Stupid flying questions...

[spindoctors]

Okay, obviously we don't fly much.

We are a family of five and I am getting ready to book our flight for Sept. Those of you w/families, do you usually sit across the aisle from each other or one row behind the other? Do you leave the middle seat empty on the row with two people hoping it will stay empty? Do we want to be in the middle or back of the plane?

Sorry!

 

[cbrfan]

We sit across one row. I find it keeps the little ones from wanting to stand up peek over the seat at the other family members.

 

[pixiedust_in_ak]

We are also a family of 5 that flies frequently. I typically put us five across leaving the window on one side open. Almost every flight we've been on lately has been fully booked or even overbooked, so I'd rather ensure we are all together. I usually put on parent on either side of the aisle.

 

[fleeflicker]

we sit across from each other

 

[RoyalCanadian]

The middle of the cabin is usually much calmer during turbulence and can be quieter than the rear of the cabin.

 

[don8life]

We fly as 5 sometimes 6 when hubby comes. You want to sit as close to the front as possible. it is such a pain in the a@# getting off the plane from the back.(long wait) It really irks me how some people have no flying manners. It is typical to wait for the rows ahead of you empty but some times you get those losers who push past everyone.

Anyway, I like to sit with the older kids in front of me. This way nobody gives my 5 yr dirty looks. People can be incredibly rude to children just becasue the people are crotchity. More often then not people are nice but every now and then you get old people who just hate kids. One man actually shouted across a plane for a mom to smack her infant and make it shut up. When my 5 yr old woke up I said extremely loud to my husband if the nasty old man in front of us makes one comment about my child, it will be the last comment he makes!LOL! So I like to be surrounded by my family.

 

[Jestocost]

There are many different plane configurations: 3&3 (737, 757, Airbus), 2&3 (MD-80), 2&2 (CRJ and some ERJ) and 2&1 (ERJ), so it would depend on what airline you are flying and on what type of plane, to an extent. If you're flying SWA, you won't even have seat assignments and will have to deal with it all when you board.

An MD-80, which American still flies a lot of, would be perfect, IMO, since a row is five seats across. With five in an 3&3 configuration, I'd do three on one side of the aisle and the aisle/middle on the other. I just don't want to deal with even the minor hassle of negotiating a seat switch if someone does get the middle seat. And I'd advise you not to try the middle seat trick when boarding a full or mostly full Southwest flight.

The back of the plane, on MD-80s especially, is my least favorite place to be. It can be very noisy (MD-80 engines are back there, not under the wings) and it takes forever to get off of the plane. On the other hand, it does tend to fill up last and you may have a better chance of getting an empty middle seat back there. The one thing to consider about the middle of the plane is that children can't be seated in exit rows, which generally are over the wings. A final consideration is if you want a power source for a DVD player, computer, etc. they tend to be more prevalent in the front of the plane and get fewer and further between the more you move toward the back. Some planes don't even have them at all, so this point may be moot in your case.

A great resource to look at all the aspects of seating is www.seatguru.com.. Pick your airline and the plane you're flying and they give your great info.

 

[BellePrincessBelle]

We fly as 6 and we do 3 & 3 one behind the other or 2,2,2 one behind with my son always behind one of my girls since he's a seat kicker.

 

[Detailor]

When we were a younger family of five and our two older daughters were at home we almost always sat across one row. Now that they have graduated college and live away, we're either a family of three (three in a row), a family of three with a friend for our youngest daugther (two and two), a family of six with the older girls and one son-in-law (six in a row or two sets of three), or an unruly group of seven if all three daughters, one SIL and a stray boyfriend are all along for the trip (then it's three in a row and everybody else is on their own).
And we always seem to be on a full plane so leaving a gap seat would never work for us.

Dick Taylor

 

[shafke]

We are 4 people... we take 3 seats on one side and then the aisle on the other only because I hate sitting in the middle seat. If we flew on a plane that had one side with 2 seats then we would sit one row behind the other. I would never leave a middle seat open in the hopes it is not used since most flights will be fully booked.