Your comfort while traveling on an aircraft often depends on the seat you choose to sit in. At times, noisy areas of the cabin or disruptive seatmates can result in an unpleasant travel experience. Before traveling, take some time to research the seat plan of the scheduled aircraft, including the seat pitch and location of desirable seats. Planning ahead of your flight can help you minimize disturbances and discomfort by selecting the best seat possible.
Verify the type of aircraft you will be flying on. Your can find out the type of aircraft by checking your travel itinerary, by checking your reservation online at the airline's website, or use the flight number to search on the airline's website. Often, the scheduled aircraft will also be noted when you are booking your ticket.
Look at the seating plan on the airline's website. Some airlines offer premium economy class seating between business or first class sections and coach or economy class. These premium economy seats often include wider seats with more legroom. By using seating plans you can also identify seats with more room, including exit rows.
Check seating reviews on travel websites. SkyTrax provides quality research and analysis of the air transport industry, including performance and benchmarking tools for the airline and airport industry. SkyTrax provides seating charts for airlines around the world, seating reviews, and ranking of airline seating. Similarly, SeatGuru provides seating plans with reviews of individual seats based on customer reviews. SeatGuru reviews are used by other international travel industry leaders, including TripAdvisor and Expedia.
Avoid seating near galleys or toilets. Often these sections of the aircraft have high traffic and could disturb you during the flight. Other disturbances include noises and odors.
Weigh the benefits of a window, middle or an aisle seat. A window seat can provide you with as little disturbance as possible, and also provides the cabin wall to lean against for long flights. On certain aircraft, however, the curvature of the cabin wall can result in less shoulder room that ordinary seats. An aisle seat gives you easy access to walk around, but also means you might have to get up when passengers sitting next to you wish to leave their seats. Passengers sitting in aisle seats are also vulnerable to knocks or bumps from passengers and crew as they walk along the aisle. Try to avoid middle seats with passengers sitting on each side of you as these often have the least amount of space and may result in more disturbance from your seatmates.
Pick a seat toward the front of the aircraft. On larger wide-body aircraft, economy cabins are generally quieter near the front of the aircraft, while areas behind the aircraft engines are generally noisier.
Check the seat pitch. After narrowing down the location of the cabin where you might want to sit and deciding whether you want an aisle or window seat, check the seat pitch. In some aircraft, seat pitch may be different even within the same service class. Seat pitch gives you an indication of how much legroom you can expect during your flight. Economy class cabins on long-haul flights generally provide 31 to 32 inches of seat pitch, but some airlines offer up to 33 to 35 inches of seat pitch.
Reserve your seat. After completing your research and deciding where in the cabin you would like to sit, reserve your seat when you purchase your ticket. Generally, airlines also allow you to reserve your seat after you have booked your flight by calling the airline or retrieving your reservation on the airline's website. You should note that some airlines will charge a fee for reserving a seat. Seats can also be picked when checking in for your flight online, at an airport self-service kiosk or with an airline agent at the airport.
