I prefer to book with my FF airline by phone but would love to be able to see for myself what actual seats are available for that flight on- line but am unsure how to do it.

Since they have my actual name and address on-line with my personal info, I am concerned if I go too far into the reservation process to see the seats, I may end up "booking" the flight unintentionally on-line.
Can someone tell me how I can make sure this does not happen?

Thanks for any information you can provide.

I don't quite understand what you want to know. Do you not want to get a middle seat in a triple? Or what? Why is the seat availability so important? Are you afraid you'll get a lousy seat because you got it with ff miles? Don't worry about thatbecause that's not how it's done. You're not "dumped" into lousy seat because you used ff miles to get it. And, further, as far as I know, you can't get a seat assignment until you have a definite booking and ticket.

I think I may not have made myself clear, Howard. These would not be for seats gotten with FF miles but just for "any" flights I may want to purchase with my preferred airline or even another.

I have read posts where others say we can see the seats available for the flights but it was unclear to me how to do this without actually having to complete the on-line booking process.

Do you want to do this to avoid getting a middle seat? Otherwise, I can't understand why you need this info....or am I missing/not seeing something?

Norena, not sure why you need the info, but that information is so tentative that I would doubt you would be able to find it anywhere.

Flights are always changing and seat availability is not usually set until the last minute. Even if you have a seat assignment, when you check in you could be assigned something different, due to overbooking or plane change. Planes are often substituted on routes were the demand is higher or lower, so don't think that seat assaignments are written in stone, lol, until you get on the plane

Good luck

Norena: Seat map information is available on most airline reservation sites. However as you pointed out one must book a ticket before that information is displayed. I'm not sure the information would do you all that much good if you're not ready to purchase a ticket. Certain sections of all planes are blocked for the airline's "elite" customers and are unavailable to the general ticket purchaser. And seats that do show available one minute can easily be snatched and gone the next, so by the time you get around to purchasing your tickets the seats you thought were there - are not.

Norena, go to www.itn.com. You'll be redirected to an AMEX travel site. Input the flight info under "Speedy Flight Search". On the next page, select the exact flights. On the next page, to the left of the price (you haven't bought anything yet) click on "Select Seats" to bring up the seat maps you're looking for. No need to worry about accidentally buying the ticket until you input your credit card number.

Remember that seats marked "Premium" are reserved for that airlines's elite frequent flyers (usually the lowest-level and up).

Hi Norena:
Just to let you know that you can be curious about seats but until you put in your credit card number and punch the reservation button to complete your transaction you will not have a confirmed reservation. Also because you choose your seat does not mean it is the one you are going to get! Hope this helps.

Norena, I'm still curious as to why you want this information!

Thanks everyone for the helpful information and advice. Brian, I am especially glad to have the www.itn.com site you sent because it does seem to allow one to see and select seats before purchasing. However, they would not give me access to the Seat Map page for some reason. I think it may be because my unit is not an actual computer but a Webtv and we don't have full access to all sites. I can always try to use a library computer to get into it when I need it so thanks!

Howard, the reason I would like to have access to such information is because we like to try to get coach seats as far up front as possible (window and middle) and many times I am given conflicting information by different agents as to what is available in this area and what is blocked for some reason. This way I could see what is open when I am ready to book and call immediately to book and try to get my desired seats.

I do know that even with doing this the seats could be taken but it is just another opportunity open to me and I'd like to have it. I also monitor our flights on line so I can usually catch a flight change immediately and call for new seat assignments. Our seats are very important to us especially on international flights.

I'm no techie, but those seat maps seem to require a Java-equiped browser, so that's proabably the problem you're having. You may be able to enable Java through your settings.

You can do what you want at least on american airline site but you do have to have a ff # to enter this part of the site & you'll need to know the flight # site is aa.com

Thanks to Norena for asking and Brian for answering. (Howard, what difference does it make why she wanted to know? Is it somehow subversive to learn as much as possible about your arrangements?)

I'm another who has wanted to know what seats are available, since my ability to fly depends on getting certain seats. The bulkhead seats are usually blocked until day of departure and even then are only released by the gate. It's frustrating because sometimes they go to the last person to show up on an overbooked flight because all other seats are occupied -- and that person gets rewarded for being late and ditsy with desirable seats. It always annoys me.

Howard, I'm curious as to why you are so curious about why Noreen just wants a good seat. Actually, I could give a rat's hiney.

The Delta Airline site, delta.com, provides you with the views of available seats WITHOUT booking. I'm with you, I try to book a wide body with a window and 2 aisle seats for the 3 of us. I might want to watch the movie. I'm going to want to be as close to the front as possible...there are a lot of reasonable reasons for wanting to choose your seats.

Gee, Meako and Sally, I am sorry that my little bit of curiousity aroused such emotions. Can't a guy ask a simple question? I was just curious. That's all! I mean, it's not like I'm a travel agent or anything!

Hello again I just found out that expedia also lets you see what seats are available

Just found out expedia also has what you want available