ADVICE PLANE SEATS
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Cheats to get the
best seat Not all Economy seats are equal – even in the same
cabin, reveals former flight attendant Lee Cobaj
Tall tale
Airlines love touting
exit-row seats – they
earn £10-£40 each way
for them. But they rarely
mention the downsides. You’ll
nearly always lose seat width
as your tray table is stowed in
the armrest (see ‘Speedy exit’),
and all your belongings will have
to be put in the overhead locker.
And if the exit-row is at the front
of a cabin, families with babies will
often be right next to you. Unless you
have exceptionally long legs, these
seats are rarely worth the
extra money.
Book and switch
Here’s a trick: if you can’t get
the seat you want, book the best
available seat, then check back 24 hours
before departure. The airlines often hold
back clusters of seats for families, then release
any that haven’t been needed on the day of the
flight – or sometimes even earlier. So you can nip
in and make a quick switch to your preferred seat.
Easier still, if you have an iPhone, download the
Seat Alerts app (free) from ExpertFlyer,
tell it which seat you have your
eye on, and it will alert you straight away if the
seat is released by the airline.
Long-haul sprawlGetting an empty seat adjacent
to yours is as close to an upgrade as
most of us are going to get – particularly
on a long-haul flight, when you can usually
raise the armrest between the two for a
sofa-esque sprawl. For the best chance,
look to the less-popular back of the
plane, particularly the last few central
rows of seats – which nobody wants.
You’re likely to be within earshot of
the toilets and the galley, but it will
be worth it if you get to spread
out, and a decent set of earplugs
or noise-cancelling headphones
should drown out the noise.
Ask nicelyHemmed in by strangers?
It’s always worth asking the cabin
crew if there are any empty rows
on the plane – but you don’t want
to be earmarked as a nuisance,
so make sure to do it when
they’re not too busy. This
is usually towards the end
of boarding, but not so late
that the doors are closed
and they are preparing for departure.
Speedy exit
The seats in the first row of
Economy are sought-after by those in
a hurry to disembark, particularly if you’re
landing at peak times – typically 6-9am and
4-7pm – when immigration queues can take
ages (check airlinequality.com for airport
reviews). But they have their downsides. Families
with babies are often placed here, and because you
will not have a seat in front of you, your tray table will
be stowed in the armrest. This makes the armrest wider,
which loses you a few precious centimetres of seat width.
Better to go for the second row. You’ll exit nearly as quickly,
but without a loss of space. And if no babies are on the
flight, you’ll get lucky with one of the quietest spots in
the plane. The reason? These front-of-Economy
seats are usually just forward of the engines, so you’ll experience less roar, which
makes it easier to hear in-flight movie dialogue, too.
Smooth rideIf turbulence gives you
the terrors, go for seats over
the wings. Closer to the aircraft’s
centre of gravity, these seats
experience less movement. Think
of it like a see-saw; the further
you are from the middle,
the more motion you feel.
Secret seatsUse Seatguru.com’s
colour-coded aircraft plans to
search out the handful of secret
seats that have hidden extra
space – and to avoid the worst
spots. At the back of the Boeing 777,
for example, the fuselage tapers from
three seats down to two, leaving lots of
room on the side. SeatGuru also shows
the seats to steer clear of – those with limited
recline or fixed armrests, for example.
(Alas, you might have to pay to choose
seats now; see ‘The real cost of
flight extras’ from our May
2015 issue).
If landing at peak times – typically 6-9am and 4-7pm – immigration queues can take ages, so try to sit near the front
