In many cultures, the number 13 is associated with bad luck, which is why many airlines prefer to avoid igniting the superstitions of their customers and have opted to remove the number from there seating plans. Irrational fear of the number 13 is known as triscaidekaphobia.
“In some cultures, the number 13 is considered unlucky,” the airline explains. “That is why there is no row 13 in planes, because we respect the superstition. “That way nobody who thinks that the number 13 is unlucky has to sit in that row.”
Ryanair, Air France, Singapore Airlines, Cathay Pacific, Qatar Airlines, Emirates, KLM and Iberia all skip row 13 on certain planes. So does German carrier Lufthansa.
By omitting those seat rows, airlines try to avoid unnecessary additional nervousness with some passengers. Emirates, Qatar Airways, Air France, Ryanair, United Airlines and many other airlines go along with this cultural belief and therefore do not have Row 13 in the cabin.
"We used to skip 33 on certain maps to make the [final] row standardized, but the end row is no longer standardized," a United Airlines spokesperson told Travel + Leisure. In short, the reasoning behind having a unanimous seating map is a math equation of sorts.
Some airlines may skip some letters because some of the letters are absent from their alphabet (e.g. an airline in Vietnam may have the layout ABC-DEG-HKL in economy class because letters f, j, w, and z are absent from the Vietnamese alphabet).
The best seats on a plane
Best seat for legroom: A bulkhead or exit-row seat. Best seat for sleeping: A window seat in a bulkhead row. Best seat for extra space without a seatmate: A seat towards the back. Best seat for a tight connection: A seat closest to the front exit.
Not a lot of people realise that seat 11A has no window, meaning it's the perfect seat if you're planning to catch up on some zzzs during a morning flight. This seat is also a little life-saver late at night when you've spent the day travelling and all you want is a few minutes of shut-eye.
Many airlines have renumbered their seat rows to achieve greater standardization between different types of aircraft. They do this so that when they have to swap out planes the passengers who have pre-booked seats will still have the same kinds of seats they originally booked (premium economy, exit rows, etc.).
So A and K are window seats; C, G seats with aisle on the right; D, J seats with aisle on the left; B,E,F middle seats.
There is a long-held belief in many cultures that the number 13 is unlucky. And many airlines have responded to this by simply missing row 13 in their seat numbering. The rows jump straight from 12 to 14.
Most of the survivors were sitting behind first class, towards the front of the plane. Nonetheless, a TIME investigation that looked at 35 years of aircraft accident data found the middle rear seats of an aircraft had the lowest fatality rate: 28%, compared with 44% for the middle aisle seats.
Qantas Airways. Qantas is Certified as a 4-Star Airline for the quality of its airport and onboard product and staff service. Product rating includes seats, amenities, food & beverages, IFE, cleanliness etc, and service rating is for both cabin staff and ground staff.
This all depends on your preferences. However, aisle seats are usually more comfortable as you can stretch your legs out. The first row and the emergency exit seats tend to have more legroom and offer more comfort.
13F - Window seat on the exit row (lots of leg room) - this was the flight home (F9-1689) - Picture of Frontier Airlines - Tripadvisor.
“The smoothest place to sit is over the wings,” commercial pilot Patrick Smith, host of AskThePilot.com said. These seats are close to the plane's center of lift and gravity. “The roughest spot is usually the far aft. In the rearmost rows, closest to the tail, the knocking and swaying is more pronounced,” Smith added.
An Airbus A320 overran the runway while landing in rain, and crashed into a warehouse. All 187 people on board, and 12 people on the ground, were killed. The Boeing 737-200 overran the runway due to a hydraulics malfunction of the aircraft and crashed into a house.
Some 83 aircraft have been declared “missing” since 1948, according to data compiled by the Aviation Safety Network. The list includes planes capable of carrying more than 14 passengers and where no trace — bodies or debris — has ever been found. Related Graphic: Where Could Flight 370 Be? >>
The first digit in the number uses the actual bearing and the second digit is rounded off to the nearest degrees. The last number in the degree is always dropped. So if a runway number is 27, it means that the direction of the runway is 270-degrees from North.
If you'd like to return to the sky but want some guaranteed extra room, you can book a second seat for yourself ... and potentially even earn or use miles on the additional seat in the process, depending on your airline of choice.
Not a lot of people realise that seat 11A has no window, meaning it's the perfect seat if you're planning to catch up on some zzzs during a morning flight," reckons Ryanair.
SeatGuru will tell you that on Qantas 737 aircraft both 9A and 9F have no window.
OK, so the back row is the single worst place to sit on a plane and you should steer clear of it at all costs. But which other seats should you avoid? All middle seats are unpopular for obvious reasons, and the seats in front of an exit row aren't ideal either.
So many travelers struggle with this fear, so the best way to cope is to find a seat with plenty of space. The least crowded section of the plane is first or business class. But if upgraded flying isn't in your budget there are still options. Try sitting in an aisle seat in an exit row towards the front of the plane.
If you're travelling east, choose the right side of the plane. If you're travelling west, go for the left side of the plane. That rule should help you out if you're travelling in the Northern Hemisphere, especially during the winter months.