Here are the Traveling Professor's tips for getting a better seat for less:

• Icelandair and Aer Lingus are two airlines I know of that may permit "bidding" on a premium economy seat.  On a recent flight from Dublin, the minimum offer was $500 to upgrade to business class.  However, on an Icelandair flight from Reykjavik to New York we bid $150 per person to upgrade to premium economy and got it.
• Buy a Bigger or Preferred Seat:  For instance, American Airlines has "Main Cabin Extra".  Is it worth another 3-4 inches for an extra $100 or so on an international flight.  Probably not.
• Roll the Dice:  Try NOT selecting a seat before arriving at the airport.  If you are very lucky, they will put you in the last available seats which may be a seat with extra legroom.  Good luck with that!
• Buy an Extra Seat:  This is my best tip.  On a R/T flight between JFK and Madrid on American Airlines, the coach airfare is $483 but business class in $2676 and premium economy is $968.   My traveling companion and I book the window and aisle seat for $483 each and we BUY the middle seat for another $483.   It makes for a very comfortable ride between JFK and MAD for an average of about $725 per person.  Not a bad deal, about $250 on average for a premium economy seat and about $1950 for the business class seat.   How I do this is buy the window seat for my travel partner, purchase the aisle seat for me, STEPHEN SOLOSKY, and buy the middle seat as SEAT SOLOSKY.  On the downside, I don't get the frequent flyers for "SEAT SOLOSKY".

Join The Traveling Professor on his next small group tour to Paris or small group tour to Italy.  We also travel to Machu Picchu, Ireland, Scotland, Spain, Norway and Iceland.