Use maths and pyschology to get a better airline seat - flying as a couple

Since I travel a lot, I pay close attention to getting the best airline seat that I can. It can make a big difference in onboard comfort.

In part one I stated there are at least as many aisle seats as window seats, and gave some common seat preferences. In this post I introduce some basic maths and pyschology and explain how I select seats on every different seat layout.

First some assumptions.

1. This post covers seat selection for passengers who are flying with one other person, assuming you want to sit together. Hopefully there won't be too many arguments over who gets the middle seat! If flying alone please read the previous post, and if flying with 2 or more others please read the next posts.
2. I assume you'd like to sit together with your travelling companion.
3. I assume that you prefer to be seated either in a window or an aisle seat wherever possible.
4. I assume you like to have space. An empty seat beside you is great for inflight comfort, especially in economy class.
5. Everything being equal a window seat with less seats to climb over to get to the aisle is preferred over one with more seats to climb over, and the same applies for aisle seats (because this means less passengers climbing over you).

The general principles are finding blocks of seats that best allow you to sit together without a need to climb over anyone else, or have anyone else climb over you. On flights that aren't totally full getting a spare adjacent seat to have some more room is ideal, but not as simple to get as for people flying alone.

TIP People like to sit as far forward as possible, and normally choose left hand side of aircraft before right hand side. I've lost count of the number of flights I've been in where the forward rows in a cabin are jammed full while further back there are whole empty rows. So, everything else being equal pick seats in the middle or rear of the cabin (not recommended if you have a tight onward connection).

If selecting/reviewing seats close to departure I aim to have a few rows in front of me with empty seats so that if someone does want to sit as far forward as possible they won't take the empty seat adjacent to us. This trick works best if the load on the flight is between 50% & 90% (less than 50% and risk of aircraft change or flight cancellation, more than 90% and there aren't many empty seats).

Take account of seating configuration

The configuration of seating in each aircraft can vary. Use the airline website, seatexpert or seatguru to find out the layout for your flight. On some routes there may be a choice of aircraft configurations on different flights. The layout number below represents the number of seats in each row with aisles represented by "-". Because the proportion of aisle, middle and window seats varies by configuration, and thus the number of good seats, I include the proportions of seats which are Aisle, Window, Middle (in that order). I use the terms centre or inner section to refer to seats in between the two aisles on widebody aircraft, and outer section for the seats between aisle and window.

Recommendations for a couple

1-0 or 0-1
100% Aisle, 100% Window, 0% Middle
Take seats 1 behind the other.

1-1
100% Aisle, 100% Window, 0% Middle
Any empty row is good.

2-0 or 2-0-0 or 0-2 or 0-0-2
50% Aisle, 50% Window, 0% Middle
Any empty row is good.

1-1-1
100% Aisle, 67% Window, 0% Middle
Take window and centre section seat in the same row.

1-2 or 2-1
67% Aisle, 67% Window, 0% Middle
Any empty block of 2 seats.

3-0-0 or 0-0-3
33% Aisle, 33% Window, 33% Middle
Find an empty row. Take aisle and middle seat on business oriented flights or window and middle seat on leisure oriented flights to maximise the chances of the other seat remaining empty.

1-1-1-1
100% Aisle, 50% Window, 0% Middle
As this layout is normally only used for first or business class suites, the best two adjacent seats for a couple depends on the specific suite design. It may be the two centre seats, or a window and centre seat or even (in herringbone layout) seats 1 behind the other.

1-2-1
100% Aisle, 50% Window, 0% Middle
Take the 2 centre seats.

1-1-2 or 2-1-1
75% Aisle, 50% Window, 0% Middle
Any empty block of 2 seats.

2-2
50% Aisle, 50% Window, 0% Middle
Any empty block of 2 seats.

1-2-2 or 2-2-1
80% Aisle, 40% Window, 0% Middle
Any empty block of 2 seats.

2-1-2
60% Aisle, 40% Window, 0% Middle
Any empty block of 2 seats.

2-3 or 3-2
40% Aisle, 40% Window, 20% Middle
Any empty block of 2 seats.

2-2-2
67% Aisle, 33% Window, 0% Middle
Any empty block of 2 seats - the centre section is best if you both like aisle seats.

3-3
33% Aisle, 33% Window, 33% Middle
Find an empty row. Take aisle and middle seat on business oriented flights or window and middle seat on leisure oriented flights to maximise the chances of the other seat remaining empty.

2-3-2
57% Aisle, 29% Window, 14% Middle
Any empty block of 2 seats.

2-2-3 or 3-2-2
57% Aisle, 29% Window, 14% Middle
Any empty block of 2 seats - the centre section is best if you both like aisle seats.

2-4-2
50% Aisle, 25% Window, 25% Middle
Any empty block of 2 seats.

3-2-3
50% Aisle, 25% Window, 25% Middle
Take the middle section.

3-3-2 or 2-3-3
50% Aisle, 25% Window, 25% Middle
Any empty block of 2 seats.

2-5-2
44% Aisle, 22% Window, 33% Middle
Any empty block of 2 seats.

3-3-3
44% Aisle, 22% Window, 33% Middle
Find an empty row in the centre section and take an aisle and middle seat. This guarantees you will have no one else climbing over you and if the other aisle seat remains empty you have some extra space.

3-4-3
40% Aisle, 20% Window, 40% Middle
Find an empty row in the centre section and take an aisle and adjacent middle seat. This guarantees you will have no one else climbing over you and if the other two seats remain empty you have some extra space.