✈️ How to guarantee an empty middle seat

Estimated read time: 4 minutes and 15 seconds

Good morning and welcome back to Daily Drop, where we ask the tough questions like, “What is the meaning of life,” and, “Should it be illegal to recline your economy seat all the way?”

One of those questions is tougher than the other… 😉

Anyway, let’s get down to business, shall we?

• 🏨 Priceline launches “25 days of deals”

• 💺 How to guarantee an empty middle seat

• 🚗 You can now schedule a Lyft when your plane lands

🏨 Priceline launches “25 days of deals”

You know that friend who turns 25 (or some other arbitrary age) and has an obnoxiously “extra” birthday party with a live band and catering, and you sit there thinking, “Bro. It’s just a birthday. So what?”

That’s Priceline right now. They’ve just turned 25 years old (congrats, btw), and are celebrating with their over-the-top “25 Days of Deals” event.

The difference is that their version of celebrating is EXCELLENT news for us.

Honestly, if I told you about every deal they’re offering, the newsletter would take an hour to read (I know you love us, but not THAT much…).

But just know there are DOZENS of great deals and prizes on everything from flights and hotels to cruises and rental cars.

Here are a few of the highlights:

• Until May 22nd, you can save $25 on ANY flight, hotel, or car rental using the code BDAY25

• On May 29th, email subscribers (who need to subscribe by May 28th) will have the chance of receiving Mystery Coupons that include:

  • 2,000 coupons for a 99% discount on Hotel Express Deals

  • Thousands of other coupons for 10%, 25%, and 50% discounts

• One person will win a free cruise valued at up to $2,500

  • Register on this page between June 5th and June 8th

And that’s just the beginning…

Check out their website (this page, specifically), for a full list of everything they have going on in May and June.

Overall, I think this is a great opportunity to save some cash if you’re okay with booking outside of hotel and airline loyalty programs.

When I can’t find a good deal with my programs of choice, I definitely look at sites like Priceline to get cheap deals.

$25 discounts here and there can definitely add up, and if you win one of their BIG prizes, it will be well worth the five seconds it takes you to register. 😉

💺 How to guarantee an empty middle seat

By now, we’ve all probably heard of (or even tried!) the “free middle seat strategy” where you book an aisle, and your partner books a window in hopes of keeping that middle seat open 🤞

Seriously. Who would EVER voluntarily choose a middle seat between two strangers?! That’s just a special type of torture.

Obviously, if the plane is full and the airline takes over seat assignments… well… you’re out of luck.

Most of the time you just sit there with your fingers crossed and avoid eye contact AT ALL COSTS as others board. Just me? 😅

Well, there are actually some ways you can BLOCK that middle seat and guarantee that it says open.

Australian airline Qantas just announced a new “Neighbor Free” seating option that they’ll be testing out for a bit!

This option will allow passengers to ensure that the seat next to them will remain free… for an additional fee.

As of now, it’s an invite-only option on a handful of specific routes, but passengers who do decide to go for it can expect to pay between $30-$65 to block their neighboring seat.

Qantas does state that because it’s still in a trial period, if a mistake were to happen lending that seat to be taken last-minute, the passenger would receive a full refund.

Nothing makes you feel as if you’re almost in business class like having the middle seat still open once they announce that boarding is complete! It’s the small things in life 🥰

And even though Qantas is the newest to join the group, there are a few other airlines that have their own version of this:

• Fiji Airways’ “My Bubble Seat”

• Air New Zealand’s “Twin Seat”

• Emirates’ adjoining seats purchase

• Etihad’s “Economy Neighbor-Free”

• Sri Lankan Airlines’ “Neighbor Free Seats”

• Philippines Airlines’ “Choice Seat Neighbor-Free”

Each airline has its own policies, conditions, and prices for these options, so definitely check those out!

I would absolutely pay to block that extra seat, especially if it were a longer route!

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🚗 Schedule a Lyft automatically when your plane lands

I hate ordering a Lyft or Uber at an airport… When the plane lands, I want to order it right away to save time, but what if it takes me 20 minutes to get to the pickup zone?

But… if I wait until I get to the pickup zone to order a ride, the prices will be whack because EVERYONE else is also now ordering rides…

Lyft has solved this problem with a cool new feature. 👇

Here’s how it works:

• When your plane lands, schedule a Lyft in the app

• Your price will be locked in at this time

• The driver will automatically be notified to come to get you when you get close to the pickup area

This is SWEET. 

Basically, Lyft can calculate the time it will take to walk from your plane to the pickup area (even if you need to stop at baggage claim).

Therefore, they can schedule your ride without you needing to worry about the driver getting there early, late, or the price fluctuating.

Here’s the catch, though…

It’s currently only available in three airports (😢):

• Los Angeles (LAX)

• Chicago (MDW)

• Chicago (ORD)

Thankfully, they plan on rolling out this feature at TONS more airports very rapidly.

I personally prefer Lyft over Uber because you can earn two Bilt points per dollar by linking your Bilt account, and 5x points when you pay for Lyft rides with the [[ chase-sapphire-preferred-card.name ]]. Earning 7x transferrable points on rides is unbeatable in my book!

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…or you can just buy these prizes from our website if you want to keep us all to yourself. 😉

That’s all for today! Tomorrow morning I’m heading off to one of my favorite cities in the world, Stockholm.

Booking the flight at the last minute, I struggled to find award availability to get to Stockholm… But I often forget that sometimes the best way to book flights is to simply search Google Flights.

That’s how I scored a $15 Ryanair flight… Since I only travel with a small personal item, I don’t have to pay a cent more.

I’ll take that over 8,000 points and $50 in taxes any day of the week. My taxi to the airport will literally cost more than the flight itself!

Take care and have a great Thursday,

55.6050° N, 13.0038° E