“Location, location, location” is an important consideration not only when buying real estate, but also when selecting an airplane seat. With more people traveling and more airlines cramming planes with more seats, passengers often wind up with less. Especially when it comes to comfort. But taking the time to select a seat customized to your needs can avert hours of potential in-flight misery.

Persistence Pays

The best way to ensure you don’t wind up with a poor seat is to book your flight well in advance. According to Peter Greenberg, travel editor for NBC’s Today Show, and author of The Travel Detective: How to Get the Best Service and the Best Deals from Airlines, Hotels, Cruise Ships, and Car Rental Agencies, flights that are less crowded are those departing around noon on Tuesdays or Wednesdays.

The best way to ensure you don’t wind up with a poor seat is to book your flight well in advance.

At the time of booking, be sure to choose where you want to sit. An excellent website for locating prime seats for each aircraft type on numerous airlines is www.seatguru.com. Besides color-coded diagrams of seat plans indicating where the good, bad and ugly seats are, you can see the locations of power ports, exits, lavatories and galleys.

If you’re unhappy with the selection of seats remaining on your flight, keep checking back to see if any new seats have become available. Still can’t snag a good seat? On the day of your flight, arrive at the airport well in advance, as new seats, including those in emergency exit rows, are often “released.” When you check in, let the gate agent know where you prefer to sit. No luck? Ask again before boarding. Your last chance at getting a better seat is to wait onboard until all passengers are seated and before the seat belt sign is illuminated. Flights that aren’t full often have empty seats at the rear. This is a great spot to check if you want to stretch out after take-off.

Where to Catch Some ZZZs

If you’re interested in catching a few winks, the back of the aircraft is not a good location, as those seats are near the noise and smells of galleys and lavatories. Sleeping onboard is also difficult in seats with little or no room to recline, such as those in front of lavatories or emergency exits. The bulkhead, or partition between cabins, is another spot you’ll want to steer clear of. Airlines often set aside seats here for people traveling with babies, because there is more leg room for bassinets. On some aircraft, bulkhead rows have large movie screens. Sitting so close to a bright screen can make it difficult to sleep. And, armrests in bulkhead rows often store the tray tables, making armrests immoveable and the seat width narrower. If you need extra width, opt for aisle seats either in an emergency exit row or in the rear, where double seats might be available.