In this post we are going explore airline seating configurations on the major US airlines. Seating layouts often play a crucial role for me in determining not only which airline I book for each trip, but also which airplane I book. In other words, sometimes the aircraft type determines my airline choice. This is an especially important consideration for international travel. Trust me, the last thing you want is to be stuck in the middle seat for a 15 hour flight. For example, if I am going on an international trip with one other person, I try to specifically fly aircraft that have 2-4-2 configurations in economy vs. 3-3-3 configurations. Whereas if I’m flying with friends or family, I might prefer a 3-3-3 configured aircraft.

Generally speaking, this only matters if you’re booking economy tickets. If you’re flying in premium or first/business class you will almost always have either a 2-2 setup or a 1-2-1 setup on your aircraft.

While this can be overwhelming, here are the key differentiating factors to know between each aircraft family that will distill this down and make it a lot easier to understand.

• Boeing aircraft generally have 3-3 economy configurations on domestic flights and 3-3-3 economy configurations on international flights.
• Airbus aircraft generally offer more comfortable economy configurations, given that they feature a 2 seat option in economy on many airlines.
• If you want to find a 2-4-2 economy configured aircraft on a US airline, a Delta Airlines A330 is your best bet.
• All US regional airlines operate either a 2-2 configuration or 1-2 configuration across all aircraft.

Lastly, here’s our top 5 most and least comfortable economy seating layouts:

Best

1. Delta A330-300/900
2. Delta A220
3. Alaska E175
4. United E175
5. American A321

Worst 

1. American E170
2. American, Delta, United CRJ’s
3. United 737-700/800/900
4. United 777-200/3005. Southwest 737-700/800
5. Southwest 737-700/800

Thank you for reading!

–The Sky Key Team