hopefully this thread isn't too far afield of the point of the tribe, if it is, please feel free to delete it. i'm just hoping that as road warriors, we know stuff others may not.

for instance, a few years ago i found out about "seatguru.com", which tells you the best and worst seats for EVERY SINGLE PLANE in flying existence. i love seatguru.com. never again will you find yourself in a non-reclining seat across from the bathroom (unless you want to be).

for those times you can't get upgrades, doing the online check-in sometimes gives you access to "the good seats" that you can't get when you first book a flight...the bulkhead and exit row seats, especially for Usairways, open up on online checkin but not usually before. some cheap airlines make you pay, which grinds my gears, but it's SO worth it on a long cross country flight to pay the extra 15 clams for an exit row seat (although not always...seat guru will tell you if the exit row seats won't recline, which they sometimes won't!).