Revealed: the most popular seat on a plane

Published Date

If you’re keen to avoid sitting next to your fellow passengers on a flight, you should head for the back of a plane and an odd row number, a new study has suggested.

Flight comparison site Skyscanner revealed the results of its poll of 1,000 travelers’ seat preferences this week, concluding that 6A is the most sought after seat on a standard aircraft.

Why? Well, it’s a window seat close to the front of the plane, as well as being on the left hand side, which the site says passengers prefer because the window spacing allows a section of wall space for them to rest their heads on.

That means that for the rest of us, there are plenty of other seats which will be less popular, with Skyscanner reporting that a whopping 45 percent of travelers said that the first six rows at the front were their favorite.

The back of the plane was much less popular, although seven percent admitted that they would choose the back-most row — perhaps in the knowledge that statistically, it’s the safest place to sit.

Well over half (62 percent) of travelers preferred an even rather than odd seat number, Skyscanner found.

The least popular seat, around which travelers are likely to find the most space, is on the right-hand side towards the back of the aircraft (31E, on Skyscanner’s plane).

Perhaps unsurprisingly, it’s a middle seat, unsurprisingly the least popular location to be seated, with 40 percent wanting an aisle seat and 60 percent preferring the window.

So, for the best chance of having the most space around you, sit towards the back, sit on the right and pick an even seat number — making sure, of course, that there’s noone in the row already.