I've run into a situation I have been fortunate not to face before on F9. I'm on a flight where the "best" seat are two middle exit row sets in 12B and 12B. This is the smallest plane F9 uses that doesn't have multiple exit rows. Its for PHL-LAS. I was doing online check-in but I've been debating if I should take the middle exit row or just take a regular seat in the Window or Aisle.

I'm just curious what others would do. I'm 5'7" so the extra leg room isn't critical. I always prefer windows b/c I can look out the window and I can lean against the side of the aircraft. Aisle is okay but it bothers me that the cart or people keep bothering me.

I guess I'm going to think about it more before checking in. I hope to hear other's feelings on this choice. It probably wouldn't be such a big deal for me if it were a shorter flight but this is scheduled a 5hrs20m according to flight aware. .

middles are horrible, even with exit row

I have changed my travel dates, added connections, or avoided Frontier if I couldn't book a premium window seat. (beggars CAN be choosers--I even have the GoWild pass)

Several friends agree that Frontier needs more premium seating.

I settled for a stretch aisle seat on my usual redeye transcon, and even that has me cursing never again. Just could not get comfortable or sleep. Wasn't at all productive upon arrival and had to go right to sleep.

I don't care how much more room the exit row has, I personally would never choose a middle seat under any circumstances, given the situation you described. I am the same height as you FWIW. While I am absolutely an aisle guy, I would take a regular window over the exit row middle in this case. Over 5 hours is a long time to be stuck between 2 people in my opinion..

Let us know what you decide.

I keep my procrastinating checking in which means the exit rows might be gone by the time I decide. I text two friends that fly often and they had the opposite view that they would rather have the exit middle row (and of them is about my height).

One benefit of the exit row that I just thought of is that if there are empty rows near me, flight attendant would probably let me downgrade to those seats where I couldn't switch to middle exit row bc that's an "upgrade."


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You are right, you could "downgrade" to regular seating if there's an empty row. The only things is, what happens if the flight's full or almost full? From personal experience, there have very few empty seats on my recent Frontier flights.

I guess I just have a hard time reconciling the idea of being one of the very few Elites on Frontier and ending up in a middle seat for 5 hours.

Should you choose this strategy, good luck!

I waited until 2am and decided to check before I went to bed. I think I probably would have procrastinated till I got up unless my ORD-PHL flight was also running out of exit row room.

Somehow, the window exit row next to one of the middle exit row seats I was considering opened up since I last checked it. It was a no brainer to snag that and complete my online check-in.

I would absolutely choose a regular aisle seat (I'm an aisle guy) over the middle exit row. The worst part of flying for me is being squished up against other people. I'm 6 feet tall, and the legroom in a regular seat is acceptable. My biggest problem with a regular seat is that it's hard to use my laptop, which is my main activity while flying.

I had a similar choice to make for a four-hour flight from MCO to Guadalajara. I chose the regular row.

I manage on Frontier's thinly padded seats.

I will say that last year, I had to fly United twice and I hadn't been on any non F9 or NK flights before that since 2017. It amazes me how much more comfortable the E- seat was on the flights compared to the standard F9 seat. Even though the F9 premium seats have more leg room, they are still less comfortable than the E- UA seats bc of the thin padding.

The free soda and snack on UA was a bonus bc I'm so used to not having anything on F9 as I refuse to pay for extras.