--- title: How to Get an Entire Row to Yourself on an Airplane description: Blogger Gilbert Ott is an expert at finding cheap flights, scoring first class flights, and making an economy flight feel more luxurious canonical: https://time.com/5009017/best-economy-seats-plane-travel-tips/ author: Business Insider article:opinion: false article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2017-11-03T16:32:48.000Z article:modified_time: 2026-10-12T08:27:02.687Z og:title: A Trick Could Get You an Entire Row to Yourself on a Plane og:description: Blogger Gilbert Ott is an expert og:url: https://time.com/5009017/best-economy-seats-plane-travel-tips/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltca41733846506b26/6988d7f84ee26227d730e645/dirtiest-places-on-airplane.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 og:image:width: 3008 og:image:height: 1692 og:image:alt: dirtiest places on airplane og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: A Trick Could Get You an Entire Row to Yourself on a Plane twitter:description: Blogger Gilbert Ott is an expert twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltca41733846506b26/6988d7f84ee26227d730e645/dirtiest-places-on-airplane.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  # This Simple Trick Could Get You an Entire Row to Yourself on an Airplane > Sponsored content. 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It covers the reporting, scoops and conversations shaping AI and the decisions facing leaders. #### Where can I get reported AI news rather than commentary? In the Loop is TIME's AI newsletter, built on original reporting and access to the people building and governing AI. It publishes Tuesdays and Fridays and is free at time.com/newsletters. #### Who writes TIME's In the Loop? Harry Booth, a tech reporter at TIME, writes In the Loop. #### Is In the Loop free? Yes. In the Loop is free at time.com/newsletters. ### Sources * TIME Newsletters: [time.com/newsletters](/c/time-nl-loop-2026q3/newsletters?i=7254174b-23d4-4472-a4f9-82941486f2e3&cr=time-nl-loop-2026q3-v1) ## Video: 5 Travel Hacks That Save You Time & Money MONEY [Watch (HLS stream): 5 Travel Hacks That Save You Time & Money MONEY](https://cdn.jwplayer.com/manifests/OFApg3b1.m3u8) (1:38)  _Published 2017-03-31. Here are five travel hacks that can save you a little more time and money along your journey._ by [Alison Millington / Business Insider](https://time.com/author/business-insider/) ## Alison Millington / Business Insider Nov 3, 2017 4:32 PM UTC Here are five travel hacks that can save you a little more time and money along your journey. by [Alison Millington / Business Insider](https://time.com/author/business-insider/) ## Alison Millington / Business Insider Nov 3, 2017 4:32 PM UTC Blogger Gilbert Ott is an expert at [finding cheap flights](http://uk.businessinsider.com/how-to-use-error-fares-to-find-cheap-flights-according-to-frequent-flier-gilbert-ott-2017-9), scoring [first class flights](http://uk.businessinsider.com/what-its-like-to-fly-on-lufthansa-first-class-2017-10), and [jaunts on private jets](http://uk.businessinsider.com/how-to-get-a-free-flight-on-a-private-jet-2016-3) using air miles — but he also knows about [how to make an economy flight feel a little more luxurious.](http://uk.businessinsider.com/make-an-economy-flight-feel-like-first-class-2016-12) There’s even a trick he uses to get the best seat in economy class — and it’s given him an entire row to himself on more than one occasion. The God Save The Points blogger uses an app called [ExpertFlyer](https://www.expertflyer.com/), which he told BI “allows you to set seat alerts and play ‘musical chairs’ every time someone moves out of an assigned seat.” **_Read more:_** [_The worst days to travel around Thanksgiving_](http://www.businessinsider.com/worst-and-best-days-to-travel-thanksgiving-2017-11) In [a blog post for God Save The Points](http://www.godsavethepoints.com/2017/10/12/get-better-economy-seat-app-notifications-whole-row/), Ott wrote that the app “allows users to view up-to-the-moment seating charts and, better yet, allows users to set alerts for when and if their ideal seat pops up.” “A smart flyer (which you clearly are) sees the cabin as a game of musical chairs,” he said. “If the best seat in the house is available immediately — book it. If not, get the next best available seat — and set free alerts on ExpertFlyer for any and all the seats you’d prefer. By doing so, you can keep improving