February 01, 2005

• The only thing I would really want to know about my airplane seat, is an assurance that it won't end up in a smoking crater with little chunks of me littering the area around it. Of course I'm a giant pussy about this and will never get on a plane, but if I wasn't, this would be pretty helpful (and cool, I might add)
• Aw, man! I wish I'd seen this when I was picking seats for my recent flights.
• I'm surprised that for American Eagle, it didn't just say 'On American Eagle, there are no good seats.'
• Nice link, goofyfoot! Just tried to change my seats for next week's flight, couldn't, but you can be sure I'll consult this before I book next time.
• On American Eagle, they're all good seats! I love flying American Eagle. Usually the most pleasant 45 minutes of my day.
• goofyfoot, had to bookmark this one; thanks for a very useful post.
• Fantastic post. I have to say that I honestly thought that the site was going to contain information about the physical make-up of an airplane seat. That sounded mildly odd and interesting, so I clicked it. From their front page I was stunned to find listings for not just every kind of airline, but every kind of plane in those airlines. Surely not every kind of plane does not have its very own kind of seat, do they? I mean, what kind of lunatic would compile that kind of information? My kind of lunatic, so I clicked again. Unfortunately, at this point I discovered the actual content of the site. It is interesting and informative, but not quite the fantastic and nutty that I had thought it was.
• Heh. I thought it was going to be a Curious George: "Help! I can't choose! Aisle, middle, or window?" And lo, instead it was exceedingly useful. Good link, goofy. Now if I could only get my 300-lb friend to use this site before booking us on our flight to Vegas.
• It would be more useful if the info was more anecdotal, and less reliant on the uncritical seating charts. Examples: US Airways 737 - Every seat should be labelled a bad seat. I swear they crammed a whole extra seat in each row, and at least an extra row in total. Just watching your fellow average size (i.e. non-overweight) passengers try to cram themselves in is painful. Back Row seating - every chart I checked labels back row seating as bad, but in my experience, as long as you don't mind a bit of extra noise, it's actually more private and less crowded, and the seats still go back a comfortable amount.
• As long as I can get a window that's not near a baby, I'm happy. Great site! as a perennial traveller, this will be v useful.
• Generally, I go for aisle seats near the emergency exits for the extra leg space (sometimes windows are nice if it's a shorter flight and we're going over scenic terrain). Wow, this site seems so detailed and certain planes conflict with that instinct, so I'll try to use it. But honestly, by the time I get to the seat selection phase of buying whatever discounted airfare I've found online, there's usually not many seats to choose between.
• If you do long flights, legroom matters.
• If you are 6' 4" and 230lbs, leg room, any damn room, matters, trust me.
• With a bit more effort by Seatguru, the charts would be immensely more useful. With the databases that airlines create today, we should be able to see on the charts which seats are statistically most likely to be assigned to screaming babies and which are most likely to be assigned to 300-lb friends. Also, the chart should indicate the percentage of luggage in each type of plane that, at the destination, will end up lost. For that matter, add the average mechanical delay for each aircraft as well as the percentage on-time departure.
• I have to agree with Nal... the back row seats are NOT poor except for the reclineaholics. You don't have to worry about someone behind you kicking the seat or blabbing, and it is quieter. If there's an engine there, it's more soothing white noise. The only downside is if it's against a lav (banging door, flushes, etc). I also have to give a thumbs-up to all window seats for the extra lateral room. You can sort of spread out towards the wall... that extra 3 inches really makes the difference. Not something you can't do in the middle/aisle seats. I don't tend to make bathroom runs in-flight, so it works for me. I really think the whole "conventional wisdom" about seating needs to be revamped. I'm not sure who invented it but I don't agree with a lot of it. Legroom and recline aren't the only players on the scorecard.
• SeatSelectionConfessional: A few years ago my dad unwisely decided to tell me, a little too soon after a heated argument with me, to make his travel arrangements for him because he was too busy. I did so, choosing the flight that had a stopover - it was ever so slightly cheaper than the direct flight - and choosing seats next to the emergency exit doors on each one, in the secret, dastardly hope that this would somehow make him, a swarthy man, seem suspicious and that at the very least he might receive some uncomfortable stares as a result. Forgive me father...
• United instituted an extra charge for the seats with more leg room last year, the bastards! Happily, that was also the year that American extra room between seats. Guess who I picked to fly to Europe? I had a hell of a time digging through airline websites to find the leg room calculations for that trip, this site will help tremendously with future trip planning.
• SeatGuru is great, I use it all the time. There's alot of flying related knowledge over at FlyerTalk too. That's a great resource too if you want to find out how good the seats really are, and other tidbits that seatguru doesn't cover.
• I'm so glad y'all find it useful! Especially as my maiden post over at meta fell completely flat. I'm happy to remain a monkey.
• This makes me feel really safe. Glad to know the Bush Doctrine and its Homeland Security boys have once again secured every loophole. Heckuva job.
• Nice find there, Ralph. *tosses passport*
• My link is toast! Homunculus shows us why.