It’s just going to be a short, two-hour commuter flight to your business meeting. But that will give you plenty of time in the air to polish up your presentation on your laptop, right? Sounds like a good idea until your seatmate arrives, armed with hundreds of pictures of the grandkids that will be unceremoniously shoved in your face despite your efforts to discourage it.

So what to do? Try to politely explain that you simply must get your work done only to have the elderly lady in 18F elbow you non-stop for the duration of the trip (this actually happened to me).

Some airlines are becoming more aware of the volatility of incompatible seatmates. Not only does it make for unpleasant flight experiences for customers, but in some cases can actually lead to physical confrontations and flight disruptions.

As virtual social communities blossom, so does the opportunity to apply their algorithms to public seating arrangements. It operates much like a large, computerized party planner.

AirBaltic, based out of Riga, Latvia has launched a new program they call ‘SeatBuddy’, entirely optional, which pairs up like-minded, or rather ‘like-mooded’ flyers. Powered online by Satisfly, you can choose some basic options about your potential seat mate.

Want to chat about business and do some networking or would you rather sleep undisturbed? Simply specify your preferences at booking. Options are also available for people who need to finish up their keynote address and don’t want to chit-chat, or others who see flying as a social venue.

The premier flights offering the SeatBuddy service are scheduled to debut at the end of June 2012.

Malaysia Airlines and KLM are already using Facebook to show if any of your friends are on board and you can then select a seat next to them.

Malaysia Airlines’ MHbuddy is currently attracting more than 30,000 users per month. KLM, which launched Meet & Seat at the first of June, already has logged more than 2,000 users and expects that number to grow rapidly.

SeatID, the creation of entrepreneur Eran Savir, is focusing on making ‘social’ seating choices a standard selection option when purchasing a ticket on any airline. And if the concept becomes successful, Savir plans to expand his market to include other social venues such as sporting events, theater, concerts – any pre-assigned seating event.

Ticketmaster, one of the world’s largest and best known ticket booking agents, is already onboard with the social seating trend.

The initial opportunity for social seating systems are:

-Satisfly – You choose your social mood and the AirBaltic chooses your seatmates.
–MHbuddy – using Facebook algorithms for flight booking and seat selection on Malaysia Airlines.
-Meet & Seat – Dutch based KLM’s seat selection system uses LinkedIn and Facebook.
-SeatID – Uses Facebook, Twitter and LinkedIn contacts for both flight and seating options.
–Planely – Notifies you of people on the same flight or in the same airport.
–Facebelt – Shows you with other Facebook users on flights.

Many of these systems are operating independently of airlines and offer their system to integrate with booking of seats on any type of transport. It might not be too far in the future before you can choose a seat hoping to meet someone interesting while on your flight to a romantic Costa Rica beach!

Source: CNN