It came to my attention recently that a well-traveled friend of mine had never heard of SeatGuru. Quel horreur!
While I, of course, remain your primary guru, the SeatGuru is definitely one you need to add to your repertoire.
Because when it comes to traveling, we all know that beyond the airline, the seat itself can make or break your experience. Legroom lounger or toilet attendant? You make the call.
Even in business or first class, there are huge differences in seat quality. Even within one airline, in the same class, on different plane types.
Simply put: SeatGuru helps you pick the best seat on every flight you take. And if really use it like a pro, it will actually influence which flight you buy.
The SeatGuru website has come a long way since its underground-nerd-forum days of yore. (Yore!) Now you simply search your airline and then select your flight number or aircraft (which is found in the details of any flight you’ve bought or are considering). You’ll get great maps of seat layout (how many coach, biz, first class seats) and details on seat quality. Seat quality is the biggie here.
Let’s say you’re ready to cash in your hard-earned and well-hoarded miles for a swank seat in business to the other side of the planet. You want to make sure you’re getting the best quality seat possible.
What do I mean by seat quality? THIS:
American Airlines' deceptively named "flatbed" Biz Class seat.
American Airlines' Biz Class "lie-flat" seat.
Same airline, both business class. Hard to know the difference at first. Well, one is the “fully-lie-flat” seat. The other is the deceptively named “flatbed” seat, which yes, is a flatbed, but TILTED at a 10 degree angle, which means you get to slide down your bed all night. Blood clot, anyone?
Let’s take it to coach, where seat quality may not differ much from plane to plane on the same airline (except for TV availability, which still does vary greatly in the U.S.), but hell yes differs from spot to spot. SeatGuru will have the seats color-coded, so that at a quick glance you can get a sense of good or bad. Roll over with your cursor to read specific comments and pros/cons on a seat.
A map of the back in SWISS.
For every aircraft, you’ll also find info about TV availability, charger ports, wifi, and more for all classes of service. Many will have user-contributed photos to help you out, including pics of seats, meals, overnight kits, and more.
As a last note, I want to return for a moment to the mileage cash-in moment. Let’s say you’re planning a really long vacation flight, like a 10+ hour journey. Remember that your miles don’t necessarily have to be used on the airline you earned them on. Your airline has partner airlines, some of whom may have waaaaay nicer seats than your regular carrier. Make a little visit to SeatGuru's comparison section before you make the call, to check which partner airline has the best-quality seat for your miles. Then, of course, it’ll be a game of award availability, and you may or may not win. But at least you’ll make your final choice like a pro.
You're welcome.
