The best seat when travelling by plane

[crislem]

I am about to take a transatlantic flight and I was wondering what seat I should ask for. It is a 9 and 1/2 hours flight so this matter could become important when I am up there.

On one hand I am tempted by the window seat because I get to see the clouds and everything and also if I want to sleep I can sleep without waking up when somebody next to me wants to go to the restroom. But, if I want to go to the restroom I would be the one waking up somebody and I don't like getting "the look". If I sit by the aisle, I can stand up and stretch whenever I feel like , I can even extend my legs on the ailse and stay like that almost the whole flight. So, I am undecided...

The seats in the middle of the plane were excluded, they are not an option. They don't offer any view outside and have the other disadvantages too.

I am supposed to decide about this matter very soon and I hope I will not regret the decision I am about to take (whatever that decision will be).

[ldcdc]

I read in a thread somewhere that some people have their eyes on the emergency exit row (if I remember it right) as it has more leg room than the other ones.

Yes, I remember it right:

http://abcnews.go.com/Business/FlyingHigh/story?id=755311&page=1

http://www.checklists.com/travel.html

http://www.geocities.com/profemery/entertainment/legroom.html - for a funnier read

[crislem]

Thanks!

The second link was very useful, with many good tips. The other articles instructed me to get a seat in the emergency exit row to have more room for my legs.

My decision so far is this one (mainly after reading that article the second link pointed me at): I will ask for a seat at the wing or in front of the plane. What I'm still not decided on what to do is whether I want to have a seat by the window or by the aisle.

I'm thinking that I'll be over the ocean most of the time so there won't be too much of a view (other than the clouds, which I think is a beautiful image; with the right type of clouds)

So many difficult decisions.

[ldcdc]

You could ask for a seat between two beauties. That way you'd get all the view you need and you'll totally forget about any discomfort.

[crislem]

Hmm, ok. I'll quote you on that one when I tell my fiancee about it. I wonder what she's going to think about your recommendation. Or better, tell her about it when she asks "how was your flight baby?".

[ldcdc]

Hey, it was just an idea that came from ether... Don't kill the messenger!

So, did you get the best seats in the whole airplane?

[crislem]

So, did you get the best seats in the whole airplane?

Hahahaha!!! I wanted to come and post the end of the story. It is funny (even though it is not that funny for me )

After posting here and reading those articles, I was decided to ask for a seat in the front of the plane, either at the window or by the aisle. Those were my "demands". I told them to the travel agent who made a call to another place and I was informed I have the seat 26D. I said "Ok, thank you." because of course I didn't know the structure of the plane and how seats were distributed.

From what I knew there were 3 seats by the window, 4 in the middle, and 3 more by the other window. I came back home to check on the net and surprise. I found this:

http://www.eskyguide.com/reference/plane_config.html

My plane is an Airbus AB3/AB6 (that is what I saw on the papers I received from the travel agency). If you look on that table you can see that row 26 in closer to the back of the plane rather than the front, the D is not either by the window nor by the aisle and row 26 is right in front the exit row which means I can't lean back my seat (and from what I know I have less room for my legs than regular seats). So they gave me one of the worst places. Hahaha, the more I worried about it, the worst I got.

My only hope now is that I can find some empty seats where I can move to or that the scheme I saw on that website is not true. Oh well, I'm sure I'll survive as long as the plane makes a safe flight. I just found it ironical. I'm sure there are a lot of people that don't care about the seat and they get a good one, and I tried to find one to fit my needs and I got one of the worst.

[crislem]

I haven't shared my experience with the flight and the seat in the plane. In the first plane that I had to take, I had a seat by the window (it was a 2 hours flight and it worked just fine).

In the second flight, the one for which I had seat number 26D, I was located by the aisle and in the middle of the plane. The seat was not located in front of the exit row, it was just perfect. So I worried for nothing, everything was great. The fact that I was by the ailse for the 9 hours flight was kind of nice because I could stretch very easily.

This makes me think. Maybe I should thank the person that booked that seat for me... I'm going to do that now.