How an 80-euro bid for an extra seat saved an otherwise miserable flight experience

Flying a relatively small and unknown airline is always somewhat of a risk when it comes to the experience you're going to have both on the ground and on board — my recent nonstop flight on Azores Airlines from New York City to Madeira, Portugal, was no exception. But a surprising upgrade bid for an extra seat in my row for 80 euros ($88) made all the difference in my experience flying across the Atlantic.

The next time you're flying with Azores Airlines (or any airline that offers this type of upgrade bidding process), don't automatically hit that delete button. By strategically using this type of upgrade option, you could seriously improve your flight experience without the price tag of a business-class ticket.

What is MyExtraSeat?

A little over a week before my scheduled flight from New York's John F. Kennedy International Aiport (JFK) to Madeira Airport (FNC) in Portugal, I got an email claiming I could "own the whole row" on my economy flight across the Atlantic for as little as 65 euros ($72).

As a plus-size traveler (and someone who just loves a bit of extra space on longer flights), I was intrigued and decided to look into it.

MyExtraSeat is an upgrade bidding process (separate from Azores Airlines' business-class upgrade bidding process) where eligible passengers in economy class can bid for an extra one or two seats next to them on an Azores Airlines flight.

Bids start at 65 euros per seat, but you can adjust your bid higher. Azores Airlines has an FAQ page dedicated to MyExtraSeat, but the website didn't answer many of my questions about the process.

What is the seat selection process like if my bid is accepted? The flight seat map was a 2-4-2 configuration in economy, and I had an aisle seat in an outer row selected at the time of bidding. Would I automatically get the one extra seat next to me in my row? The website said you could purchase up to two additional seats — when could I select whether I wanted one or two seats? When could I expect to hear about my upgrade?

I did not find answers to these questions online — neither via the Azores Airlines website nor Reddit.

The bidding process

Ultimately, I decided that having an empty seat or two next to me for less than 100 euros ($110) was at least worth trying out, regardless of the answers to a few of my questions. I'd never flown this airline, and even the best economy products aren't exactly comfortable when you are stuck next to a stranger for six hours.

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Thankfully, the bidding process was fairly easy and straightforward.

I went to the original email and hit the "request now" button. This took me to the Azores Airlines website, where I could choose the specific bid to place — I could bid as low as 65 euros ($72) up to 125 euros ($138). There was also an "offer strength" gauge to show the likelihood my bid would be accepted.

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AZORES AIRLINES

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At the time I was bidding, the flight seemed relatively empty. There were a lot of unoccupied seats available on ExpertFlyer (owned by TPG's parent company, Red Ventures), though it was impossible to know whether that was due to an actual lack of passengers or just a large percentage of passengers waiting until check-in to get a seat assignment. I decided 80 euros was a safe bid — higher than the minimum but not a ridiculous amount to pay for an extra seat on a six-hour flight.

I selected 80 euros for my bid, entered my card details and received a confirmation that my request had been submitted.

Admittedly, I didn't have high expectations for getting the extra seat. My bid was shown as "fair" on the offer strength guage, and my online research into passenger experiences yielded a single Reddit thread with a mixed bag of anecdotal results. Some people bid 300 euros ($330) on a flight and had their bid rejected. A few bid the lowest amount possible and got accepted.

In the end, I got an email claiming my upgrade was accepted 48 hours before my flight — I would get the seat next to me in my existing row for 80 euros ($88). There was no opportunity to change my seat or purchase more than one seat, as the website implied, and I was informed that I would potentially lose my extra seat if I attempted to change seats during the check-in process.

While it wasn't the end of the world, I would have liked the opportunity to select a different row and/or move to the middle aisle of seats so I could have a total of three seats to stretch out across.

Why the upgrade was definitely worth it

The big question: Was the upgrade actually worth it?

Yes, absolutely. 100%. Hands down. Zero question. I would pay it again in a heartbeat.

The flight wasn't full — there were plenty of empty rows in the back of the plane that lucky passengers turned into poor man's business class to get some sleep on our flight. However, there were quite a few more people on the flight than the original seat map of available seats suggested, so there was a very real possibility I wouldn't have gotten extra space to myself had I not gone through the MyExtraSeat bidding process.

And I cannot overstate this: The extra space was essential to a bearable flight experience.

We had a nearly seven-hour delay, which turned our midday flight into an overnight flight. Additionally, the delay was due to mechanical issues, which forced us to use a different plane that was flown down from Boston to replace our originally scheduled aircraft. The Azores Airlines website claims the carrier is renewing its fleet with a group of Airbus and Bombardier planes, but we ended up flying a Boeing 767-300ER with Euro Atlantic livery.

Related: TPG's guide to understanding EU261 flight compensation

The seats on this flight were tiny. The economy cabin had a 2-4-2 configuration. By comparison, United Airlines and Delta Air Lines' flight maps of their Boeing 767-300ER aircraft generally list a 2-3-2 configuration. My hips physically could not fit in the exit row seats (my friend had an exit row seat to herself, and I did pop over for a midflight visit), and even my non-exit row seat was a really tight squeeze.

Had someone sat next to me for the flight, eating our meals would have required some Olympic-level synchronized elbow placement to avoid any accidents, and just being side by side on this six-hour flight would have been extremely uncomfortable.

The fact that I'm plus-size is not the only factor that contributed to the cramped space on board. My friend, who is not plus-size, complained about her lack of seat width and legroom, too.

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A few other things to note about this flight:

• While there were seatback screens, there was no place to plug in headphones, and captions didn't work. So, unless you were jonesing to practice your lip-reading skills or wished to experience watching "Ocean's 8" a la silent film style, the seatback entertainment was more or less useless.
• There were no outlets or USB ports to charge your devices, which makes listening to music or playing games on your phone risky on a long flight unless you have a portable charger with you. (Thankfully, I did.)
• There was no Wi-Fi available on this flight.
• The seats did not recline. This wouldn't have been a huge deal had our flight taken off at 11:50 a.m. EDT, as scheduled. However, given our delay that turned our flight into an overnighter, the lack of recline was not great.

This was my first experience on this airline, so I can't accurately assess whether this is the typical onboard experience in economy or if I just had bad luck with this flight due to the mechanical issues with our original plane. But given my experience on board, I would pay that 80 euros for the extra seat again in a heartbeat to ensure the flight was bearable. Otherwise, I would have been absolutely miserable, even for a relatively short transatlantic hop.

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MADISON BLANCAFLOR/THE POINTS GUY

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My one suggestion to anyone using this option in the future is to make sure you select the seat you want before you place your bid. You're effectively locked into your preselected seat and the one (or two) next to it if your bid is accepted.

Bottom line

I won't lie — there is a low likelihood I'll ever fly this airline again. For one, the airline has a small footprint, given that it services a few small Portuguese islands, so my opportunities to fly it in the future will be limited. But even when I inevitably return to Madeira, I'd likely choose another airline and accept the reality of a layover.

That said, for those who do decide to fly the airline — whether to do some island hopping between Madeira and the Azores or to take advantage of the nonstop flights between the U.S. and Portuguese islands — I do recommend trying the MyExtraSeat upgrade bidding process to give yourself the best experience possible. My flight would have been nearly unbearable without it.

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