Buying seats after you book

Written by Owen (SI), Director, Booking Operations · Updated 2026-10-05

You can buy seats any time after you book, from your trip's Flight Options menu. On supported airlines, Purchase Seats opens the airline's live seat map, and you pay for your seats once, by card.

There's no need to wait until your trip is paid off. You can buy seats while you're still making payments, or after your trip is paid in full.

How to buy seats

Here's what happens:

  1. Open your trip. Go to Trips and tap your trip.
  2. Open the seat map. Tap Flight Options, at the top right of the trip's Flight Details section, then Purchase Seats. The airline's live seat map opens for the flights you booked.
  3. Choose your seats. Pick seats for any or all of your travelers. The prices shown match your exact fare.
  4. Check the total. Before you pay, you'll see the total, including a small processing fee shown as a dollar amount.
  5. Pay once, by card. Use a saved card or a new one. Your seats show up right away in your trip's Flight Details.

Choose for everyone at once

The live seat map can be used once per trip. As soon as seats are assigned, it closes for that trip, so choose seats for everyone you want to seat in the same purchase.

If you'd like different seats later, you can still ask. Once seats are assigned, Change Seat Selection appears in Flight Options, and our team handles the change for you. Changing your seats explains how.

How does the payment work?

Buying seats this way is separate from your payment plan:

  • It's one payment. You pay for the seats in full, by card, and it's never split into installments.
  • There's a small processing fee. You'll see it as a dollar amount before you pay.
  • Your payment schedule doesn't change. Your remaining payments stay exactly as they were.

For example, if you have four payments left on your trip and buy two seats today, you pay for both seats, plus the processing fee, in one card payment today. Your four remaining payments don't change.

Seats chosen at checkout work differently: their cost is added to your trip total and paid over time.

What if the seat map doesn't open?

The live seat map isn't available on every airline, route or fare:

  • Some airlines don't offer one. It isn't available for Delta, Southwest, JetBlue, Alaska, Frontier, Allegiant and Spirit flights.
  • Some fares don't include choosing seats. Basic or light fares often don't allow choosing seats in advance.

You're not stuck either way. In those cases, Purchase Seats opens a chat with the Defera Concierge, our AI concierge, with your request already written. Tell it what you'd like, and it sends the request to our team. Why there's no seat map for my flight explains more.

Can I use Defera Miles instead?

Yes, while your trip is still being paid off. On your trip page, look for the "Redeem on this trip" panel, beside or below your Payment Schedule. Its Buy Seats tile lets you request seats with Defera Miles, from 1,500 Miles.

Tapping the tile opens a chat with the Defera Concierge with your request already written, and the concierge sends it to our team. The tile works when both of these are true:

  • You have enough Miles for it.
  • Your trip isn't completed yet. Once a trip is completed (paid in full), the panel reads "Save for future trips", because the Miles a trip earns go toward your next one.

Can I use Miles for seats or bags? has the details.

Why is Flight Options greyed out?

Flight Options is greyed out only when a trip is cancelled, in payment default, or every flight on it has already departed. Otherwise, you'll find it at the top right of the trip's Flight Details section.

Related articles