Ryanair doesn't offer seating preferences - yet. Photo credit: David Precious
Air travel remains a generally unpleasant, though necessary business, but small victories are always welcome. Like finding the “perfect seat”, for example.
And which is the perfect seat on a standard aircraft? 6A, of course.
Scotland-based flight comparison site Skyscanner polled 1,000 air travelers, asking about their seat preferences (leaving aside extra legroom seats) – aisle, center, or window, row placement, even superstitions about row numbers. The site found that a 45 percent of respondents preferred seats in the first six rows; 60 percent preferred a window seat, 40 percent want the aisle, and only 1 percent of the respondents would take the middle seat if it was on offer. The survey comes as low-cost airline easyJet announced that it is now allowing passengers to book seat, for a fee of course.
So, what’s the worst seat on the plane? 31E, according to the survey, a middle seat towards the back of the plane.
Why 6A? “Anecdotally, some passengers seem to opt for the middle section near the wings where they are less likely to feel turbulence while others want to be near the front for ease of getting off the plane, less engine noise or even to get a better choice of food available,” explained Sam Baldwin, Skyscanner’s travel editor. “The window seems a popular choice for those looking to sleep, especially for long haul flights, while those who take more trips to the toilet prefer to aisle so as not to disturb fellow passengers and the aisle is also popular for tall passengers looking to stretch their legs. Frequent fliers have also reported that the left hand side of the plane is best as the windows are off centre, allowing for wall space to lean on.”
Obviously… “So they had to perform a survey to figure out first class is where people most like to sit?” asked blog The Interrobang. “These guys are breaking ground!”
Skyscanner is wrong. Anna Nichols, Expat blogger at The Telegraph, declared that Skyscanner have got it wrong: The best seats are one of the two first row aisle seats, because it enables the passenger to “deplane” quickly. That not everyone agrees that 6A is the best is also probably why a number of sites exist, such as Seat Guru, that purport to help you figure out what seat is best for you on any given airline.