Choosing and Selecting a Seat Online on a United Airlines Flight

The comfort and pleasure of air travel depends not only on the equipment of the aircraft and the service on board, but also on the type of seat you get in the cabin. And the longer the flight, the stronger this addiction, because it is not very convenient to sit in one position for several hours, and there is, in general, nowhere to walk in the cabin.

And if for an ordinary passenger a seat is a kind of lottery, then an advanced passenger always tries to take the most comfortable seats, and ceteris paribus even chooses the airline in whose planes it is more convenient to sit. So we flew. What are the best seats on a United Airlines plane?

United Airlines offers you its online seat choice and selection system aboard the Basic Economy, United Polaris business class, First or Business cabin.

First of all, convenience is characterized by the width of the seats and the distance between the rows. Moreover, if the width is fixed by the manufacturer and depends above all on the type of aircraft, then the distance between the rows is determined by the American airline which orders the aircraft, and it is they who choose the balance between on-board capacity and passenger comfort. So, in economy class cabins, the distance can vary from 28 inches to 40; the difference is visible to the naked eye. In the first case, you barely squeeze yourself in your seat, put your knees on the back of the seat in front of you and you are unlikely to be able to move, and in the second you will even be sitting cross-legged.

Second, convenience is characterized by the relative position of the seats. Most often they are arranged in blocks – 1+2, 2+2, 2+3, 3+3, 2+4+2, 3+3+3, 2+5+2, 3+4+3. For narrow-body aircraft, the 3+3 scheme is most common (for all airlines), in wide-body aircraft, depending on aircraft type and airline, one of the last four schemes may be found.

Places near the window are convenient in that, firstly, you control the window (bright sun – closed, dark – open), and secondly, no one will disturb you during the flight, you can sleep safely all the way the journey, read or watch movies. Getting things out of your carry-on and going to the bathroom is inconvenient, but those are more likely your neighbors’ problems than yours. However, you can put your bag under the seat in front of the chair. and don’t bother anyone.

The aisle seats are convenient because you can stretch your legs in the aisle if the distance between the seats is small, and you can also get up at any time to stretch or go to the bathroom. The downside is that you’re unlikely to be able to sleep or immerse yourself in reading: you’ll probably need to get up from time to time to let out your neighbors, and other passengers, moving along the aisle, and grab the back of your seat.

Seats in the middle

That is to say between other seats, nobody likes: they combine the disadvantages of the window and aisle seats, while not having their advantages, while being sandwiched between two men with broad shoulders while along, for example, is also not very pleasant.

The comfort of a seat is determined by its location in the cabin. The worst, of course, near the toilets: there is noise, smells and a queue in the aisle. Typically, lavatories are located at the rear of the aircraft, but relatively large lavatories are also often located in the middle of the cabin, so the general rule is to sit as close to the front of the aircraft as possible. the cabin. However, some passengers, on the contrary, try to choose the last rows , because if the plane is not fully loaded (and on average it is 80%, that is, it is worth count), there is a good chance that no one will be seated nearby, then it will be possible to make it alone occupy the entire block of seats, which significantly expands the list of available positions.

In general, the best thing is in the row at the emergency exits , because there the distance between the seats is almost always greater than usual, allowing you to sit comfortably. In addition, there may not be a chair at the emergency exit window, which creates a truly royal comfort for someone who sits down immediately after the emergency exit window is to say on the next row.

There are, however, some controversial places. For example, if the emergency exits follow one another. In this case, the second row will be comfortable, but on the first row the backrests will not recline. Also, the situation is double with the first rank of economy class after business class. If the two living rooms are separated from each other by a curtain, there will be plenty of legroom. If there is a rigid partition, there will be a lot of space only for the knees and it will be difficult to stretch the legs forward. But in long-haul liners, the distance between the bulkhead and the central seating blocks is usually very large. But always be prepared for the fact that if there is a lot of space in front of you, this means that the chair itself may be narrower, since the table in this case is often retracted into the armrest. And it could also be that you are sitting at the emergency exit, and there is nowhere to put your legs: the box in which the inflatable ladder is hidden interferes.

Choose a business class seat

In this cabin, the choice of a seat is not so difficult: you sit either on the window side or on the aisle side, and even with a rather rare blocking of the seats 3 in a row, the person seated in the middle will not be not stuck and will not be disturbed, because. the two neighbors will be seated near the aisles. Here, the complexity is different: United Airlines itself has very different seats.

In some of his planes they are arranged in a horizontal sofa (flat bed), for other planes in an inclined bed. This applies to long-haul planes, in United Airlines medium-haul planes some have leg rests, some don’t, the reclining angles of the backrests are very different, and someone usually uses a convertible cabin.

Book your seat early

As soon as the online booking opens, if it is available for your flight, you must browse it. The closer the start, the more likely it is that the good places will not yet be taken. More often than not, though, you’ll see them busy early on. In fact, this most often means that they are blocked; for example, the places at the emergency exits are closed to online check-in because not everyone can be put there, but only those who, in this case, will be able to open this exit manually. Since the airline does not know if you have a broken arm or a dislocated joint, or if you are a fragile girl, you can only get these seats at the airport check-in counter.