It's a Lot of Work Completing Airline Bookings

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I have booked my upcoming October trip to Malta through a travel group that I've used many times before. They get discounted airline tickets as part of the total package price. But the passenger, that's me, has to go in and select their own seats because inevitably they always put me in the back of the plane by a window. Nope, I'm too claustrophobic to fly for 8 hours wedged into a window past two other sleeping passengers. Then there's the code-sharing. Even though I'm booked with United Airlines, they are code-sharing part of the flights with Lufthansa Airlines, so I have to go to two separate websites to select my seats on the various connecting flights. Then there's the extra charges. You have to pay extra if you want a different seat than the one they assigned you. I wanted to move from a window to an aisle, all still in Economy Class, on two Lufthansa flights, so that cost me $87.00. I splurged on the long flight home from Rome to Chicago (8 or 9 hours) for a slightly better seat, still in Economy Class, but more legroom, for $195.00. I can't get advance seat assignments from Malta to Rome until I board the flight, but that's a short flight so I really don't care where they seat me. Whew! It's been exhausting getting that done this morning.