How to Score the Best Seat on the Airplane.
SEATGURU IS A GAME CHANGER.
Once you’ve booked your flight (hopefully heeding some of the advice from our How to Book a Flight column), immediately head on over to SeatGuru. If you’ve never checked out this website before, trust us, it will change your life.
On SeatGuru’s homepage under the tab for Seat Maps, enter in your Airline, Date of Travel and Flight Number, and click Find.
SeatGuru will provide search results, and you’ll want to confirm they match the route, flight number, and departure and arrival times of your particular flight.
Click on View Map and you’ll find a color-coded seat map of your flight along with seating details and flight specific amenities.
A word to the wise: double check that you have selected the actual version of the aircraft you will be flying so that you are viewing the correct layout. (You can go to your airline’s website to confirm your specific aircraft.)
Once you’ve selected the correct aircraft version, check out the color-coded seating map for SeatGuru’s indications of seats with good (green), bad (red), or mixed (yellow) reviews as well as specific locations of the windows, galleys, and lavatories.
Hover your mouse over any seat to read about seat specifics such as extra or reduced legroom, recline restrictions, bulkhead or exit row seating, proximity to bathrooms and/or galleys, whether the seat is missing a window, location of the tray table, etc.
We are obsessed with all of the detail that SeatGuru provides. There’s a handy chart at the top right with information such as seat pitch/bed length, seat width, and seating details for all classes. And if you scroll down, you’ll see a detailed explanation of the in-flight amenities like audio, video, AC power, internet, and food.
SeatGuru also permits travelers to upload their own travel photos as well as user comments, which can (sometimes) provide helpful intel on particular seats.
Identify the best seat for you.
Once you’ve done your due diligence on SeatGuru, identify the best seat for you.
Folks with long legs typically prefer a bulkhead, exit row, and/or aisle seat for extra leg room.
Nervous fliers do well to sit over the wing to ensure minimal turbulence and additional stability during the flight.
Planning to sleep in economy? Grab that window seat near the front of the plane.
We recommend families sit up front, ideally in seats with extra leg room. But if those seats are not available, head on back for close access to lavatories and galleys rather than sitting in the middle of the plane.
If you are a party of two hoping for an entire row to yourselves, consider booking an aisle and window in the same row. There’s always a chance the middle seat does not get claimed. And if it does get taken, don’t fret—you would be hard pressed to find a fellow passenger who wouldn’t be thrilled to switch out their middle for your aisle or window.
WHETHER TO PURCHASE SEATS IN ADVANCE.
When you’re ready to proceed with seat selection, head to your airline’s website to manage your booking.
Once you pull up your itinerary, you will be able to see whether your airline permits advance seat selection.
If advance seat selection is complimentary for you based on your elite airline status or as a credit card perk, by all means make use of it!
But non-frequent fliers will likely be considering whether to use miles and/or cash to select their seat in advance since most major airlines charge fees to select premium seats, which vary from $15 to $100 depending on the seat and flying time.
Before paying for advance seat selection, consider pertinent factors such as overall flying time, the seat cost, whether you are flying with companions including small children, whether you require extra space due to height and whether you get up frequently to use the restroom, etc.
If you’re an average sized person traveling solo on a two hour domestic flight you might forego paying for advance seat selection. But if you’re headed across the Atlantic or traveling with your three young children, it may be worth it to you to pay extra for preferred seating.
Another tricky situation can be when you purchase an economy seat and are on the upgrade list for business or first. You likely do not want to purchase a premium economy seat in advance, since seat selection fees are typically non-refundable. But you also don’t want to end up stuck in a middle seat in the back of the plane if you don’t get upgraded. Our advice? Reach out to the airline directly and very kindly ask exactly where you are on the upgrade list to get a realistic sense of your prospects. If there’s a decent, but not definite, chance your upgrade will be confirmed, keep refreshing seat availability on the airline’s app every few days to see if you can’t snag a complimentary aisle or window seat.
last minute tips.
When it’s time to check in online for your flight (24 hours in advance of departure), typically you’ll have an opportunity to select your seat, if you haven’t already. This is a good time to confirm your seat selections and/or see whether there’s an even better seat available. There may also be reasonably priced last minute upgrade options from economy to business, for example, if there are a ton of premium seats still open.
Before you get to the airport, make sure that you have downloaded your airline’s app to your phone. In addition to receiving an electronic boarding pass, real-time flight updates, and often your in-flight entertainment, you can check your flight status including seat availability.
Say you’re not happy with your economy seat (it’s a middle seat or located in the back of the plane), but it appears to be a pretty full flight. Once you’ve checked in and gone through security at the airport, refresh the airline’s app to see real time seat availability. You would be surprised the number of last minute changes! If a seat becomes available and you want to grab it, head straight to the desk at the gate to request it. Unless it is a premium seat requiring payment or the airline is holding it for a family they are trying to seat together, you should be able to secure it.
