bulkhead seat
45% Your Mileage May Vary
32% View from the Wing
23% Other
Bulkhead seats sit at the very front of an aircraft cabin and are known for offering extra legroom and a view that isn’t blocked by a seat in front of you.
Common Advantages
- You get additional legroom compared to standard rows. 🔗
- No passenger in front can recline into your space, keeping your seat upright throughout the flight. 🔗
- The open feeling of the first row can make the cabin feel more spacious.🔗
Typical Trade‑offs
- The tray table is often placed in the armrest, which can reduce the seat’s width and limit armrest movement.
- Because there’s no seat ahead, you lose the usual under‑seat storage for personal items, forcing you to keep bags in the overhead bin or, on some aircraft, in a closet near the front. 🔗
- On many planes the bulkhead row has limited recline, so you can’t tilt the seat back. 🔗
- The armrests may be fixed, and the lack of a wall in front can make the seat feel narrower for some travelers.🔗
Variations and Special Cases
- Certain aircraft feature “hybrid” bulkhead seats that retain under‑seat storage and provide more usable foot space, offering a blend of bulkhead legroom with the convenience of a regular seat.
- On some airlines, bulkhead rows double as emergency exit rows, giving them extra width and individual air nozzles, though the seats may still have limited recline. 🔗
- For families traveling with infants, bulkhead rows are often the only seats that can accommodate bassinets, making them highly sought after by parents and sometimes reassigned at the gate. 🔗
- In business class, many travelers prefer bulkhead seats for the extra room and the feeling of being at the front of the cabin, despite potential galley noise or foot traffic from nearby lavatories.🔗
Tips for Choosing a Bulkhead Seat
- If you travel with a lot of personal items, consider whether you’ll be comfortable storing them in the overhead bin, since under‑seat space is unavailable.
- Check the specific aircraft layout; some newer planes may offer a more practical bulkhead experience with usable legroom and storage options. 🔗
- For long flights, weigh the benefit of extra legroom against possible disturbances from the galley or lavatory traffic that often occur near bulkhead rows. 🔗
- Families with infants should book bulkhead seats early, as they are frequently re‑assigned to accommodate bassinets.🔗
Your Mileage May Vary 24%
When a Bulkhead Seat Isn’t Really a Bulkhead
Bulkhead seats are one of those airplane seating options that sound simple in theory but can be surprisingly inconsistent in real life. In general, the first row of a cabin comes with a familiar set of trade-offs. You may get extra legroom and avoid having someone recline into your space, but you’ll often give up under-seat storage, deal with a tray table in the armrest, and sometimes end up with a seat that feels less comfortable than it first appeared. That’s part of the reason why I’ve written before about **whether bulkhead seats are really worth choosing in the
View from the Wing 18%
What Are You: Bulkhead or Non-Bulkhead?
Here’s the seatmap for a flight I just booked. You’ll see I selected an extra legroom aisle seat, and opted not to select the bulkhead row. This is an American Airlines MD80. Bulkhead seats often have better legroom than even ‘main cabin extra’ or ‘economy plus’ types of seating. At a minimum you don’t have anyone reclining into your space. As a result, bulkhead seats are very popular. On the other hand, I avoid bulkhead seats when I can for three reasons: A whole separate issue of course is whether to take the side with 2 seats (which have smaller overhead bins above them) or 3 seats (where there’s a chance of an empty middle seat next to you)… Do you choose or avoid bulkhead rows?
Your Mileage May Vary 21%
I Don’t See The Appeal Of Bulkhead Seats
Airlines have figured out how to charge us for just about everything, including where we sit – but one “premium” spot I still don’t understand is the beloved bulkhead seat. Airlines know which seats people like best and therefore will charge the most for them. As a result, they separate the cabin into categories and charge fees based on demand for each seat type. For example, most carriers charge extra for aisle and window seats, knowing people will pay to avoid being in the dreaded middle seat. The other section airlines charge more for is “extra” seats. These
The Bulkhead Seat 5%
Flight Review: Silver Airways ATR 42-600 Economy Class – TPA-NAS
We’re in The Bahamas this weekend. We were in Tampa to check on our home there and took a quick flight from Tampa International Airport (TPA) to Nassau’s Lynden Pindling International Airport (NAS) on Silver Airways. The regional carrier serves the southeastern United States and Caribbean. The flight was quick and uneventful with only a handful of passengers on board. Anthony’s Take: It’s been a while since I’ve flown Silver Airways. We were supposed to fly them from Fort Lauderdale-Hollywood International Airport (FLL) to Tampa International Airport (TPA) back in May, but the flight was so severely delayed that
Live and Let's Fly 10%
Man Rants That His Airplane Bulkhead Seat Was Given Away To A Mother And Her Baby
A man is angry that his pre-assigned bulkhead seat was moved on SAS in order to accommodate a mother and her baby. It’s an important reminder that seat assignments are not guaranteed and you run some risk by selecting bulkhead seats in advance if you are not traveling with an infant. A man was traveling on SAS to New York from with a loved one. Although he did not specify which route, SAS flies to New York from Copenhagen, Oslo, and Stockholm, all flights of about 8-8.5 hours. On reddit, he explained: “Then three days before our trip
View from the Wing 14%
Why I Always Choose Bulkhead Seats When I’m Flying Business Class
I get a lot of questions from readers along the lines of ‘what seats should I choose on my flight?’ And I certainly have opinions on this, but I’ll either respond with a long discussion of the different seat choices or I’ll answer the question with a question – because there are always tradeoffs, and people have different preferences balancing those. There’s no right answer most of the time! I have a bit of an idiosyncratic preference for the bulkhead seats at the front of the cabin when I’m flying business class. And most people would disagree. In fact,
Traveling for Miles 8%
American Airlines Premium Economy Boeing 777-200ER review
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