There doesn’t seem to be any good seat in economy class. Window seats force you to play Twister in case you need to get up for anything; aisle seats mean bags may fall on you whenever the overhead is opened, someone is going to impel you to stand in the aisle once everyone can disembark, your elbow becomes a bullseye for drink carts, and sometimes a giant metal box is under the seat in front of you; a middle seat has none of those issues, phew, except good luck trying to free a limb to do anything. Not to mention, don’t you get such a kick out of when the check-in agent says the flight is “very, VERY full,” “completely full” or the ingeniously crafted “full,” only to realize that there are seats still unoccupied, while “the baby” is already happily chewing at your armrest? Oh, then move to the permanently dour country of Malaysia if it’s such a big deal.
Hey now, then why do I always choose an aisle seat, given the non-exhaustive list of negatives above? I like wandering about, hitting up the galley where frozen apples and bananas are available to all, sometimes chatting with flight attendants (who are also often frozen) and joining in the elderly Japanese folks who always manage to establish a pop-up gymnasium in the back. Also, bowing to slight irony, using my knowledge of geography (…and with some assistance from the in-flight map, if available), I’d trek to one of the emergency exit doors to peer out the window. Why not just choose a window seat then? I’d make enemies for life with my restless legs and prevailing Middle Eastern countenance.
Just like non-smoking rooms at a Chinese hotel couldn’t be further from the truth, you don’t always have a choice in where you sit on a plane. Thus, here are two pictures to make the case for you to stay in your allotted window seat, not simply for the fact that the flight is full (this time, really, truly full), but also because I still want an aisle seat:
United Airlines (NRT-HKG)- Mt. Fuji
Air Dolomiti (CTA-MUC)- Catania & Mt. Etna
Oh, let’s not forget, if you’re seated at the window, you get to use your whole noggin to peer out, so that no one else has a chance of seeing anything. Never mind that merely sitting still will get you nearly the same view…
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Where do YOU like to sit?
buildingmybento 
Ha! “Pop-up gymnasium”!
xiexie ni xihuan wo de 博文! Have you noticed the calisthenics troupes on Chinese flights too? I try not to fly mainland airlines, but that’s not the reason why…
I feel like a ‘pop up gym’ seems to appear on almost every long haul flight. It’s creators are multi-ethnic, but solidly in the over 60 age bracket.
Great post and so true, my experience on a flight in China was pure chaos. The plane was moving and people will still stowing luggage even rollerboards on empty seats!
Thanks for following BuildingMyBento, and for liking my Japan posts!
There’s absolutely nothing pleasant about flying in China (same with the US), though I will admit that check-in lines for domestic Chinese flights seem to zip by rather quickly. Also, once you board a plane in Xinjiang, they make you take your shoes off, and you can’t buy any liquids at the airport (so take a Thermos). They’re afraid of the Uyghurs…
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