The rules of plane travel just changed.
We always thought shelling out an extra $5 to select your seat was the ultimate ‘optional extras’ luxury.
Boy oh boy were we wrong.
News.com.au have just released new information that has changed the in-flight game.
Author and pilot Patrick Smith spoke with the publication, sharing pilot tricks and tips for all commercial flights.
The most salient points? What pilots are like as passengers.
Smith admits he takes the window seat whenever he flies and says he’s not alone:
“Somebody with an enthusiasm or vested interest in flying is always going to take the window seat, because they enjoy having that constant reminder that you are in this remarkable machine in the air,” he explained.
He recommends the choice for non-pilots too.
“Flying over the Sahara Desert, seeing the icebergs in the north Atlantic, flying over the city of Istanbul, looking down at the pyramids, flying over the American West, seeing the northern lights …”
It’s not all pretty pictures though. Smith claims he and others should choose this seat for key insights into the damage we’re doing to the earth:
“Being able to look down for so long at so much of the planet, what I take away from it is how small the Earth really is, almost in a scary way that might serve as a warning,” Smith said. “A lot of the damage we are doing to the world is very visible from an aircraft.”
Finally, Smith tackled the topic of ‘backseat piloting’ and what pilots are like as passengers.
“It’s like flying as a passenger,” Smith reassured. “We don’t really do any back seat piloting; we’re so familiar with the training that goes into being a pilot that it is hard to get nervous.”
When it comes to seats with legroom though, you really can’t go behind those sitting on the main exit. You’ll have to sacrifice easy-reach stowage (it will have to go in the storage bins above) but lawdy is that stretch good.
Finally, the smoothiest rides go to those sitting right over the wing as according to Dr. Quay Snyder, president, CEO and co-founder of Aviation Medicine Advisory Service, the front and rear of the plane tend to bounce more than a seat over the wings.
When it all boils down, for some, as long as we don’t have the middle seat,we’re gold.
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Written by Ally Parker
Lead Image: Getty / Andrew Xu