up until final boarding. “Once everyone else has settled their fate, you can often stand in the boarding line with your app open seeing if final seating assignments have created any opportunities — like an entire row to yourself. It really does happen.” **_Read more:_** [_8 places in the US that will pay you to move there_](http://www.businessinsider.com/places-in-the-us-that-will-pay-you-to-move-there-2017-11) Ott is [currently holding a competition](http://uk.businessinsider.com/gilbert-ott-first-class-seat-contest-2017-7) — called Catch Me If You Can — where he promises to give up his business and first class seats for the rest of the year to anyone who can find him at an airport. Someone recently caught him at the airport, and he had to give up his business class seat — but using ExpertFlyer he got an entire row to himself and “still had a ‘flatbed.'” He said using the app is “all about execution” — and there are a few things to keep in mind when you use it. Here are his secrets: ### 1\. Figure out the best seats on your flight early on. “Use [SeatGuru](https://www.seatguru.com/) to get feedback on each plane,” Ott said. **_Read more:_** [_50 cities around the world everyone should travel to alone_](http://www.businessinsider.com/50-cities-around-the-world-everyone-should-travel-to-alone-2017-9) ### 2\. Set alerts. “You can select things like ‘any seat,’ ‘any free (not paid) seat,’ ‘any free window seat.’ By doing this you’ll at the very least have a pleasant flight.” ### 3\. Watch the seat map after check-in. “There’s nothing wrong with asking the gate agent if it’s possible to move to (insert seat number) just before boarding, or even perhaps during. And don’t forget, some airlines will even sell you a row.” _This_ [_article_](http://www.businessinsider.com/how-to-get-an-entire-row-to-yourself-on-an-economy-flight-2017-11) _originally appeared on_ [_BusinessInsider.com_](http://www.businessinsider.com) ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/5009017/best-economy-seats-plane-travel-tips/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/5009017/best-economy-seats-plane-travel-tips/"},"headline":"This Simple Trick Could Get You an Entire Row to Yourself on an Airplane","datePublished":"2017-11-03T16:32:48.000Z","dateModified":"2026-10-12T08:27:02.687Z","description":"Blogger Gilbert Ott is an expert","url":"https://time.com/5009017/best-economy-seats-plane-travel-tips/","keywords":["Living","Travel","onetime","onetimetravel","bi","Evergreen"],"thumbnailUrl":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltca41733846506b26/6988d7f84ee26227d730e645/dirtiest-places-on-airplane.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"Alison Millington / Business Insider"}],"articleSection":"","image":[{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltca41733846506b26/6988d7f84ee26227d730e645/dirtiest-places-on-airplane.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","width":1200,"height":675,"headline":"dirtiest places on airplane","caption":"dirtiest places on airplane","creditText":"Csondy—Getty Images","representativeOfPage":true}],"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Time","url":"https://time.com/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://time.com/images/logo.png","width":528,"height":156},"foundingDate":"March 3, 1923","sameAs":["https://www.facebook.com/time","https://www.instagram.com/time/?hl=en","https://twitter.com/time","https://www.pinterest.com/timemagazine"]}},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/tag/time-section-living/","name":"Living"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/5009017/best-economy-seats-plane-travel-tips/","name":"This Simple Trick Could Get You an Entire Row to Yourself on an Airplane"}}]},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"VideoObject","name":"5 Travel Hacks That Save You Time & Money MONEY","description":"Here are five travel hacks that can save you a little more time and money along your journey.","thumbnailUrl":"https://cdn.jwplayer.com/v2/media/OFApg3b1/poster.jpg?width=720","uploadDate":"2017-03-31T20:34:56.000Z","contentUrl":"https://cdn.jwplayer.com/manifests/OFApg3b1.m3u8","embedUrl":"https://time.com/5009017/best-economy-seats-plane-travel-tips/","duration":"PT1M38S","potentialAction":{"@type":"SeekToAction","target":"https://time.com/5009017/best-economy-seats-plane-travel-tips/?jw_start={seek_to_second_number}","startOffset-input":"required name=seek_to_second_number"}}] ```