Not All Seats Are Created Equal

I am, I think, on my sixth flight (on four different airlines) in three days, and I now feel qualified to assert that all airline seats are definitely not created equal! And I am not just talking about the dimensions of the seat, the construction of the headrest, or the entertainment system that may or may not be in the back of the seat ahead of you. There is so much more to consider when thinking of airplane comfort. There are the cabin layout/seat location/seat mate variables to include, too. Let's start with the physical seat itself. The seats on Kingfisher Air, even on the little prop plane on which we flew, were of supple leather and had ample lumbar support. There was no video entertainment, but the flight was only an hour and a half and the scenery was spectacular out the window, so who needs TV? Jet Airways also had great seats with ample support and a headrest that wrapped around and cradled your ears in soothing fashion. The in-seat entertainment worked flawlessly and contained many options from jazz radio to Hollywood movies. Air Canada, however, had seats too narrow for an anorexic headed to an intervention, the headrests forced your head to loll from side to side like a drunken sailor, the entertainment system wouldn’t run for more than twenty minutes, and the rows are so close together that my knees and chin are now void of hair from rubbing on each other.

The cabin layout is also important. On the widebodies you can have a 2-4-2 or a 3-3-3, or in the tail you may have the 2-3-2 layout. I have always tried for aisle seat, and on day flights I still prefer it, but I don’t pee often (so I am not climbing over seatmates) and I don’t get up and roam around much (they frown on that now), so on night flights I try for a window. I like the 2-3-2 option best, and try for the 2 part--either aisle or window.

Location in the cabin is also important. Near the front and you are the last on-first off--great if you have a short connection. You also breathe the freshest, but hottest!, air. I find I am always hot on a plane, even when I only wear my Speedo, (this gets me through security quickly) so I prefer the back. The air is cooler, especially if you are next to the bathroom, because every time someone flushes it suchs a huge amount of air out. The other big advantage to the back of the cabin seat choice is the gossip that the flight attendants tell each other as they stand in the galley not helping people. It has been my experience that in the areas of both quality and quantity of gossip, Air Casnada wins hands down. Part of the reason may be that they have the most experienced flight attendents in the industry; I recently overheard two of them discussing what great guys Orville and Wilbur were.


The seat mate/s you end up with are always the wildcard when traveling. I have to say I have had them all. Screaming baby, puking student (all the way to Beijing once), the sleeper, the talker, and when you travel with Ray, the snorer. On this trip to China, I was pleasantly surprised to have no seatmates at all! Even better, in the row just ahead of me sat a young doctor going to an agricultural finance conference in Beijing. She was from Poland, raised in Germany, and working at the university in San Fransisco. She spent the perfect amount of time turned around discussing the state of agriculture and the rest of the time letting me sleep. It was delightful to hear a young, naive, enthusiastic person's perspective for a change. I would tell you her name, but it was polish, and I couldn’t say it, let alone spell it!
...
Now I am in a whole different type of seat: a seat on a sleeper bus, my home for the next 24 hours. The “seat” is too flat to sit up and too slanted to lay down. But that is a whole other story yet to come. Keep me in your prayers!