Window seat etiquette on flights

Window seat, shade up. I want to see what's happening, where we are going.

There's way more underseat space on the window than the aisle.

Piss before you get on. Unless you're on an international flight or a trans-con, it shouldn't really be an issue.

 

I can do it, but I have my grandfather's gift for being able to fall asleep just about anywhere. That's also why I need about 10 hours sleep the night before a long drive. I don't want to wake up when my car rolls into a ditch like he did once. (He and my grandmother were fine, but clearly his days of long-distance driving were coming to an end when that happened.)

 

Flight from Hawaii there's an open seat in front of me and an open seat beside me (wife took the window). I moved to seat with the open seat in front of me little more leg room and comfort. The guy in front of me kept moving into that seat. I would swith and he would switch five minutes later. Drove me crazy.

That's all I got.

 

Fortunately, commercial air travel is few and far between for me.
When I have to, I am an aisle guy all the way. I am the poster boy for being an average size, middle age, white dude, but I can't even begin to tell you how claustrophobic I am. Even if it's just an illusion, not having someone pinched in on one side of me is important. I think I get the most claustrophobic on planes when we have landed and everyone begins to stand. At least in the aisle seat, I can pop up and have some movement. On the window, not only can you not fully stand, you are at the mercy of everyone else to get their tails in gear and start moving.

 

I once had an entire 5-seat middle row to myself on a flight from Milan to New York. A few minutes into my flight a nurse from Nigeria sat next to me because she was lonely and wouldn't shut up for the entire flight.

I once tried to sneak one out on a flight from Chicago to Phoenix. The result was spectacularly offensive. I pretended to be asleep for the next two hours so I wouldn't have to own up to it.

 

I fly 150,000-200,000 miles a year, with a lot of international travel involved. I'm Team Aisle Seat all the way; as a man of a certain age, well, when ya gotta go, ya gotta go.

A few months ago, I had to book a last-ish-minute trip to South Africa, which put me on Delta's longest scheduled flight: Atlanta to Johannesburg, 16 hours in the air. For the return flight, my only remaining choices were middle seats. I don't have enough Delta status to kick somebody else off the flight or have them moved, so I chose what I thought would be the least awful from among the choices -- the middle seat in the middle row of 3. I figured that increased my chances of being able to get up when the other person got up, because I could easily leave my seat when either the person to my left or right got up.

The woman to my right -- an older, very friendly woman -- did not get out of her seat for 15 hours and 17 minutes. I counted. She must have had a bladder of steel. So much for my strategy.

I did find myself in a window seat a few weeks ago on another last-minute booking, and was reminded that sometimes I forget to be amazed at the wonder of modern air travel and how amazing a sunset can look from 33,000 feet. It's good to look out the window every once in a while.

 

When I flew back from London a few weeks ago, my original 12:15 p.m. return flight got delayed, and United gave me the option to jump on the 7:30. That was fine. Got me home earlier, etc. Only issue was getting up at 3 a.m. (10 p.m. Friday EDT) to catch my bus/tube back to Heathrow. I can see why they had no problem switching me. The flight was 2/3 empty, and I got an entire row to myself. Thought I'd be able to sleep ... probably got about three hours total. It was nice to stretch out, but there was no way I was getting deep REM sleep. Just wasn't comfortable enough. And as for opening the windowshade, I did that once or twice. But at 40,000 feet you can only see clouds below you, not the ocean, anyway. Quickest eight-hour flight I'd ever been on. Was back from Dulles and at the bar in time to watch VT-BC. Somehow stayed up until 10:30, which was great, because it killed the jetlag. Got up the next morning at the normal time.

 

I flew on the Arizona Cardinals' charter once or twice back in the late 90s covering the team. Sat behind Adrian Murrell on a flight to Philadelphia, and that motherfucker released an unending string of raunchy farts the entire way. It was brutal.

 

Fancy!

 

This is insane. Nobody is right or wrong here, but I prefer the window every single time.
50% less human interaction. And the aisle leg room thing is vastly overrated. Stick your leg out one centimeter into the aisle, and a cart or person walking is going to hit it.

 

God forbid you should see the cart and you know, not have the common sense to move your leg in 3 centimeters.

 

God forbid you fall asleep and can’t see the cart.