maximizer

Picking seats for a couple of MD80 flights, I read on Seatguru that it gets really loud towards the back. How loud are the exit rows? Should I just pick a front row window and try to sleep there? While I like extra leg room, I can probably live without it for 3 hours...

Any other advice on seats is appreciated. Flying red-eye SFO-DFW, connecting to DFW-ORD.

P.S. I may become a true frequent flyer next year - EXP is a strong possibility. I'm salivating :-) Just have to justify (to myself) paying a big premium for AA vs. ATA...

Plato90s

It's not noticeably louder from row 21 to the bulkhead. I'd stick with the exit row.

Jace

Not loud at all... go for the exit.

JS

AA?

In general, regardless of airline , the noise level is inversely proportional to the square of the distance between you and the engine. The distance between the engines and the exit row is on the order of 10 times that of the last row ==> 1/100th of the highest noise level within the plane, using this simplistic model.

Note that on a 737, 757, etc., the noise level doesn't appreciably differ between just aft of the wing and way in the back of the plane, as wing-mounted engines are a good distance from the fuselage.

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"It's as easy as 1, 2, C" -- Kelly, Married With Children

Spiff

I sleep comfortably in 21D quite often. Go for it.

jeffreyt

It's my favorite row (seat 21D, actually), but I also don't have a problem with the noise since I use noise cancelling headphones.

d00t

md80s and 717 are heaps quiet in general.. most seats are OK

SAT Lawyer

On airplanes with rear-mounted engines such as the MD-80, it obviously gets louder as you move aft. While the exit row was a true bonanza in the days predating MRTC, now I find that the incremental increase in pitch does not justify the increase in noise provided that you can secure a seat near the front of the coach cabin. Especially for a red-eye where sleep is desired, I'd try to move forward. And regardless of where I was seated, I'd definitely bring some noise-canceling headphones and/or earplugs.

maximizer

I'm flying AA. In theory, AA pax may advise to sit up front because MRTC makes the exit row on MD80 not that different (in fact, that's what someone said), while on another airline everyone and their grandma would go for the exit row, even with a bit more noise. Or technologically superior, incredibly quiet engines could be installed. One just never knows what could be different!

JS

Au contraire -- MRTC forward of the exit row in an MD-80 does not provide that much additional leg room. The seats aft of the exit row have lots more legroom.

This was done because AA wanted to remove two rows of seats, and the position of the exit rows are fixed (unless you remove the exit rows entirely).

You have to choose between More Room and Less Noise Throughout Coach.

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"It's as easy as 1, 2, C" -- Kelly, Married With Children

FWAAA

In my experience, the noise increase from row 7 to row 21 is not that great, but exit row pitch in row 21 still puts MRTC to shame. If you are tall, sit in Row 21 (unless you are too fat to fit comfortably between the fixed armrests).

The noise level increases as you approach row 31, but row 26 is not too loud for me.

I generally don't like to sit in the back of MD-80s, but I've done it, especially when standing by for an earlier flight. And last year, on a mileage run gone bad, while standing by in JAX, I gleefully took seat 31F to DFW as it was the only open seat on the airplane and it enabled me to get back to LAX on a very crowded Sunday afternoon. My BOSE headphones made the flight bearable.

JS is right - MRTC is much more pronounced behind the overwing exits (same on F-100s). The opposite is true on 737s (and 757s for now) (MRTC is better ahead of the exits).

Aladinsane4miles

Ugh... MD-80's.

IMO, 21C or 21D are the best seats on the plane. The closer you are near the engines, the more noisy it is.

The F cabin is fairly quiet

tomofmaine

I'm 6'5" and did a 11/28 daytrip PWM-LGA-ORD-LAX and back... mercifully had exit rows on all flights including two MD-80 segments. Row 21 was great, even enough room for my looong legs and the noise was no problem at all.

SuperSlug

How noisy is Row 21?

Not very.

Of course, it all depends on how good the parents of the brat in row 22 are at keeping him quiet.

ElmhurstNick

I pretty much live in 21D.

If I can't get 20/21 B/D, I'll take anything back to about 25D. Rows 26-28 start to get loud, and 29-31 get me starting to think about putting my name on the upgrade list if I don't have my Sony NC-20s with me.