How to get and keep the aircraft seat you want - When you should and should not swap seats

Aircraft seats. Photo by Angela Lansbury.

 To get the seat you want, first check the season (month) day of the week, times of day of your flight and the prices. An early flight might require an early checkin and getting up early to leave home or check out of your hotel. 

Breakfast

You might be missing breakfast. One year in the USA I had four breakfasts, one at home and three on flights, and was offered another on arriving at my hotel. 

Check seat availability. The window seat alows you to see the scenery, take photos, sleep against the wall. The aisle seat is good for jumping up when the toilets are free, hailing the passing steward for food or a query. 

I like the aisel because I have a mild claustrophobia and fear of flying at heights, seeing down the aisle, watching other screens and crew looking calm, not seeing the ground far below. It is easier for my husband to find me, check up, chat, help me with overhead luggage, and surrptitiously pass me chocolates. I would be happy to change an window or middle seat for the aisle. 

The middle doubles your chances of chats with a new friend. You can hop out to the toilet when the person in the aisle gets up.

If you are in the aisle, when you get up for a restroom break, you might ask the others if they wish to go. If you are not in a hurry, if you let them go first, you don't have to stand up again when they return.

You can lift the armrest of the aisle seat to let yourself and the others out more easily.

Should you swap seats? If the other seat is an advantage. If you don't care. If you are not obliged to abandon the goods in your overhead locker. 

On a cheap flight with non assigned seats, sometimes the crew ask you if you would mind changing seats.

On a large aircraft with assigned seating, sometimes the crew ask you not to swap seats until after takeoff, and to resume the correct seat during landing. That is so that in the event of an accident, the right family is informed of your injury, death, transfer to hospital, whatever.

You also want to consider your speed in exiting the plane, if you are in transit, or being met by a taxi or family. A seat nearer the front exit might suit you better.

In flight Special Meals

During the flight, staying in the correct seat is helpful if you have ordered a special meal. It saves the staff from having to hunt for you. No risk of your meal being given to the wrong person or not getting any meal.

Losing the aisle seat during takeooff and landing could mean that you don't get to see the view and take photos. However, mostly if the person by the window has their eyes open, or their own camera taking pictures, they will gladly take a photo or two for you using your camera or mobile phone.

Useful websites

https://www.dailymail.co.uk/travel/travel_news/article-12886815/Never-switch-seats-man-plane-spot-moving.html#comments

Please share links to your favourite  blog posts.

To travel in hope or to arrive? What is your purpose? To reach another place or to escape?

From Wikipedia.

You can see them clinging on, unahappily. I, on the other hand, giggled non-stop. I remember the taxi from the airport in Cambodia. No what I was expecting. A motorcycle with a trailer and our suitcases bouncing about. I was hanging onto my hat which blew about in the breeze. My bag kept sliding off my knees. After a week of this, a regular taxi back to the airport was an anti-climax.

Travel brings the unexpected. Sometimes back to the old. Sometimes into the new.

Many people say that they love travelling. Some love car journeys. I love being a car passenger. I  love long distance and overnight train journeys. And coach trips. And watching movies in planes. And the fun of odd transport. I remember the tractor through the water along the cuaseay to an island hotel in the UK. The covered bridges in the USA an Switzerland. In Cambodia being met at the aiprot by our driver, who had a motorised bike with a canopy.

In these times of Covid-19 we all miss travelling and look with nostalgia at our previous years' trips. Travelling for fun is different to travelling as an expat or taking off for a year. The Chinese say that a journey starts with a single step. That phrase is to encourage you to take the plunge, to start your journey. 

Robert Louis Stevenson said, it is better to travel in hope than to arrive. In his days the journey took weeks or months by train or ship. Arriving presented more challenges, climate, language, new people.

Another popular saying is, the grass is greener the other side of the fence. We travel to find something new. New ways of doing things. New foods. New clothes. New forms of transport. New friends. New work. New everything. New experiences to make us forget the bad ones and the mistakes of yesterday.

If you travel for a new you go for skills and to earn money. Sometimes just planning a trip gives us a temporary purpose. Sometimes we are travellling just for a change. A change is as good as a rest. Sometiems we are travelling to a specific place for a specific purpose. Other times we just want to get away from where we are.

Your Purpose in Life

Most newlyweds and first time parents have a purpose in life. So do most carers.

