A tour of the secret rooms for flight attendants and pilots to take a nap during long flights. How to choose a seat on an airplane: tips and diagrams The safest seats on an airplane

The flight, regardless of whether it lasts long or not, is tiring in itself, and even harmful. Therefore, if there is an opportunity to create at least some additional comfort for yourself, you need to take advantage of it. And one of these important nuances is choosing the best seat on the plane.

First, you need to realize that the ideal seat on an airplane simply does not exist. You need to choose it individually for yourself, based on your needs, which is what I will talk about in this article now. So, for example, I like to sit near the engine at the window, where, in fact, the noisiest place is, it’s dangerous and the view is blocked by half of the wing. But this is due to my first flight and habit. Therefore, let's look at the root of the problem: how to choose a seat on a plane based on your personal needs?

Airplane seat classes

So, if you start like this, roughly dividing all the seats on the plane, then initially they can be divided into economy class, business class and first class seats.

Economy class seats are the cheapest class of seats on the plane, which is mainly used by travelers (although, why not, the President of Lithuania also flies in economy class and nothing). This is the base rate. As a rule, these are three rows of seats (two rows for narrow-body aircraft) with three seats in each row. Legroom is minimal. The comfort is about the same as in a minibus: nothing superfluous, you are simply taken from point A to point B.
Business class seats are seats separated by curtains from economy class. There is a little more legroom, plus there are fewer seats (2 chairs per row). In addition, the ticket price includes a la carte meals and free alcoholic drinks. However, at the same time, prices are about 5 times higher than economy class, and you won’t notice much of a difference, especially on flights of a couple of hours. For that matter, meals can be purchased separately in economy class, the difference will be only 10 - 20 bucks.
First class seats are an alternative to business class on intercontinental flights. Prices are 10 times higher than business class. For this, you will be able to check in on board faster, get a high class of service and luxurious seats (for example, on some planes the seat converts into a sofa, that is, full-fledged lying down seats! Is it worth it? Here everyone thinks for themselves, but this is clearly not a topic for our blog, we are discussing here how to travel cheaply and beautifully :)

Therefore, most likely, for a budget tourist, the choice is economy class, except in cases where it is a free upgrade in the form of a bonus, like, .

Choosing a seat on the plane

So, like I said, the best places are the ones that are personal. And you must decide on one. Often these questions are asked before your first flight. I also scoured the entire Internet for information about which place to choose. Then, over time, you will find your ideal option, in which you will feel comfortable, and in the future you will try to take a seat on the plane for yourself. In the meantime, let’s look at the most common needs when choosing places.

The safest seats on a plane

In general, the concept of safe or dangerous places on an airplane is quite vague. This is how you look at it. After all, you need to understand that there is no chance of surviving a plane falling from a height, no matter where the passenger is sitting. But the largest number of accidents often occurs during takeoff/landing, as a result of mistakes by pilots or airport staff, due to poor coverage and condition of the runway or other factors. In this case, you can be saved. But again, how can you say where it will be safer? After all, the plane can crash its nose into a fence, or it can catch trees with its tail. The engine may explode, or the landing gear may lock up.

I'm not telling you this to scare you. But just to show you, there is no safest place. However, you can choose a place near the emergency exit. This is, in most cases, still safer. But the main thing is still your psychological conviction that there is the safest place on the plane. You can find out what seat will be near the emergency exit on a particular plane from the seat layout diagrams, which we will discuss below.

The most comfortable seats on the plane

The best and most comfortable seats are usually considered to be those in the first row. There will be no other passengers in front of you, which means you can comfortably stretch your legs, which will make them less numb. This is especially true for people with my height (which is 189 centimeters). Although, I must admit, for two hours in the middle rows you don’t suffer much. In addition, in this part the plane does not shake as much when entering the turbulence zone and is closer to the flight attendants. But it's a long way to go to the toilet. And be prepared for the fact that there will be babies and small children nearby, because such places are usually intended for them. Not everyone will be happy with such a neighborhood.

Seats for children and infants on planes

Children must fly either in a special seat belt with their parents (infants) or in a separate seat (children over a certain age, depending on the airline's rules). There are no special seats for such passengers, especially since infants are often carried free of charge. On the other hand, it is recommended to buy the very first row. There is more space, and sometimes there are special places to feed your babies formula. In addition, there they will disturb fewer people, while they will not recline the back of the seat in front of the person sitting.

