In this 2 part article we will look at some considerations for finding the best seat on your flight.

Before booking on your designated airline you should first consider which aircraft will be flying on the route – you may have a choice of aircraft available. An example is Singapore Airlines which currently uses an Airbus A380 and a Boeing 777ER on their London to Singapore route.

Check the aircraft layout on your airline website seat maps which will give you an initial overview. You should then refer to the more detailed seating maps at SeatGuru and SeatExpert – which are available for most of the major airlines’ aircraft. They will illustrate the good and bad points of many individual seats and from this you will have a very good idea where exactly you would like to sit in your class.

Seat Expert also has the facility to put in your flight number and date to get back the exact aircraft that operates on the day, although this is not 100% accurate.

Now seating location is always a personal choice – you may prefer the window seat (for the view, or to lean against), the aisle seat (for easier access out), a seat at the front of the plane (for less turbulence or to get out more quickly at your destination), an exit row (for more legroom or just to feel “safer”), a bulkhead row (if you have small children), the upstairs on a Boeing 747 (for a quieter cabin)… etc.

Your choice will also depend whether you are travelling alone, as a couple or in a larger group. And what type of configuration is available on the aircraft.

If you are travelling as a couple in economy class long-haul you may wish to sit in a 2 seater row – these are commonly available on the window rows of Boeing 767s and Airbus A330s and A340s. The last 3 or 4 window rows at the back of many Boeing 747s also have 2 seaters (which can be popular).

If considering travel in business class then do check the cabin layout.

British Airways has 50% rear facing seats in Club World which some travellers dislike. Others are not so keen on the “herringbone” angled seat arrangement on Vigin Atlantic, Cathay Pacific and Air New Zealand.

Some of the newer generation on biz class cabins may be more suited to single travellers where each seat is a separate suite with its own aisle access. For example, biz cabins of Etihad and on Emirates’ A380 have the following config:

This means couples wanting to sit together are limited to the 1 middle seat pair – which is fine unless you really want a window seat. Etihad’s window seats are very private (excellent for solo travellers) but you would be quite separated from your travel partner.

In that case the more traditional 2-2-2 config would be more suitable for couples wanting to be near the window and each other – such as Qantas Skybeds on many of their aircraft.

Options for choosing your seat

Some airlines (example: Virgin Atlantic) will allow any passenger to choose their seat immediately at booking. Others will give that choice only to elite status passengers (Cathay Pacific, British Airways) and then open up the seating fully when online check-in (“OLCI”) opens usually 24 to 48 hours before the departure.

Note, British Airways has yesterday made an informal announcement that from October it will be possible for non-status passengers to select seats between 10 days and 4 days before the flight. Club World seats will cost £60 per flight, exit seats in economy/premium economy cabins will go for £50, other seats £10-£20. While this new policy will probably annoy some status passengers it does open the door for anyone to pick the exit rows if available.

Air France/KLM have a similar option at online check-in where “preferred seats” in exit rows or 2 seaters cost between €20 and €70, depending on the flight distance. Gold and Platinum Flying Blue members get this for free.

Low cost airline Air Asia offers advance seat assignment for around £5 for a standard seat and £20 for a “Hot Seat” in the front or exit rows. The likes of Monarch Airlines, Air Transat, Aer Lingus and JetBlue all offer similar advance seat selection for purchase.

United Airlines has extra legroom “E+” economy seats available at extra cost – from $9 to $109 depending on the flight (top tier elites are not charged). An annual option is also possible for $349.

Most major airlines still offer free OLCI but in the current economic climate seat selection is increasingly being seen as an extra revenue stream – especially when you consider that some economy exit seats have business class legroom.

In general you should try to do OLCI as soon as it opens which will give you the widest possible choice of available seats. That still may mean that the best seats could already have been taken by either elite passengers, passengers who have paid or those checked in due to having an earlier connecting flight.

While doing OLCI at home is easy it may be more difficult on your travels – you may need to investigate hotel business facilities or internet cafes with printers – and these could be closed if OLCI opens very early or late in the day.

How to Get the Best Aircraft Seat – Part 2

There are some tremendous business class deals to be had from the UK this summer. With the airline industry having a tough time there are great offers on the market to entice flyers back to the premium cabins. Let’s take a look..

United Airlines is running a half-price business class sale ex-UK, bookable by 2nd June. Travel is between 11th July to 31st August – peak season when trans-Atlantic flights are normally at a premium.

Lowest prices from London are:

New York £795
Boston £845
Washington DC £845
Philadelphia £845
Atlanta £905
Miami £939
Las Vegas £1,109
Los Angeles £1,109
San Francisco £1,109
Seattle £1,165
Honolulu £1,309

British Airways is running another business class sale at the moment, running up to June 30th.

Club World offers (return) to North America from London:

New York £1,099
Boston £1,199
Miami £1,399
Toronto £1,499
Los Angeles £1,699

Travel 1st July all the way to 13th Dec.

