I am taking a flight from LAX to Hong Kong on China Air and am trying to find the best coach seat for my husband and I. I have long legs and bad knees so I tend to figit in my seat allot due to being very cramped. My husband has very broad shoulders and has trouble sitting next to people due to his shoulder width. He is taller than I am but only from the waist up so leg room is not as much of an issue for him. I am a light sleeper so people talking keeps me from resting. Very sensative to smells as well. The hum of the plane does not bother me. Where would be the best seat for us? They have put us at 30FG and 38HJ. The plane is pretty open.

Your specific requirements cause conflicting seat choices. The seats assigned to you are bulkhead and exit rows, and have both good and bad attributes:

First let us talk about the GOOD points:
  1. 30FG is the first row in coach, and is one of the designated bassinet rows. There is a bit more space for your legs due to the bassinet location, however, your seats could be changed at the last minute to accommodate passengers traveling with infants. In this case, you would very likely be given vacant seats that are still unassigned, which are often some of the worst seats.
  2. There is no one reclining into you.
  3. You are in the forward part of the plane, one of the first served during meals, as well among the first off the plane and through immigrations.
  4. Less affected by turbulence.
Now the NEGATIVE points:
  1. There is no underseat storage in front of you due to the bulkhead
  2. You are located at the bassinet row. Even if you are not relocated to accommodate passengers traveling with infants, there is a good chance that there will be infants around you. Which means that you are subjected to their noise, as well as parents catering to them. Just be aware that there will be more movement and noise when comparing to other regular rows
  3. The galley is very close by, so you are subjected to more traffic, noise, and perhaps smell of food preparation. You mentioned that your are “very sensitive to smells”, 30FG will have food smell, and possibly diaper and/or infant smell. 38HJ is close to lavatories, with its associated odor.
  4. The trays and video screens are in the non-movable arm-rests, making the seats feel more narrow.
  5. People sometimes congregate in the area in front of 38HJ, while they are waiting for the lavatories, or just to stretch their legs and talk. They might occasionally bump your out-stretched legs or the shoulders of passengers seated by the aisle, this could be a problem for your husband as well as yourself.
  6. There will be more noise and people movement in both of the seat assignments. You mentioned that you are a light sleeper, perhaps you should prepare to either bring a good set of ear plugs, or good quaility headphones that completely cover your ears in order to block out noises. By the way, noise-canceling head-sets will not help, as they cancel out the hum of the plane, which makes other random noises that much more clear.
Based on all of the issues you mentioned, you might want to consider flying business class on your next flight. It is a good compromise between standard coach and International First class. A quick check shows that fares between LAX and HKG are generally around $5000 – $6000 per person for the round trip. You will have much more room for your knees and your husband’s shoulders, and about 3-4 times the space per seat compared to coach. There will also be much less issue with noise and smell, and you should be able to get much better rest due to the significantly better recline in the seats.

Monday, May 11, 2009 | Author: The Seat Expert

Leave a Reply