How to Pick the Best Airplane Seat
If you’re the kind of person who doesn’t care where you sit on the plane (perhaps you’re traveling solo, or don’t care if you sit next to friends or family for a short trip), this post isn’t for you. Instead, it’s directed at those of us who really want to sit next to our travel companions and/or are picky about where we sit.
It used to be that airline seat selection was free, but alas, times have changed. Airlines found that charging for things that customers used to take for granted (seat selection, meals, checked bags) boosted their profits, so unfortunately, these fees are here to stay (and more are likely on the horizon).
Basic Economy = No seat selection
Most airlines have “basic economy” fares that come without advanced seat selection, meaning your seats are automatically assigned 24 hours before the flight. The computer tries to assign people on the same booking together, but it’s not guaranteed, especially if the flight is full. So if you’re traveling with young kids and don’t want to risk being seated apart, I would avoid Basic Economy. Yes, flight attendants will still ask passengers if they’d be willing to move so a child can sit next to a parent, but increasingly, many passengers are resistant to move if they paid extra for their seats and parents with children didn’t, so some 5 year olds sit next to strangers.
Where to sit if you’re a nervous flyer, want quiet or space, need to sleep, or have a tight connection
Safety. Many studies have analyzed which seats are safest in the event of a crash (e.g., the back third of the plane has a slightly lower mortality rate than the middle third; the middle seat in the back row has the lowest mortality rate of any other seat), but experts conclude that survival is random because is it depends on the type of crash, which is not predictable ahead of time. So, use other factors to decide where to sit. Fortunately, flying is incredibly safe (annual fatality risk about 1 in 11 million), especially compared to driving (1 in 5000).
Turbulence. A lot of people (myself included) feel uncomfortable during turbulence. Fortunately, even severe turbulence almost never affects the structural integrity of the airplane, so the primary danger is not in it causing a crash but in people who are unbelted (usually flight attendants) being injured from hitting their head. If turbulence makes you nervous, choose a seat over the wings, which is closest to the plane’s center of gravity and provides the smoothest ride.
Quiet. If you want quiet, sit close to the front where you’ll be less likely to hear engine noise.
Space. You’ll get the most legroom from an exit row or a bulkhead seat (but know that your carryon can’t be on the floor since there’s no storage space, and you’ll have to keep it the bin above). Some airlines won’t assign the exit row on booking and/or charge a high price, but it’s open to anyone on Southwest (first come, first served) and you can change your seat on Alaska to the exit row for free within 24 hours of the flight.
Privacy. The best chance to have extra space (i.e., no seatmate) is in the back of the plane, because most people want to sit near the front or over the wings. If you’re flying as a couple on a 3 x 3 (e.g., 737, a320), selecting the aisle and window seats makes it somewhat less likely that you’ll have a seatmate because middle seats aren’t popular (if the flight is full and you end up having a seatmate, you can always offer them the window or aisle and still sit next to your partner).
Sleep. Window seats are best for sleeping (you can lean against the plane without worrying about touching your seatmate), especially those in the bulkhead where you can also stretch your legs. Don’t choose a seat in front of an exit row, because these usually don’t recline.
Tight connection. If you have a short layover, sit as close to the front as possible so you get off the plane more quickly and can head to your next gate.
Seating on Southwest
As you may know, Southwest is the only airline without seat assignments. They’ve done this since the beginning, in order to decrease turnaround time because their research showed that having no seat assignments speeds up boarding; that, in turn, led to increased revenues and profitability, so I don’t see that changing any time soon. For some flyers, this causes a lot of consternation (they refuse to fly SW because of it), but it can help to understand how their boarding process works if you like Southwest--and I do, because they have great flights out of my home airport, good fares, and are very flexible.
Tip: Up until recently, Southwest was the only airline that allowed you to cancel a ticket and use the credit for future flights; even now that other airlines have adopted more flexible policies because of Covid, Southwest is still the only one that will give your credit (or refund some of your miles) if their price drops after you buy the ticket.
Southwest has “open” seating, which means customers line up in boarding groups (A, B, and C, which have up to 60 people each) and passengers choose their seats first come, first served as they board. Southwest assigns your boarding position 24 hours before the flight based on the time/order you check in, so there are a few strategies to get a good position: (1) set a phone alarm to check in exactly at 24 hours before your flight (this usually gets you from high A to late B, which is early enough to sit together with your travel companions), (2) purchase “early bird” at the time of booking (usually $20 to $25 each way) so that Southwest will automatically assign you a position at 36 hours, meaning you don’t have to watch the clock and be worry about checking in at the right time (in my experience, from mid A to mid B; I usually do this if it’s inconvenient to check in for my flight home 24 hours in advance, like 7 am on vacation), or (3) purchase an A1-15 boarding for $40 at the check in desk just before the flight (these are first come, first served but usually available; I do this if we didn’t buy early bird and forgot to check in and ended up with a C boarding position, which makes it less likely to sit together).
Note: Some people buy Early Bird or A1-15 for themselves and hold seats for others in their party. Southwest doesn’t have an official policy against this and it’s pretty common, but it’s clearly less annoying to others if you’re holding one middle seat for your spouse than if you’re trying to hold two entire rows for a large family (I’ve seen this), so decide for yourself what you feel comfortable with. For more details on Southwest boarding, see this article.
Seat Guru: An awesome tool for finding the best seat
If you plug your flight number and date into seatguru.com (I do this to help choose my seat during booking), you’ll find the pros and cons of each seat (e.g., extra legroom, outlet, quiet, doesn’t recline, narrow width, no window) as well as detailed passenger reviews. Be aware that there can be multiple versions (layouts) of the same aircraft, so it’s important to compare the airplane map you see on the airline’s website while booking with the layout you’re reading reviews of on Seatguru.