Other offers worldwide available include Caribbean destinations for £1,319 return.

Note, BA are also targetting some members of their Executive Club with £200 off Club World bookings with promo code BAUK-VALUED which means flights to New York can be had for £899.

As usual Virgin Atlantic are matching or slightly undercutting many of BA’s Club fares. Upper Class flights to New York JFK are priced from £1,096.

American Airlines has the following business class offers from London:

New York £1,098
Boston £1,198
Orlando £1,311
Miami £1,398
Los Angeles £1,658

Book by 30th June, travel to 13th December.

Air Canada is also matching the BA/AA sale with the same booking and travel dates. Return prices from London to the US (via Canada) are:

New York £1,047
Boston £1,157
Orlando £1,293
Miami £1,383
San Francisco £1,633

Air France has business class fares from London, Manchester or Edinburgh to New York from £1,051. The flights are operated by partner Delta Airlines.

Swiss has some good business class offers worldwide from Birmingham, Manchester and London. Prices from Birmingham:

New York £1,054
Boston £1,204
Johannesburg £1,289
Sao Paolo £1,601

They also have intra-Europe business class deals, the best of which is London-Barcelona at £215.

Air New Zealand has business class flights to Los Angeles from £1,628 – travel to 13th Dec, book by end of June.

Emirates have some value business class fares out of Birmingham:

Cape Town £1,387
Hong Kong £1,376
Singapore £1,378
Christchurch £2,222
Sydney £2,261

Travel up to 9th December. Prices from London are £200-£500 higher.

Perhaps the best deal of the lot – you can currently fly from London to Melbourne or Sydney on Singapore Airlines in business class for under £2,000. This can include some legs outbound on the A380 – we found prices of £1,977 to MEL and £1,986 to SYD.

Fares are ex- London Heathrow, for travel April 4th to August 31st (book at least 14 days in advance with QF, 28 days on BA). Sale ends March 25th.

Qantas is allowing a stopover in Asia (Bangkok, Singapore or Hong Kong) each way. You can also find some flights on the Airbus A380 which flies out of London 3 days a week currently.

The business fare to Sydney via Asia both ways should earn 560 QFF Status Credits or 480 BA Tier Points. (A straight LON-SYD ticket would earn less – 480 SCs or 440 TPs).

Qantas also has First Class fares at £2,999 return (this would earn 840 SCs via Asia, enough for QFF Gold status; or 720 BA TPs, almost enough for BA Gold for Euro based flyers).

Unfortunately for Australians coming the other way there are no similar priced discount offers.

New York £1,099
Boston £1,199
Orlando £1,299
Toronto £1,499
San Francisco £1,699
Los Angeles £1,699

Cairo £899
Tel Aviv £799
Dubai £1,359
Barbados £1,319
Mumbai £1,359

Club Europe stand-out fares from Gatwick LGW are:
Turin £159
Amsterdam £169

The Turin fare looks like a great Tier Point (or QF Status Credit) run.

Virgin Atlantic is matching many of the BA offers, again bookable by March 24th.

KLM also have some business class offers from various airports ex-UK. For example, from Manchester:

Tel Aviv £798
Cairo £908
Dubai £1,058
Mumbai £1,186
Sao Paolo £1,489
Jo’burg £1,558

Middle East Airlines

Emirates has a companion fare business class offer bookable to 16th March 2009. Fares to Asia and Africa look competitive (per person for 2 people travelling from London):

Cape Town £1,402
Hong Kong £1,493
Singapore £1,495
Bangkok £1,496

Rival Etihad also has the following biz class fares out of London Heathrow:

Mumbai £1,192
Johannesburg £1,404
Bangkok £1,584

Qatar Airways offers from London:

Mumbai £1,035
Dubai £1,151
Bangkok £1,577

Something to consider if travelling to India via airlines from the Middle East. It has been reported that service levels on the Middle East – India segments can be patchy as these flights tend to be full with migrant workers.

Obviously one has to account for regional services being often inferior than long-haul services – this is applicable worldwide.

The PREM+ offer looks excellent value – this is a superior product to BA’s long-haul World Traveller Plus which has 38″ pitch. (It would not be surprising if BA upgraded their WT+ cabins to something more like PREM+…)

If flying NY to Amsterdam the PREM+ fare is $1,000 return.

The PREM+ fares earn 125% miles with BA Executive Club. In comparison you could fly Amsterdam-New York on KLM economy class (31″ pitch) for €498 and earn a ‘whopping’ 25% Flying Blue miles.

Loads on OpenSkies have been poor – so you are almost guaranteed a quiet cabin – and BA has cancelled any expansion of the service for the time being. Having only 1 daily flight from Amsterdam to JFK is limiting to some business passengers. But at this price it must be worth a shot…

Book the PREM+ fare by Feb 28 2009 for outbound travel by May 31 2009.

The BIZ fare is bookable to Feb 09 2009 for return travel by Apr 30 2009.