Hi,
We’re joining a group trip to Umbria, Italy this July. Flights are booked on American Airlines - right now we have two middle seats in the center row that has four seats. There are no window or aisle seats left unless we pay an upgrade of $75 per seat. It’s a direct, overnight flight. What would you do - just go with it or pay the $$ and change seats.
If we changed we could move to either a window and middle of a 3 seat row or an aside and middle of a 3 seat row in the center group of 3 seats.
Where are you leaving from? East Coast or West Coast? If you change to window and middle, you still have to crawl over someone to get out…and if you change to aisle and middle, someone has to crawl over you to get out. Not sure if you are gaining much by switching…unless you would be like my H, who HAS to have an aisle. I’d take which ever is closer to the front of plane…
AA doesn’t fly direct to FCO from the West Coast; the furthest west is ORD.
In the grand scheme of things, I would pay for the upgrade. Personally, I would go for the aisle/middle. While some like the window because they can lean their head against the wall, I hate crawling over people to go to the lav. Enjoy your trip.
The flight is from JFK, New York to FCO, Rome. It leaves at 5 pm at night and arrives at 7 am the next morning.
I agree about climbing over people to get to the bathrooms - not my favorite part. We’re both on the taller side too -
I’d rather have an aisle or window than sit next to my companion, and would pay for both people to get an aisle or window seat (based on personal preference).
If you do upgrade (I probably wouldn’t unless the money were irrelevant to me) you should go for the aisle. While you cannot generally sit there with your legs in the aisle, you can at least stretch them occasionally. Otherwise, you are cramped in position for hours on end and it can be excruciating, especially if you are taller.
My husband I both take aisle seats usually one row apart. We have been married over 30 years I don’t need to seat next to him on a long flight. I choose comfort.
I’m also all for the aisle. Better to move a few feet, if someone needs out, than to be stuck. $75 would be worth it to me. I just started paying for the upgrades (my options were reasonably priced) and am sold on it. In my case on AA, more leg room. I also got into the class between business and economy. Boarded before the hordes, too.
I have found SeatGuru to be very helpful in evaluating seats on a flight. I almost flew from San Francisco to Amsterdam in a non-reclining seat, but fortunately checked the website and changed my seat in time.
Right now we are in the center section of the plane - there are 3 seats on the left, aisle, 4 seats in the center, aisle, and three seats on the right. Our current seats are the two center seats in the center section. We are in the middle of two aisle seats. The $75 bump would move us to an aisle or window but it would not move us up a class. We checked seatguru and it helped some but its pretty general info.
Boy, I remember when those center seats were never full and we could stretch across all 5 and sleep. No more.
What some of us are saying is that sitting on the aisle (except when you get a bulkhead or emergency exit placement, where there’s more leg room and you can slide out of your seat more easily,) is the way we like to go. It’s just easier. There’s basically nothing to see out the window for most of the trip, especially overnight.
Afaik, the traditional 777 is 2, 5, 2. If yours is 3, 4, 3 (some newer models,) they’ve added one more seat to the configuration. Something had to give and it’s usually your own room. Is the question about your own comfort or whether the extra is worth paying, in general? Do you travel easily, usually sleep for hours, or get antsy? I’ve sat on inside seats and been fine- this really depends on who’s next to you, some nice person who doesn’t mind getting up for you, or the seat mate from hell.
I would definitely pay the $75, however, you just have to pay that for one seat, right, if the other seat is in the center? I always go with an exit row, however, when I looked at the seat plan for this airplane on Seatguru, it looked like the only exit rows were the ones in the front, right behind the bathroom. I like the seats in the very front of coach, because of all the extra legroom, but not if they’re right by the bathroom. I might consider getting an aisle and a window in the same row, if the center seat is empty, and hope that nobody sits there.
Doesn’t seem like there are a lot of really good options here. What would it cost to move further up, to the section that has the 3/3/3 configuration, or in particular the Main Cabin Extra? I always fly Delta and get free upgrades, however the one time I actually paid extra was for a long trip overseas, for my kids. But Delta’s economy comfort is very nice, and worth the fee. I don’t know about American’s Main Cabin Extra seats.
I would pay more to get more leg rooms, not just for aisle or window. If you have a center in a center row, I wouldn’t pay 75 for an aisle or window without additional leg room. You would only need to clime over one person to go to the bathroom, so it is not that bad.
I just paid 450 to get upgraded from economy to business on Emirates, and that was worth every penny.
At United, you can buy a “economy plus subscription” for yourself or self + 1 or plus up to 8 to get upgraded to economy plus for flights within a geographic zone --continental US only or plus HI or all flights including international. One year, paid for a subscription so I + H + parents + sis and family could be upgraded HNL to Rapid City to MT to HNL. It was worth the $1000 or so and the subscription lasted an entire year. Check to see if that might be an alternative you are interested in and if AA offers it. (We rarely fly AA, so I’m not aware.)
How busy does the flight look based on seats booked? If there are a lot of unsold seats right now I might take my chances and hop on some empty seats once on the plane. if not, I’d consider booking one aisle for extra $75 and then book a middle seat 2 over and hope they don’t fill the seat between you two. If they do, you can just swap with the other passenger. If you are willing to book a seat towards the back of the plane, you stand a better chance of snagging more space.
We’ve been married nearly 30 years. We’d be ok with sitting apart but like to share food and the space to stash my medical equipment so have mostly sat together, which we are happy with. Our flights are usually 5-10+ hours so when someone goes to the bathroom, we tend to all go. I’m always seated by the window with my medical gear.
I’ve been spoiled and come to really like the extra inches in economy plus over standard economy. I hate when I drop something and can’t reach down and pick up the list item. By the time I reach the destination, no telling where the item will have rolled to! We’ve been fortunate and usually are upgraded free due to status.