Seats at the back of the plane

Since when falling from a great height, the plane falls nose first, the clearances cover the tail section least of all. This was the reason for placing the “black box” in the tail of the plane, and this also led to the opinion that this is the safest place. As I already said, this is more of a psychology of self-hypnosis, but it also has its advantages: as a rule, on not very popular flights, there are much fewer passengers who will bother you. The same applies to passengers with children - as a rule, you won’t see them here unless it’s a charter somewhere to places of mass Russian tourism in the high season.

Sleeping places on the plane

Sleeping berths are found in first class on flights of companies such as, for example, Emirates on long flights. I haven’t met it, and I’ve only seen it in pictures and photos of other travelers. Somehow, it’s not even interesting.

Standing places on the plane

Fiction, circulated by the yellow press 😉 Naturally, safety standards prohibit such nonsense, and it has no basis. But the yellow press needs some kind of PR, just like unsuccessful Internet projects, so from time to time they issue similar pearls that, supposedly, standing places will appear soon.

Bad seats on the plane

In my opinion, the worst are the seats in the tail near the toilet, right above the wing, where you can’t see anything, and of course the seats in the row in front of the emergency exit, where the seats don’t recline.

Location (diagrams) of seats on the plane

And now, it seems, you have already decided where and what kind of place you want. But before you start choosing a seat via the Internet or at the reception (if you are one of the first to arrive there, as a rule, they do not mind giving you good seats. So, in Sarajevo, where there was no online registration, they gave me great place, and they closed registration for the seat next to it, so I flew like a king =)), you need to find out what seat, number and row you need. For this purpose there are diagrams of aircraft of various models.

As a rule, the seat arrangement on planes of different airlines does not differ. that is, the location of Transaero and Aeroflot seats on identical aircraft models will be the same, unless this is an individual order of the company (as, for example, with sleeping seats).

Where to find out how seats are located on the plane

There is such a wonderful service called Seat Guru. It contains diagrams of a huge number of aircraft on different flights with reviews from passengers. The downside is that I didn’t find some large low-cost companies in the database. But you can find diagrams from other airlines for the same aircraft model. The only difference will be in the reviews. But which places are near the partition, which are near the porthole, where the wings will block your view - you will find out quite accurately.

For example, below is a diagram of an Airbus 320 from Aeroflot:

And here is a seat diagram for a Boeing 777 and a Boeing 737.

Very soon you will find out which places are right for you, and, if possible, you will book them. Unfortunately, on some low-cost airlines, like WizzAir, you cannot select a seat in advance, so be prepared to fly in any seat.

From my experience, I can give the following advice:

Try to choose and reserve seats on the airline’s website yourself. My blog has instructions on some of them, for example: .
If you do not have a reserved seat, then try to be among the first at the check-in counter, and ask: to give you a good seat and, if the flight is not very popular, to leave the seat next to you empty. As a rule, the people who work at check-in are the same people as you, who understand that you want to fly in comfort. Therefore, such requests, made with a sweet smile and the right degree of warmth in the voice, as a rule, guarantee you a good place.
When flying on low-cost airlines where seats are not reserved for free, never fly ahead of the crowd. Firstly, because you will be taken to the plane by bus, where, if you go down last, you will also enter last, which means you will get off first, and you will not be pressed against the back wall. Secondly, if there are a lot of people on the flight, you can board last.
And again, low-cost. If you see that the flight is going to be full, stand on the field until the last minute, until you are herded onto the plane. Your task is to be the last one to enter. The reason is simple: companies often sell slightly more seats than are available, since about 90% of passengers are on the flight. Someone's plans change, another's trip is canceled, and a third will be late... The calculation is simple: if there are not enough seats, then those who did not have enough will go... either in seats of increased comfort (like WizzAir with extra legroom), or in general in business class.
When flying on flights crowded with Russian tourists who are not very intelligent, as you sit down, drop a few words in English. Very often I was asked to sit next to the emergency exit, so that in case of an emergency I could react to the command and open the exit. In this row, many low-cost airlines have a row of increased comfort with extra legroom. However, this applies mainly to physically strong men who, in an extreme situation, will not faint and will be able to open the hatch and help in the evacuation. Also keep in mind that you cannot place hand luggage under your feet in this row; sometimes the seats do not recline.
Choose the shadow side. That is, so that the sun does not shine through the porthole. This will allow you to take photographs and simply observe from the window what is happening below. Since 99% of flights are carried out along the same route, then with the help of my instructions on how to find out where, how and when you fly on an airplane, after spending 5 minutes of time, you will quickly find out where the sunny side is and where the shadow side is will be located during your flight.

