What Is The Best Seat To Choose On A Plane?

Without wanting to sound overdramatic what seat you choose to fly in can make or break your flying experience. Loving watching the world pass by on your flight? Then you will definitely want to be in a window seat! And don’t get us started on the middle seat… particularly on long-haul flights! Here are our tips to help you choose the best seat on the plane!

How do you decide what the best seat is?

The first thing you need to do is decide what your personal preference is! There isn’t a one size fits all approach for this. Do you like the window seat? Are you a frequent restroom visitor who likes the aisle seat? Or perhaps you like to sit at the front of the plane for a fast disembark at your destination? Dislike turbulence? You may like to seat level with the wings for a smoother flight. As you can see there are many reasons why you may prefer one seat over another.

As I normally travel as part of a couple and we like to disembark quickly we preference seats towards the front of the plane. My partner a window seat (I couldn’t think of anything worse!) so she can sleep against it and myself the aisle for easy toilet access!

Remember every plane is different and depending on which route, airline and travel class you are flying in you could have a few different possible seating maps which brings us on to our next point…

Do your research…

There are several websites that allow you to view the seat map of the aircraft you will be flying on in advance. The most well-known well is probably Seat Guru, which not only provides the seat map but also other flyers reviews of the seats. To view your flight’s seat map you simply have to enter the airline you are flying with, the date of your flight and flight number. (If you haven’t booked yet put the details of the flight you are interested in.)

Each seat is coloured coded to show whether it’s a good or bad seat. You also other find other potentially useful information such as information about the legroom, recline and proximity to the toilet! If you scroll down you will also see user submitted photos as well as comments on the seats to help you make your mind up!

Shall I pay for a seat?

Depending on who you are flying with and your status level you may be able to choose your seat at booking for free. More than likely however you will need to pay for the privilege, which means without paying you may miss out!

For example, If you are flying British Airways & have Silver status and above you receive free seat selection from the time of booking, Bronze members have free seat selection from 7 days before the flight and everyone else 24 hours before departure.

Will all the good seats be gone when it’s your chance to select a seat for free? Well, when deciding whether to pay for seat selection consider the following…

How much does it cost?
Are they suitable for your situation? Travelling with kids, partner or requiring extra space due to height etc.
What do you want to do on the flight? Sleep, work or watch movies etc.
If you don’t get the seat you want… what are the other options like? What’s the worst possible scenario?

Answering these questions will help you decipher whether paying for a seat will be worth it for you!

The final thing to do is check the seating map on the Airline’s website (pretend you are going to pay for a seat) how many available seats are there? If some of the seats you like have already gone it might be time to grab yours! If it’s wide open still you may be tempted to chance it and wait!

Ask at check-in

If you ask politely at the check-in desk (and there is availability) the agent may be able to move you to one of your desired seat locations.

Ask on the plane

If all else fails and you have a good reason for wanting to move seats ask the crew or fellow passengers if a move is possible. Some people may not mind swapping with you… but you’ll have a hard job swapping out of a middle seat! If the answer is no, thank them and hope you nab that seat next time!

Conclusion

As you can see there isn’t a straight answer to what the best seat on an aircraft is. A lot depends on what you value most when travelling! What seat do you like to travel in when flying? Let us know in the comments below!