Those of you who have decided to take a short flight to avoid the bitterly cold winter months may not give much thought to the seats you will be assigned on the aircraft.
You may be misled into believing that seats A and F will be your greatest option for getting to your destination if you desire a window seat on a budget airline’s workhorse, the 737.
On many flights, however, there is one seat—the dreaded seat 11A—that is considered to be the worst to book.
Prepare to be tortured if you manage to reserve this specific seat on the airplane, as your window seat gives you a view of the whole interior of the aircraft.
Source: Freepik
When booking a seat on an airplane, you are given the aisle seat if you want to squish into the additional space, the center seat if you want to utilize both armrests, and the window seat if you want to gaze out of the window. This is a clear violation of the social compact.
The terrible 11A, on the other hand, offers you all the drawbacks of the window seat, such as only one legitimate armrest and no aisle for you to spread your legs in, but none of the advantages of being able to look out at the skyline as you soar above it.
The fact that the person in seat F on the opposite side of row 11 has a window that is perfectly positioned for them to advantage of makes it even more offensive. From 11A, your best view may be to simply look straight down the row and out of that far-off porthole.
It’s not quite the blank wall that 11A would provide, but to be honest, the poor people in 12A and 12F don’t seem to have a wonderful look outside either.
You can visit a website like AeroLOPA, which features floorplans of almost every airline’s aircraft, to obtain a preview of the kind of view you would enjoy from your window seat on the aircraft.
You can see what kind of window view you might be in for and how much legroom you receive.
Strangely enough, a 737’s slightly asymmetrical design allows you to enjoy a little more legroom if you sit in seats D, E, or F on the right side of the aircraft.
It’s not much, but “every little helps,” as one particular farmer likes to say.
Some seats, on the other hand, provide you amazing amounts of leg room because they are near the emergency exits or because there is nothing in front of them.