SeatGuru is useless: Listed here are the most effective options

One in every of our favourite instruments for data on the most effective airline seats is useless. SeatGuru was bought by Tripadvisor again in 2007, partly as a result of its reputation with frequent flyers, who counted on the location for granular data on seats for many main airways.

However Tripadvisor stopped investing within the website a number of years in the past, and its usefulness has declined over time. Nonetheless, it was a go-to software for me after I was making an attempt to pick seats in enterprise class on upcoming flights, or at the very least discover less-worse seats in coach.

So I used to be crushed to search out this discover on my final search a number of weeks in the past.

With none discover, Tripadvisor and its mother or father firm Expedia shut the location down fully, redirecting customers to Tripadvisor (which does not have interactive seat maps).

I liked all of the options in SeatGuru, together with the flexibility to search out seat maps for numerous variations of most airplanes and even obscure airways, the flexibility to see problematic seats (like these lacking home windows or that do not recline), and the coloured maps that confirmed seats and areas to keep away from or to choose.

Sadly, Tripadvisor stopped investing within the website about 5 years in the past, and the final new seat map was made in 2020. “She was on her final legs for a very long time,” TPG founder Brian Kelly instructed me in a TPG group chat discussing the information.

However there’s some excellent news: There are a number of different contenders that may provide help to analysis airline seats.

SeatMaps is, for my part, the most effective of the bunch. TPG has its personal software for locating seat maps, in fact. ExpertFlyer (owned by TPG mother or father firm Purple Ventures) is nice, and the corporate is making an enormous funding in it proper now.

Different TPGers swear by AeroLopa, though I discover it much less intuitive to make use of. There’s additionally a brand new contender, SeatCompare.ai.

So what’s the only option for you? This is a short information to every software.

SeatMaps

For me, the most effective new contender has been SeatMaps, which has a few of the similar options as SeatGuru (RIP). This is a map exhibiting enterprise class on a Swiss A330 flight. As you’ll be able to see, it suggests {that a} seat in enterprise class — 9K — has a partial or lacking window view, however comes with USB and AC energy plugs and Wi-Fi.

It additionally reveals what number of seats are in every cabin and the seat pitch, width and recline.

This is a gallery of what it appears to be like wish to seek for the seat particulars on an Etihad Airways Airbus A380. It is fairly easy (and useful).

I additionally like a few of the notes you get with SeatMaps, akin to this one for Seat 31K in premium financial system, which warns of drafts and the potential for getting chilly throughout the flight.

There are additionally sections for submitting your personal ranking, and you may see what number of stars the web site provides it.

Lastly, there are additionally hyperlinks to web sites that supply evaluations of the product.

All in all, that is my favourite new software for serving to resolve on seats and even for choosing planes I wish to fly on sooner or later.

AeroLopa

Many individuals at The Factors Man swear by AeroLopa for seat maps. Whereas I agree that there are various fascinating facets to the location, I personally discover it very difficult to find what I am in search of — particularly, seat maps.

You usually need to click on on the airline you might be in search of after which hunt for the mannequin of the aircraft you might be flying. Then you need to navigate to the precise mannequin of your aircraft. As you’ll be able to see, there are eight potential A380 sorts. You would wish to match the map in AeroLopa to the precise aircraft you might be flying.

This is an instance of a seat map I used to be looking for that gave me suits. I used to be making an attempt to determine the seat map on an upcoming flight on Emirates. I clicked by means of to Emirates after which regarded up the aircraft mannequin by way of my document locator. I then needed to choose from six various kinds of the 777-300.

After I clicked by means of all six and in contrast the seat charts to my precise flight, I used to be lastly in a position to establish a seat map that matched my upcoming flight. As you’ll be able to see under, nonetheless, there are not any color-coded notes to mark good or unhealthy business-class seats. It is a quite simple seat map.

It was a irritating person expertise for me, however your mileage might range.

I do like the underside of the display screen, the place AeroLopa offers extra details about the cabin.

However the website simply would not do pretty much as good a job with looking for seats. For me, that is a deal-breaker.

ExpertFlyer

I am an enormous fan of ExpertFlyer (owned by TPG mother or father firm Purple Ventures). To be trustworthy, I principally use it to search out award availability for business-class seats. You’ll be able to even set flight alerts, so you may be the primary to know when new award availability opens up. I’ve used it to attain uncommon business-class improve house on airways like American Airways.

However ExpertFlyer additionally has seat maps. As you’ll be able to see within the screenshots under, you’ll be able to search by airline and flight quantity, and it’ll pull up an interactive map.

As you’ll be able to see, ExpertFlyer additionally has cool options while you click on on notes. It would warn you if a seat not an important selection. On this case, Seat 20L is a foul selection due to a protrusion from the exit door that reduces legroom.

This is one other instance: You would possibly wish to keep away from Seat 5H as a result of it is close to the galley and toilet.

However ExpertFlyer additionally tells you when a specific seat is an effective choose!

ExpertFlyer will get even higher: It would notify you when seats open up that you’ve your eye on — even seats within the coach cabin with further legroom or on the bulkhead. You’ll be able to set an alert to be notified when a specific seat opens up, any exit-row seats, any window seats, any aisle seats and even two seats collectively. As you’ll be able to see under, I set an alert to observe two particular seats within the bulkhead row.

ExpertFlyer is thought for locating seat availability, however it’s additionally an important useful resource for evaluating seat high quality.

SeatCompare.ai

The latest entry within the battle over seat choice is SeatCompare.ai, which, because the identify suggests, makes use of synthetic intelligence that can assist you discover a good seat. SeatCompare.ai is presently in beta testing, however says “we’re including extra cabin information each week.”

There’s rather a lot this software cannot do — however it can discover your flight, let you know what seats to keep away from and provide help to discover the most effective seats. Options like cabin configuration comparability are fascinating. I am additionally intrigued by the flexibility to obtain notifications in case your aircraft will get swapped (which might result in unlucky cabin downgrades).

This software remains to be not thorough sufficient to grow to be my go-to, however it is going to be fascinating to see the way it develops over time.

SeatMaestro

I additionally took a take a look at SeatMaestro, which has some fascinating options like seat evaluations. The issue is that I discovered the location fairly buggy, and there have been so many pop-up adverts and loading screens that I discovered it practically unimaginable to make use of. The search perform did not work, and I needed to search by plane sort.

When you lastly discover the seat map, there are color-coded indications of excellent or unhealthy seats in addition to person evaluations, however it was probably the most irritating website I attempted.

Perhaps you may have higher luck than I did, however it was my least favourite of all of the websites I explored.

Backside line

There are some nice options to the now-gone SeatGuru. I notably like ExpertFlyer and SeatMaps. It will likely be enjoyable to see how this house progresses over time.

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