Rows of economy cabin seats on a Boeing 737, the seats seat selection fees buy the right to pick

Seat Selection Fees in 2026: What Every Major Airline Charges

Rows of economy cabin seats on a Boeing 737, the seats seat selection fees buy the right to pick

Seat selection fees in 2026 are now standard everywhere except the exit rows: United charges from $15 per flight to pick a Basic Economy seat and from $24 for preferred, and Delta has the lowest main-cabin seat-fee average among the majors at $24.99. The fee is no longer a budget-airline quirk – it is a legacy-carrier line item, and the only airline that still got famous for free seating ended the practice too. Here is what each major charges, when it is worth paying, and the two or three ways to fly seated without paying full freight.

Seat Selection Fees: The 2026 Scorecard

  • Delta: lowest average main-cabin seat fee of the big carriers at $24.99 per flight in 2026 comparisons; basic fares assign seats at check-in and separate upcharges apply for preferred rows.
  • United: Basic Economy advance seat assignment from $15 per flight per person; preferred seating from $24; decline
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Modern hotel reception desk where Black Friday sale rates are booked and verified

Black Friday Hotel Deals 2026: What the Discount Actually Buys

Modern hotel reception desk where Black Friday sale rates are booked and verified
Photo: JIP (CC BY-SA 4.0)

Black Friday hotel deals in 2026 follow a fixed calendar: the sale window opens Friday, November 27, runs through Cyber Monday on November 30, and ends with Travel Deal Tuesday on December 1 – the day Hopper calls its biggest travel sale of the year. A real Black Friday price is a genuine discount against the normal rate, but this year’s backdrop makes skepticism a required tool: holiday fares sit at a 10-year high, and a typical 15 percent Black Friday discount on a Christmas-season hotel room lands around $167 a night – roughly what an average Christmas room already costs. Here is what the discounts actually buy and how to shop them without buying marketing.

Black Friday Hotel Deals: What Is Actually on Offer

  • The big OTA: Booking.com’s Black Friday promotion advertises up to 40 percent off selected stays, and its partner campaign opens
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TSA security checkpoint with passengers moving through screening

TSA PreCheck vs Global Entry: The 2026 Math

TSA security checkpoint with passengers moving through screening

TSA PreCheck vs Global Entry is a comparison most travelers answer wrong: they pick PreCheck because it is cheaper, and then pay for that decision the first time they wait 40 minutes in a customs line at 2 a.m. The 2026 fees are already updated – Global Entry rose to $120 – and the correct answer depends almost entirely on whether international travel is anywhere in your next five years. Here is the math.

TSA PreCheck vs Global Entry: The Short Answer

TSA PreCheck costs $76.75 to $85 for five years depending on your enrollment provider (IDEMIA $79.75, Telos $85, CLEAR $84.95) and gets you the domestic perk: dedicated security lanes, shoes on, liquids and laptops staying in your bag. Global Entry costs $120 for five years and includes everything PreCheck gives you, plus automated kiosks for customs when you return to the US – at 75-plus airports. The price … Read More