It seems as though the exit-row "upgrade" is no longer available

If you don't know what I mean by that you are probably better off remaining a bit ignorant about it because it seems as though it has basically been completely eliminated from most flights.

I have been traveling a long time and can recall when there was just two types of cabin classes and then business class became a thing, then economy plus and other such slightly nicer parts of the plane that were made to have a wide variety of classes that people could have a go at seeing if they can afford it or not.

One thing that was always my go-to and didn't cost any more to book it was the exit-row of airplanes.

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Exit row seats can be absolutely amazing. Often there is no seat in front of you at all and you can just stretch out to your heart's content. Often there will be some extra rules in these rows such as not being allowed to take your shoes off or not being allowed to have a bag at your feet, but for the most part those rules are kind of like the fastening of your seatbelt in that the flight attendants are simply adhering to protocol and don't really give a damn what you do once the flight is all the way up in the air.

In the past these rows were not something that most airlines would allow people to book at all because FAA regulations stipulated that the people sitting here have to be physically capable of helping if there is an emergency.

All of that seems to have gone to the wayside though because the last half-dozen flights I have been on, all with different airlines, are now charging for you to "upgrade" to this seat on the flights. It's not a lot, but the only real benefit of them in the past was that they were free. Now they want $100 for it and you have a bunch of rules so, no thanks.

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not only will they not let you have them for free, I was on a flight recently where the flight-attendants apparently have been told to strictly enforce who gets to sit there. My last flight a few weeks ago I was in row 61 and row 60 was an exit row. No one had agreed to pay the extra to be in the exit row but a lot of people tried to just mosey on up there and have a sit once the flight was on its way. Every single time the staff came and politely yet sternly told the people they cannot sit there. This happened a lot of times in fact.

So there goes my entire legroom strategy I guess. I can't speak for every single airline but all the international ones that I have been on in 2026 have had a policy of designating these seats as something that you have to pay extra for.

If you were one of the few people out there that knew about this "loophole" and utilized it over the past decade or so, I'm sorry to say that it looks like that door has been permanently closed.

These airlines are going to make money any way that they can and I suppose if I owned the planes, I would do the same thing.

All of you people out there that are taller than 185 cm or so, just get some knee pads or something because unless you are willing to shell out what is what I consider to be too much money, you are not going to get in those highly coveted exit-rows any more!