'Purpose in life' implies that the wider world is more important than family, especially if you don't have a family.

Mother Teresa's purpose in life was to look after the poor and sick. Why had the government not provided hospitals and orphanages?

You might also argue that an employee or devoutly religious person or political party member has followed a purpose set by others. An entrepreneur or founder of a cult or President of a country, king, queen, dictator or benevolent dictator has decided their own purpose and that of others.

The Purpose of Travel

To travel in hope? Or to arrive?

To reach another place? Or to escape?

To start afresh where nobody knows your past?

To find out whether you can be different, whether society can be run differently, back to the good old days, or on with the newly developed. The latest.

To be distracted from worry by an every changing scene?

To escape the city and live close to nature?

To learn new skills?

My trip hiking in Europe with Java Lava expats has just been cancelled, in April 2021, for the second year running.

Airlines have successfully attracted people to pay for trips to nowhere. Or sitting in first class and eating first class food which they could never afford on a real flight.

Planes are being scrapped. By the time we get to fly again, planes could be redesigned.

New Deigns

The latest developments are completely new designs for aircraft. One idea is playrooms for children. Hurray - keep theme away. Another is an office type setup where you can sit like those in business class at a desk like an open plan office. Another idea is for gyms.

What about the majority of us in us in economy class? Fold-up camp beds for us plebs. New folding wings around our heads for easier sleeping upright.

I looked at the new Oscars for aircraft interior design, the Crystal Awards. The commentators in the public comments kept saying, never mind all this fancy stuff in first class, what about us in economy, what about seat width and leg width!

Wider middle seats and narrower outside seats.

What about the cost of all this? And social distancing? And new concerns about the environment?

Save water. Costs the customer nothing. Great idea.

Water from wash basins can be used to flush toilets. Saves weight on the aircraft. Environmentally friendly. Good news for airline costs, and maybe charges to passengers. Will they be able to fly with spaced apart socially distanced seats and still make money?

I like the ceiling lights.

 

Instant beds for everybody.

Looks much more spacious and comfortable.

If you are not going anywhere, you can use up your Krisflyer airmiles buying yourself gifts from the Krisflyer giftshop. Such as a Brother sewing machine with auto threading and a four step buttonhole.

Useful Websites

https://www.dailymail.co.uk/travel/travel_news/article-9461583/Winning-innovations-2021-Crystal-Cabin-Awards-coffee-shop-style-cabin-bunk-beds.html

https://www.crystal-cabin-award.com/finalists-winners/finalists-2020.html

https://www.aircraftinteriorsinternational.com/features/2020-2021-crystal-cabin-awards-the-winners.html

https://en.wikivoyage.org/wiki/Aircraft_seating#Q84306784

https://www.krisshop.com/en/product/ca32931077202af4/brother-ja1450nt-sewing-machine.html

About the Author

Angela Lansbury is a British author who has lived in the USA, Spain and Singapore. Her 20 books include Wedding Speeches & Toasts, and Quick Quotations.

She has lived in the USA, Spain and Singapore. She is a travel writer and photographer.

Angela Lansbury is a teacher of English (advanced and English as a Second Language or English as a Foreign Language, French and other languages, aspiring polyglot.

Angela Lansbury is also a speaker. Member of many toastmasters -  speaker training clubs - and a speaking contest judge. Next contest Division S contest on May 1st 2021, morning Singapore time.

She is VP PR for Braddell Heights Advanced toastmasters club which meets online the first Wednesday evening of the month at 7 pm Singapore time (GMT+8); then the third Saturday afternoon at 2 pm Singapore time. Please come along. Open to Toastmasters and guests. In April and possibly longer BHA will be on bha/learncool.sg

Next meetings are Saturday April 17th, Thomas Chen, International Speaker,  

Wed May 5th, 2-5, Garan Tee on Using Story Telling at Work

Sat May 15th afternoon 2-5, Wed June 2nd 7-10 and Sat June 19th 2-5.

 On Wednesday May 5th 2021 BHA meeting is a workshop on using short stories in the workplace, by Garan Tee. 

On bha.learncool.sg which has served us well for some time. However, it is possible that meetings next month will move to Google meet or another service.

She  has several blogs and writes daily on at least two of the following:

travelwithangelalansbury.blogspot.com

dressofthedayangela.blogspot.com

translateforfun.blogspot.com

Please share links to your favourite posts.