Travel tip #117: Strategies to pick the best seat on a plane
Published 1 day agoย โขย 7 min read
How is your week going Reader?
I am enjoying the European summer and taking it easy.
Sea, sunshine, sand and lots of rest is what the doctor prescribed, and I am following instructions to the letter ;)
On this week's travel tip I wanted to talk about how I choose the best seat on my flights.
This is not an easy decision, and a lot goes into the thought process around it. Let me lay it out for you.
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Strategies to pick the best seat on a plane
Because I fly so much, and most airlines charge to select a seat, I have refined the way I think about what the best seat on each flight is going to be.
Things that I consider:
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Class of travel
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If I am flying Business Class, I am a bit less picky about the seat, they are all great in terms of service and ability to sleep, assuming they go flat ad are not the useless short-haul Business Class seats that are like an economy seat without anyone next to you.
Since the seat layout of Business class cabins change a lot by airline and aircraft, I use Seat guru to understand the layout.
I usually aim for a window seat in the first row that is easier to get out off and typically has more foot space, and I avoid seats closer to the galley that are noisier and harder to sleep in.
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Length of the flight
How many hours I will have to "endure" said seat is important when deciding if aisle, window or middle seat, and the row (front, back or emergency row / extra legroom seat).
If it's a short-haul flight (eg less than 4h), I will prioritise sitting to the front of the plane, even if it's in a middle seat, so I can disembark quickly.
If it's a flight between 4 and 8 hours, I will consider a seat with more legroom or an aisle seat, that is easier to get in and out of, over a window seat that I need to disturb others for, especially if it is a daytime flight. I will not choose a middle seat on any flight that is not short.
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Time of day
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If a flight is during the day and I know I will not need to sleep (I don't sleep much on a plane), I am more inclined to get an aisle seat or one that is easy to get in / out of, like an emergency exit row.
On a flight that is overnight, I will prioritise a window seat so I can get some rest without being disturbed by meal service or other passengers wanting to get out, and in an emergency row.
If I choose a window seat, I will manage toilet breaks by going when my seat mates are going and right before boarding or after finding my seat.
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Where I am flying
If it's a domestic flight or one that does not require me to go through immigration (eg a flight within the Schengen zone) I care less about sitting in the front of the plane and getting out of the plane as soon as possible, because I am not trying to get to the front of the passport control queue, and waiting a few more minutes to disembark won't kill me.
If I have checked in a bag, and will therefore have to wait for it, I am also less in a hurry to get out.
If I know the specific airport is particularly bad for immigration queues, and / or I need to get a visa on arrival (which means I need to go through more queues), I will try to seat towards the front of the plane and in an aisle seat so I can disembark faster.
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The aircraft
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I use seat guru to check the aircraft layout when choosing my seat, so that I can get tips on the best seats on a plane. Some aircrafts have specific seats that I love.
For example, A350 aircrafts have a window seat in the second row of the second cabin that has no seat in front, thus offering extra legroom, direct access out but no passengers in front waiting for the toilet, so it is a bit more sheltered.
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What I plan to do during the flight
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Seats that do not have a seat in front of them (eg first row in a cabin and often emergency row seats), have 3 downsides:
The tray table is folded under your armrest, instead of coming down from the seat in front of you. This makes it smaller, sometimes not completely flat and more unstable (it may bounce when you eat)
The TV is also folded under your armrest, and is therefore smaller and lower than eye level, forcing you to look down when you watch a show
The armrests are fixed, and thicker (to hide the table) and take away space from the seat, making it narrower. If you are lucky to have an empty seat besides you, it makes no difference since the armrest is fixed
You can't store anything under the seat in front of you during take off and landing, so your belongings need to be stored in the overhead lockers. If you choose the window seat, you may however have some space between the wall and the seat to place some items, like in the photo above.
Some airlines (Emirates, Singapore Airlines) have placed the screens on some of the first rows on the wall in front, so this is not an issue in those cases, but the tray is still folded and the armrest fixed.
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The pitch
Because of aircraft configuration, some seats recline less.
For example, the last row on most aircrafts does not recline at all, or reclines less, and this is important on an overnight flight. Seat Guru will mention this in the seat plan, marking the seat in red.
On the other hand, this row tends to be the one nobody wants so, if you are lucky, you could have it all to yourself and whether the seat reclines or not will be less relevant.
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Other things
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The seat's proximity to the toilets and the galley is something I take into account. If it is an overnight flight, I prefer not to be close to either because of the extra noise and light, though I will sacrifice this in favor of extra legroom. On a daytime flight, I care less about this because I won't be trying to sleep and my Bose noise-cancelling headsets block all the noise.
Basinet seats are usually the seats in the first row of the Economy cabins and are usually allocated to families with babies. These are also the rows with extra legroom and easier to get in / out of, but the higher chance of a crying baby being next to you needs to be assessed. Many airlines will block these seats for families traveling with babies, and you may be asked to move or pressured into giving your seat out to a family, but if you have status with the airline, they may be available to you, choose at your own risk. In this case, I prefer the first row seats that are on the sides of the plane and not the middle.
On long haul flights, I also look for the less cold seats. For example, on the A350, the coldest spot in the plane is right by the emergency door in the middle of the plane. This spot is significantly colder than the rest of the plane because of how cooling systems work, so I try to avoid this seat even though it has extra legroom, or bring more clothes.
How busy the flight will be. On an emptier flight, I could snatch an entire row to sleep on and these tend to be towards the back of the plane. If I think the flight will be empty, I will select a window seat towards the back so I have a higher chance, or I can move to another row in the vicinity that may be empty, like in the above photo.
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Do you have any other strategies when selecting your seat?
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