Often we see that the air passengers are dissatisfied about the seat they are getting in flights in spite of spending heavy flight charges. Insufficient leg room, the kick of the small child in the next seat, dispute over the armrest etc are some of the common areas of discord among air travelers.  Everyone would like to get the aisle seat in the front side of the plane with empty seat next to him. I am going to explain some tips now so that next time you travel you can reap the benefits of reading this now.

The best seat on a plane

Seats in the front side of the plane, window seats, aisle seats, exit row seats etc are considered as the best seats by the passengers who regularly use airlines for their travel purposes. Naturally you may prefer an aisle seat in the front portion of the plane so that you can debark easily on arrival at the airport. You may also wish to be seated in a window seat so that your head gets good rest.  Nervous people may prefer seats over the wing where turbulence will be less.

There will be more leg space in the exit row seats. But when you travel with your family they are not appropriate. Children are not allowed to sit in the exit rows. US law prevents children to be seated immediately in front of or at the back of the exit row seats.

Many flight travelers prefer bulkhead seats that are directly situated behind the physical barriers like curtain of screens, walls etc that are used to separate the different areas of the plane. As there is no seat in front of you, there is no chance of any passenger reclining to your lap. You will get some extra leg room also. But one should be aware of the fact that all bulk heads are not created equal. In many planes the first bulk head row is often cramped and therefore is uncomfortable. Also keep in mind that you will not have any space under the seat to stow some personal items.

Many passengers are very particular about safety aspects while traveling in planes and so they keep on searching to find out the safest seats in the event of an accident. Unfortunately there is no such seat which can be considered as the safest in an air plane.  In the year 2015 TIME magazine conducted a study based on the data for the last 35 years of flight and found that the safest place to sit while traveling in a plane is in its front portions within the five rows of the emergency exit.

Some important ways to get better seats

Join a flier program: If you are already a member of a flier program, giving your flier number can help you in getting a good seat.  If seat number is not assigned already, you can show the card at the time of check-in.

Buy your tickets at an early date: As the date of travel nears, the availability of seats for per-assignments dwindles. If you can buy tickets a few weeks earlier, check online and see whether you can select your seat for journey.  If not possible, arrive at the airport early.

Purchase a good seat: There are some airlines that give economy seats with good leg space if you pay an additional fee for this purpose. There are some airliners who charge about $500 as extra fee for providing extra seat pitch for one year.

Select the seat when you book: Most airline sites and travel agents allow one to choose the seat at the time of seat booking itself. In some cases, the seat selection is done after completing the booking process and they do not charge anything extra for seat selection.  If you are not getting a suitable seat, you can call the airline and see whether better seats are available and whether it will cost you extra or not.

Confirm at the time of check-in: Airline passengers are allowed to check in 24 hour earlier by most airliners. So at time of check-in one can confirm whether he has got the seat already allotted for his air travel.  He can also ask for a changed seat, if he is not happy about the present seat.