Rami Tamimi

Hi all,

I used to be very obsessed with getting seats at the first row available (of the cabin I am at),or the emergency exit row. At the end of 2014 I adopted a new strategy:I am now selecting seats in the last row,or the row before the last.

I am always told not to take these seats because:

On many longhaul a/c this is not the case:eg:CX 333/RJ 788 (are BA 788/789 the same?) and there are no toilets at the back and virtually zero traffic.

IB A319,All RJ a/c,most if not all CX a/c seats in the last row recline.On MH 738 I just take the row before the last,as on these frames last row does not recline indeed.
3-7 minutes for an average 321 in my experience.Again,on many airlines (S7/UL for instance) you can disembark from door L4 on 320/321 /L3 on 319
Not sure about BA,but on many airlines the food carts are rolled from both end of the aircraft and those at the last row will get served at the same time as those in the first row. This is more common on LH fleet than on SH though.

I have also noticed that I am much more likely to have a seat or even two seats empty at the back (on those airlines,such as BA that don't block seats for elites).

I also never had a problem with finding space for my hand baggage and I can take as much time as I need to sort out my stuff,as I am not blocking my way (try doing that when you boarded among the first using priority boarding and sitting towards the front. I can also recline as much as I wish without disturbing others.

I have been doing that for over a year now and it just feels more relaxed at the back of the cabin.I even tend to select the last row in J in rare cases I am ticketed to fly there. Am I alone in thinking this way?Check in/ boarding/ lounge agents always seem to be puzzled when I request these seats/they see these seats on my BP and based on the threads here people are really trying hard to secure a seat in the front of the cabin (by no means am I blaming them).

Regards
Rami

kanderson1965

If you have found a strategy that works for you then go for it.

V10

If it works for you, that's great. Too many negatives for me though:

- Proximity to the loos
- Passengers congregating around said loos waiting their turn
- Crew working in the galley and all the noise that entails
- Time taken to get off the aircraft unless you have one of those bonus events where they put the steps at the back
- Where boarding is not by seat row, boarding could also be longer
- Having an aircraft's worth of passengers ahead of you at immigration

For short haul in particular, being right at the back doesn't have an awful lot going for it.

Flexible preferences

Thank you. A very interesting perspective and food for thought.

One minor point, many years ago on an AA 777 I was in the penultimate last row. However I couldnt recline fully as it really inconvenienced the woman behind me as she could not recline and told me so. I could have insisted it was her problem but I am not like that ☺ So personally on such a flight I would go 2 rows from the back to avoid that situation.

headingwest

The thing that puts me off sitting right at the very back on longhaul is by the time the service reaches me it's usually the vegetable curry thingy. It may be economy but to have a choice is a nice!

Calum

You should see how many people are standing waiting for the loos at the back of the BA A380 at the '40 minutes to landing' for LHR-SIN/HKG

capin

The back row is very bumpy during turbulence.

bluemoon68

Lack of food choice and people congregating would put me off.

Mrs bluemoon also seems to think the air quality is poorer, though that may be an urban myth.

FlyingDentist

Seats at the back might be safer...

... to quote Billy Connolly, "when did you ever hear of a plane reversing into a mountain?"




*OK I know that the overwing rows are statistically very safe in the event of a crash, but that's not as funny.

chris1979

I often employ this strategy on 2 particular BA aircraft but it works so well for me that I'd rather we keep this a well kept secret than shout about it here. ;-)

BoeBus knows about this as he's been waiting to know why some of my pictures are clearly from behind the wing....

rpjs

On most l/h aircraft the last row or rows by the windows is only two instead of three seats, and there's usually a bit of space between the window and seat for dumping the blanket. I like window seats so I always try to get the window on the last row if I can when flying Y.

simons1

Interesting strategy - I use if travelling Y on EK when inbound to Gatwick. Mainly because I am heading straight home, makes little difference at immigration and the chances of the next seat being empty are higher.

The flip side is for some status types it would surely be a touch unseemly for ordinary mortals to be disembarking first.

capin

I think on some BA 777 routes, the last row is curtained of for crew rest.

crazy8534

Being last off the plane to immigration would be a killer for that idea for me: you can worry about arriving behind a jumbo full of passengers by bad luck but deliberately putting yourself at the back of a jumbo you are also on seems to be asking for trouble. Have spent too much of my life in immigration queues already, although e-passport readers both sides of the Atlantic are making this less of a problem I'll admit.

Also: I don't know the answer to this but in WT do they ask your meal choice if you have status and keep something aside for you / a bit like the galley ranking in CW? Or is it just "chicken or beef?" all the way down the plane?

Rami Tamimi

On CX they do (not always though),but I never had a problem on any airline to ask the crew to keep a particular meal choice for me (you don't have to have status for that,you can just ask nicely).I don't eat pork and they may run out of non-pork options before reaching me.

Re:immigration. Don't forget that if you are behind 400 pax on your flight,it does not mean that you will be behind 400 pax in queues for immigration. Some flights have large proportions of connecting pax.Some will go to counters that you will not/can not (eg:residents/foregeneirs/visa on arrival etc).Also fast track is often avaiable for status pax in Y (LHR/BKK/KUL).