Ask HN: best seats on a plane
I just booked a flight which had the following pattern of available seats: http://bit.ly/d1IXh4.
What are the factors people consider when choosing their seats?
What are the factors people consider when choosing their seats?
- Avoid seats in the middle. Period. Exception - exit row or front row seats
- Select seats which do not have seats in front
- Do careful consideration before taking emergency exit seats. The door is more than 50 pounds. You need to unlatch it , twist-turn to get the door inside or throw it out.
- Do not take seats beyond the half way of the plane. The more you go behind, more you hear engine noise and longer it takes to disembark
- Avoid seats near toilets. You need to put up with stink or people standing in your legroom
- Take aisle seats if the wheels-2-wheels time is more than 3 hours
- For frequent flyers - note down the sun direction if you are taking window seat. It will help you choose left window seat or right window seat. You do not want to face the sun all the way during the flight. You selected window seat for a view, it is stupid to close down the windows.
- If flying red eye, choose window seat because you can rest your head against the window.
window. this has absolutely nothing to do with view and everything to do with being able to control shade. you'd be surprised at how many people will not block the sunlight. bonus points for picking the window on the sun side of the plane.
exit row window can be a very bad seat. sometimes they don't have army rests on the window side.
extra leg room seats generally come with an extra price (this includes exit row). not worth it to me, could be worth it to you.
first class. if your airline has first class ask how much an upgrade costs when you check in. i use to fly las/msp 2 times a month on north west. the upgrade was 49$ and there were always seats available. now a days all the 'good' airlines don't even bother with first class.
saving time is huge. your time is generally worth much more than the cost.
fly when there will be less delays, redeyes.
boarding quickly, exiting quickly. don't waste 20 minutes standing in line to board the plane. it's much better to sit in the waiting area on your laptop and be the last to board when there is no wait. this can be a problem if you need overhead bin space. exiting quickly is all about being near the front of the plane.
dont check bags. just buy your shampoo/liquids at your destination. think of this as cost vs time.
avoid change overs/stops.
- Isle seat if you are not interested in the view.
- Window seat if you are.
- Front of plane lets you get out faster.
- Must: ask for a baby bassinet in advance if flying with a baby.
- On really long trips don't take the seat next to the bathroom. Then again, on fully booked planes those may be the seats where you have a whole row for yourself.
In your case, as others have noted, 23 window seat looks like the winner. Weird that it's still available.
I also prefer the aisle Though window seats mean being disturbed less by others needing to get up