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Even if you have never flown long distances, you don’t need to have extreme imagination to imagine how terrible long-hour flights are. If you don't have a business class ticket, then most likely you will have to huddle in a tiny seat for the entire flight, surrounded by the same poor souls as you. Finding ourselves in such a situation, we only think about how bad and uncomfortable we are, and what about the crew of the plane, because they are in almost the same conditions as you.

As it turns out, many of the commercial jets, such as the Boeing 777 and 787, have secret crew rooms on board where flight attendants and pilots can relax during long flights.

Many Boeing 777 and 787 aircraft have a hidden spiral staircase leading to a small room located above the passenger cabin, where they can take a break from the endless walking back and forth and requests from passengers

This is what the spiral staircase looks like

Don't think you can climb the stairs while pretending to look for the toilet. These staircases are hidden behind a door that in most cases doesn't even look like a door, and usually requires either a key or a passcode to open them

Some planes, such as the Boeing 773, have hatches in their luggage storage areas that lead to secret rooms. In this case, a spiral staircase is not required

This is what a secret room looks like on board a Boeing 787, which usually contains 7-8 beds

The secret room of the Boeing 777 contains 6-10 bunks and space for storing personal belongings

If you are a pilot, then things are even better for you. Pilots have multiple berths in business class, which some airlines also include wardrobes, a sink and a toilet in.

Pilot beds on board the Boeing 777

In airlines, a rule that sounds like “one pilot per berth” is strictly observed, i.e. while one pilot is sleeping or just resting, the other must be at the controls at this time

The bunks are equipped with lamps, hooks, mirrors, pillows, blankets and even pajamas

Some of them even have entertainment systems. Typically this applies to secret rooms on Boeing 787 aircraft.

The secret rooms of the Boeing 773 have low ceilings and private bunks with curtains, reminiscent of seats in a reserved seat carriage.

Sleeping accommodations for the crew on an Airbus A380 aircraft of a Malaysian airline

Suites for pilots on the same plane look much nicer

During long flights, you don’t have to worry about the crew. You'd better be worried about the little rascal sitting behind you who loves to kick the chairs in front of him.

The aircraft manufacturing concern Airbus and the Zodiac Aerospace studio have announced a revolutionary new product. Sleeping boxes will be available on planes for economy class passengers. They will be located on the lower deck of the aircraft, where cargo and passengers' suitcases are currently flying. The iz.ru portal figured out when it will be possible to stretch your legs during a long flight.

Boxes with beds

The concept of modules with passenger berths was presented recently in Hamburg at the specialized exhibition Aircraft Interiors Expo 2018. This is the world's largest platform where the airline industry presents everything that awaits us on airplanes in the distant and not very distant future.

What is the essence of the new product presented by Airbus and Zodiac Aerospace? If the fuselage of a passenger aircraft is divided in half, then in the upper part there is a passenger compartment, and in the lower part there is a cargo compartment. Cargo - and this can be anything from Russian Post parcels to gold bars - is transported in special containers. It is these that the authors of the idea propose to convert into boxes for sleeping.

Source: Reuters

Boxes with beds

Cargo - and this can be anything from Russian Post parcels to gold bars - is transported in special containers. It is these that the authors of the idea propose to convert into boxes for sleeping.

Judging by the photo that was published on the Zodiac Aerospace website, the berths will be an upgraded reserved seat carriage of Russian Railways. The passenger descends from the passenger compartment to the lower deck, finds an empty seat, lies down on the bed, closes himself from everyone with a curtain and rests.

A video reconstruction of the new boxes was posted on Twitter by the Safran Group, which owns Zodiac Aerospace.

At the same time, the modules are made in such a way that airlines themselves can decide how many of them to install on board. If necessary, the entire compartment can be occupied by cargo containers, and the plane will set off on a flight without sleeping places, or vice versa.

Moreover, the new system will not require re-equipping the airliners - containers with beds can be loaded not only into new, but also into existing aircraft.

Jeff Pinner, head of the Airbus Cabin & Cargo Program, said its joint development with Zodiac Aerospace is a "new approach to passenger comfort." According to him, the aircraft manufacturing concern has already discussed the new product with some airline representatives, and many of them have expressed interest in installing such containers.

