re: listing for coach and then asking to be seated in F at the gate. Doing this is generally frowned upon and I believe the nonrev travel guide tells you not to do it anyways. It creates extra work for the gate agents, whom can be very busy at the point in time that they're typically clearing nonrevs. They may just tell you 'no' or not be very warm about the idea since they know it's not really supposed to be done. With that said, if the flight is wide open and the agent isn't apparently busy and you're a smooth talker, hey, go for it, you never know.

A little bit of coffee or candy flavored wheel grease never hurts, either.