Not that it’ll come as a surprise to anyone reading this blog, but yeah, I’m a geek. How much of a geek? I’m glad you asked.
I’m flying to Los Angeles tonight and after getting upgraded to business class on the 747 we’re flying, I wasn’t sure whether the auto-assigned seat was a good one. (Granted, it’s business – so any seat would be fine – but I thought it would be worth figuring out if I had a good seat.) So after getting through security, I fired up my Verizon card, and went on over to SeatGuru’s map for this plane. Unlike the airline’s maps (which simply show you one seat to another), SeatGuru actually shows you whether the seats are worth sitting in. My original row, 25, was marked as “standard”, while the middle of row 26 was solid green (indicating good). Why? Here’s the screen shot of the map:
United’s got those self-serve kiosks, which let you swipe a card and check in… though I always wondered why they were also in the terminals after you walked through security. I had a few minutes to kill, so I thought I’d check to see whether I could use them to change my seat, and sure enough: three taps of the screen later, and I’m in 26 C.
I’m on the plane (again using the Verizon card, have I mentioned how I love the Verizon card?) and SeatGuru’s description was right on the money: a lot of extra leg room (I can’t even reach the row in front of me from my seat) and power outlets, which are all I really care about.
6 responses to “SeatGuru – required for road warriors”
Thanks for the pointer to SeatGuru. That'll definitely come in handy. Business class seats? I haven't had those since my big firm consulting days! Also, due to your obvious love for and devotion to the Verizon card, guess what I'll be getting now too? Already have the Treo and am working on the laptop (it's down to 2, one of them your strong recommendation). So, if I ever find myself stuck like you were in NY, I guess I shouldn't complain. Then again, I do more by-car-travel than you, so my delays by definition won't be as productive.
Good luck on the show tomorrow. My tivo is set!
Dude, I totally want to be you. How do you know this stuff?
SeatGuru has never, ever ever let me down, and in fact it's saved me from Airbus bulkhead seats in First Class that look good on paper but are horrifying in practice (no cutout legroom), among other horrors. If you use the site, click on a bunch of ads while you're there, because this information's totally worth subsidizing. I can't believe they haven't been bought by a bold-thinking travel booking site yet. (How is this any different than book reviews at Amazon, for example?)
I love SeatGuru.com. Though, traveling on Continental Airlines every single week, I tend to already know by now which seats work and which don't.Another great site for road warriors is Flyertalk.com. Lots of travelers share secrets on Hotels (including the best rooms at certain locations), hotel rewards, airline and car rental programs and special offers not made available to the general public.
I found a similar site called LoveMySeat.com that has a cool tool to instantly locate the top 5 best and worst locations, they also have a seat search tool and I found some great airline travel deals too in addition to the seat comments.