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One of them, for example, is the Australian airline Qantas. Its chief executive, Alan Joyce, told Bloomberg that the carrier is constantly looking for ways to make its ultra-long-haul flights “more tolerable” for passengers.

In March 2018, Qantas launched the first non-stop flight between Australia and the UK: Perth-London. The plane remains in the air for more than 17 hours. According to Joyce, this flight is the first contender for a four-class cabin layout - first class, business, economy and sleeper pods.

Bedroom story

The beds in modern passenger airliners can now surprise only those who see the plane for the first time. Almost all major airlines have business class seats that convert into full-size beds.

By the way, world civil aviation actually began with sleepers. For example, in the 30s of the last century, a flight from London to Singapore lasted eight days and involved more than 15 intermediate stops. Try to sit in a chair the whole time.

In the 50s, the Boeing 377 Stratocruiser model was used for long-distance flights, and it also had sleepers. In the 60s, when the era of jet airliners began, cabins were divided into classes, but beds could still be found in the Boeing 707, and even in the Soviet Tu-104 and Tu-114. Aeroflot used these aircraft, as a rule, on foreign flights. For example, the Tu-114 had separate three-bed compartments, and passengers were given pillows and blankets.

In the 70s, the so-called “golden age of aviation” ended, and flying gradually began to become commonplace. Airlines began to think about reducing costs, and aircraft manufacturing concerns began to think about how to fit more people into the cabin. Beds have disappeared from passenger airliners.

Now almost anyone can afford to buy an economy class ticket, but since the 70s, nothing fundamentally new has been introduced for economy passengers.

There are airlines where first or business class passengers can use the shower or sit at the bar. All recent developments have mainly concerned premium class passengers. The economy passenger hasn't received anything new for many years. All he gets is a chair and a monitor mounted in the back, and sometimes the Internet. Therefore, the idea with sleeping boxes is really interesting, even breakthrough. And it’s not as utopian as, for example, airplanes with glass floors or something similar,” Alexey Sinitsky, editor-in-chief of the specialized publication “Aviatransport Review,” told the iz.ru portal.

By the way, the idea of converting sleeping accommodations on the lower deck is not new. For example, the same Airbus A340-600 models have special rest rooms for crew members. They are reminiscent of the capsule hotels that now exist in many airports around the world. The same compartments are found in some Boeing 777 models.

Alexey Sinitsky is sure that sleeping places will not be available for the entire flight.

It will be quite problematic to quickly evacuate from such boxes, so at the time of takeoff and landing, all passengers will most likely be in their seats. But when the plane is at the level, you can go down and rest,” he suggested.

And of course, there are not enough sleeping places for all passengers. For example, the same A330 can accommodate more than 300 people - it is impossible to accommodate beds for everyone. Therefore, passengers will either have to buy a ticket for sleeping seats when booking a regular ticket, or flight attendants will be able to sell these seats during the flight.

I think many will agree that on a 12-13 hour flight they will have the opportunity to lie down for a couple of hours and stretch their legs,” Sinitsky is sure.

Airplane seat classes

So, if you start like this, roughly dividing all the seats on the plane, then initially they can be divided into economy class, business class and first class seats.

Economy class seats are the cheapest class of seats on the plane, which is mainly used by travelers (although, why not, the President of Lithuania also flies in economy class and nothing). This is the base rate. As a rule, these are three rows of seats (two rows for narrow-body aircraft) with three seats in each row. Legroom is minimal. The comfort is about the same as in a minibus: nothing superfluous, you are simply taken from point A to point B.
Business class seats are seats separated by curtains from economy class. There is a little more legroom, plus there are fewer seats (2 chairs per row). In addition, the ticket price includes a la carte meals and free alcoholic drinks. However, at the same time, prices are about 5 times higher than economy class, and you won’t notice much of a difference, especially on flights of a couple of hours. For that matter, meals can be purchased separately in economy class, the difference will be only 10 - 20 bucks.
First class seats are an alternative to business class on intercontinental flights. Prices are 10 times higher than business class. For this, you will quickly check in on board, get a high class of service and luxurious seats (for example, on some planes the seat converts into a sofa, that is, full-fledged lying seats! Is it worth it? Here everyone thinks for themselves, but this is clearly not a topic for our blog, we are discussing here how to travel cheaply and beautifully :)

Therefore, most likely, for a budget tourist, the choice is economy class, except in cases where it is a free upgrade in the form of a bonus, as, for example, with UIA.