by Karen Yvonne

Created on: October 04, 2008

Anytime you walk onto a plane, you give up a lot of control over what happens to you until you walk out of it at the other end of the flight. You can make your air travel experience better by selecting a seat that meets your needs for the flight you are about to take.

Meeting your needs may seem like a funny expression when all you think you want is a seat on the plane, but there are some things you should know about so you get the best seat possible, considering:

o Your size. Larger people would be more comfortable in an aisle seat in a row that provides additional leg room or space, such as a bulkhead or exit row. Taller people generally need more legroom and would also be more comfortable in an exit row or bulkhead row.

o Your plans. If you are going to sleep during the flight, you may want to consider a window seat, as it provides a "wall" to lean against, as opposed to falling asleep and landing on the shoulder of the person sitting next to you. If you are going to read, nearly any seat will work, however, on a flight that shows a movie you may want to be as far from proximity to the screen as possible because lighting for the movie is best with shades closed and reading lights off.

o How quickly you need to disembark when the plane reaches its destination. If you are connecting to another flight and have a very short amount of time to get to your next gate, you will want to be close to the front of the plane so you can deplane as quickly as possible and make your connecting flight. (Yes, people DO miss flights because they were at the back of the plane and did not make it to their next gate on time. Airlines don't necessarily wait for you even though they know your flight has landed.)

o Proximity to the restrooms. If you know you are apt to use the restrooms frequently, you would be better off with an aisle seat closer to the restrooms. However, the closer you are to the restrooms the more likely you will be bumped into or have people grab hold of your seat to get their balance.

o Whether you will need to get to your stored bag(s) during the flight. If you need to be in and out of a stored bag, you will either want to put it under the seat in front of you, so don't choose a bulkhead row, or you should choose an aisle seat so as not to disturb other passengers.

o Whether you want to be able to see the view outside as you are in flight. If you want to see what is happening, you will need a window seat.

o Whether you want to be disturbed during the flight or not.

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