The Unexpected Reason Travelers Skip the Window Seat

What’s the most important thing about air travel to you? Which airline you’re flying? What time your flight departs? What airport you depart from? How about where you sit?

In my 30+ years of traveling through the skies, I spent a lot of time deciding which seat I wanted on each flight. The relative privacy of a window seat? The convenience of an aisle seat? The middle seat for… well, I’m not sure what benefits there are to the middle seat. That’s where our readers come in. We recently asked our Facebook followers where they preferred to sit on their flights, and some of the answers surprised us!

Going into this question, we anticipated the majority of readers preferring the window seat. To be fair, we did receive several responses in favor of sitting near the window. For example, reader George wrote, “I like the window. Not for the views. I have a tendency to lean right when sleeping on a plane. So I always try to book an ‘F’ seat.” Reader Danielle expressed a similar sentiment, writing, “I’m team window. Not necessarily for the views, but because if I’ve got an early morning flight, I can lean up against the wall and sleep.”

Reader Katherine gave a critical reason she always chooses the window, telling us, “I sit by the window. I generally don’t get out of my seat during the flight. I hate having to get up and move out of the way if someone needs to get past me.” Meanwhile, Rob offered a more romantic notion of why they always prefer the window, writing, “Ever since I was a little kid. When I went down to Disney last time, the screen on the seat in front of me had a map showing the plane’s flight path and I could look out the window and see the towns and rivers and everything so I knew what we were flying over. Highly entertaining for a nerd like me.”

However, we were surprised at the number of readers who responded that they actually avoid the window seat. Granted, reasons varied. For example, reader Deb’s reasons dealt with health. They shared, “Until I fractured my knee I was always a window girlie; now I need to stretch my leg so I’m a left side aisle girl.”

Meanwhile, reader Sherri’s reasoning for always sitting in the middle, forgoing both the window and even the aisle, had two with TWO generations of their family. They explained, ”I’m usually in the middle. Before my Mom passed, she would need the aisle seat to get up and move conveniently, so I took the middle. When I travel with my daughters, one absolutely wants the window and the other wants nowhere near it, so I’m still in the middle.” Now that’s love!

Meanwhile, reader Rebecca expressed the differences between their ideal seat choice vs the reality of travel. “They somewhat wistfully wrote, “I’m a window girl at heart who is typically an aisle or middle seat girl in practice.” Keep dreaming, Rebecca!

While seat preferences are flights are certainly a serious consideration during travel, it’s of course important to keep in mind that when it comes to vacation, the destination is more important than the journey. As reader Taylor put it, “As long as I’m on a plane to Disney World, you can put me with the luggage and I’ll be fine.”

Our readers recently had plenty of thoughts on where they like to sit when traveling by air. If you’re interested in sharing your thoughts on this, or any other Disney or travel-related topic, follow us on the AllEars Facebook to join in on the next conversation!

What I Wish I’d Known Before Flying Into MCO For My Disney World Trip

Where do you like to sit on planes? Let us know in the comments below!