On a recent family trip to the UK, on Virgin, my wife reserved our four seats by getting the two next to a window in two consecutive rows. Me, believing in my superior knowledge, sent her back to reserve the four seats in the centre.
My reasoning: as a family travelling together, you will only annoy some blood relation sitting next to and not some stranger - and you eliminate the possibility of said passenger being an obese halitosis sufferer. Then, after have issued my order, I immediately regretted it. What is the problem with two sets of two seats?
Fortunately, she refused to go and change the reservation again. Fortunately, because we discovered that the Virgin plane on which we were travelling was a Boeing 747-400, and not an Airbus A340. The difference is that on the 747-400, the seat configurations in economy class run (left to right) 3-4-3. This means the outside rows consist of three seats. Had we stayed with our original booking, we would all have had to deal with a stranger.
The point is that a little bit of research beforehand can make a long-haul plane flight a little more bearable, although do not forget that they don't call it "cattle class" for nothing. It is still not going to be comfortable.
Some tips:
- If you're travelling by yourself, get an aisle seat. This will enable you to effectively have only one person next to you. You might also be able, later on, to stretch out your legs. In the aisle seat, you can get out easily to the loo and, if you're in the centre section, you will only have one fellow passenger trying to climb over you when nature calls. When deciding which aisle seat you want, try to think about which side you are most comfortable when you sleep, and choose accordingly.
- Some people opt for window seats because they will have only one person next to them and they may also be able to lean against the side of the plane to fall asleep. Be warned: you then have to climb over one (or two on a 747-400) to get out and the hoped-for prop on the side of the fuselage can often promote, and not help, neck ache. (Window seats are pointless anyway: the porthole is normally tiny and if you fly at night or in bad weather you're not going to see anything.)
- Try to get a seat which is close enough to the toilets so you can see when they're free, but far enough away that you're not plagued by noise or, heaven forbid, odours. Some people try to get as close to the exits as possible, but unless you are travelling with just your hand luggage getting off the plane quickly is not going to save you much time.
- There are special seats in the plane which offer more space - normally those which are close to exits or up against bulkheads. However, there are disadvantages to these as well. Seats against bulkheads will generally be reserved for people travelling with infants (so a cot can be put up) while those near exits mean you may not have any items (including jackets) at your feet because they will block an emergency route.
- On these seats, too, the entertainment systems and tables are different in design and sometimes mean you end up with less room in the seat.
- Remember that not all aircraft or airlines are created equal and that there can be a number of significant variations on seat width (self-explanatory) and pitch (the distance between the seat backs).
- A friend in the aviation business recently recommended an excellent website where you can research the different seat configurations on virtually every airline and every aircraft flying commercially today on both long-haul and short-haul route.
The site - www.seatguru.com - has detailed seatmaps for the different aircraft types; in-depth comments about seats with limited recline, reduced legroom, and misaligned windows; colour-coding to help identify superior and substandard seats; in-seat power port locations; and galley, lavatory, exit row and closet locations
Had I spent some time on the site prior to setting off on our Virgin flight, I would have been reasonably happy with our seat choices, although I would have been warned that legroom is restricted on the outer seats in the centre rows because of an equipment box (something you don't get in the A340.)