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Airplane Seat Planning

By Kathleen Crislip, About.com

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Why Find Your Airplane Seat Before You Fly?

Airplane Interior - Airplane Seat - I'm Sitting Where?

I'm Sitting Where?

You've bought your airline ticket - next question: just where is your airplane seat? And why should you find out? Because airplane seats and seat locations can be very different... and a great seat makes airplane travel more fun, especially long haul flights.

When you make an airline reservation, a seat is assigned to you; you'll often have the option to choose your seat. Let's walk through airplane seat choices step by step.

Airplane seating choices are more varied than window or aisle. A window seat could be over a wing, for instance, but you won't necessarily know that until you're seated. A few things to consider when looking at your seat assignment:

    Where is my seat located? Am I at the front of the airplane? (Remember that streaking off the airplane before other passengers is really a negligible time-saver.)

    Will I sit near the lavatory / emergency exit?

    Does my seat have extra legroom?

    Can I fully recline my seat?

    Do I want to upgrade to first or business class? What are the differences in seats and services between first, business and coach class?

    Can I plug in my laptop at my seat?

    Will movies be shown? If so, can I plug in headphones at my seat and will my seat ticket pay for headphones? And hey - what *is* the movie, by the way?

SeatGuru.com helps you find your assigned seat and check out other seats on the same airplane. Let's find out how.

Go to the next step: Find Your Plane to Find Your Seat

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