at the back of the plane.

But I suspect that this wasn’t just a case of being “unlucky”. I’m pretty sure the airline did this on purpose to encourage me to pay for a better seat.

Why do I say this? Well, at the time I checked in, there were still plenty of aisle and window seats available… but most of the middle seats were full. I’m pretty sure nobody would have deliberately selected all those middle seats!

I suspect this airline might even punitively seat groups travelling together in different sections of the plane, if they don’t pay for seat selection. I didn’t test this but it unfortunately wouldn’t surprise me.

Viva manages to fit 240 seats onto its Airbus A321 (more than even Jetstar) and the seat pitch is just 28 inches. The legroom is tight and the seats are uncomfortable. So, I was keen to avoid a repeat of my middle seat odyssey on my return flight.

How I got an exit row seat without paying

I could see in advance that my flight from Guadalajara back to Mexico City was going to be quite full. I was tempted just to bite the bullet and pay to select a seat. But instead, I decided to simply delay checking in online until all the middle seats were gone.

For the record, this is what the seat map looked like around 20 hours before departure (and yes, as I suspected, the middle seats had been the first to go):

In the end, I didn’t check in until a few hours before departure. By this time, most seats were already taken and I was automatically allocated a roomy window seat in an exit row – one of the last seats remaining on the whole plane. Happy days!

Of course, there’s a risk that you might get bumped if you’re the last person to check in for an oversold flight. But if you play your cards right, you could end up with a much better seat without paying a cent extra.

The best seats are the last ones that budget airlines will allocate for free

This trick probably works on other airlines… but only if the flight is close to being full.

The fact that extra legroom or “preferred” seats are often the last to get allocated is also why I do sometimes feel it’s worth paying for a preferred seat. But the optimal strategy depends on the airline and how full the flight is going to be. If your flight’s going to be completely full, you won’t get an empty neighbouring seat by paying extra.