Embarking on a family journey by air is a wonderful experience that offers a chance to explore new horizons and create lasting memories together. However, choosing the right seats on an airplane when traveling with your family can make a significant difference in the quality of your trip.

Smart seat selection is particularly important if you’ll be traveling with young children. It’s a good idea to look at some of the advantages of choosing specific seats on a plane and when it will work best for your personal situation. In this comprehensive guide, we’ll discuss where to sit on a plane with family.

Move Around Easily in the Aisle Seats

Where to Sit on a Plane with Family in the aisle seat

Aisle seats work great for families who know they have fidgety children who may need space to move a bit more during the flight. These seats also provide easy access to the aisle and restrooms. Even if you don’t think you’ll move around on the flight, you never know when you may need to walk around with a fussy baby or move restless children around to burn off steam. Although it’s never easy to move around a plane, the aisle seat is the best that you can do if you want to move without disturbing the passengers around you.

Take Advantage of Front Row Seats

Where to Sit on a Plane with Family in the front

If you’ve traveled with young children in the past, you likely understand the sense of urgency when kids need to use the restroom. And, you usually don’t have a ton of time. Choosing to sit at the front of the plane will give you easier and faster access to the airplane restrooms. This is also useful if you know that you may need to use the bathroom for frequent diaper changes. Many of today’s modern airplane bathrooms provide changing tables that fold down.

Enjoy Extra Legroom in Bulkhead Seats

Where to Sit on a Plane with Family with extra legroom

Bulkhead seats, located at the front of each cabin section, offer ample legroom. They’re an excellent choice for families who need a bit more space. Additionally, these seats often have bassinet attachments for infants, allowing them to sleep comfortably during the flight. If you have a baby with you, you’ll enjoy having a dedicated space for them to rest.

Get Great Views in the Comfy Window Seats

Where to Sit on a Plane with Family in the window seat

There’s nothing quite like the excitement and anticipation of a child boarding a plane for the first time. Children appreciate window seats for the free entertainment that they provide. Most children delight in looking at the clouds and the ground below, and a child who’s engaged is far more likely to be easier to handle. It also may be easier for children to fall asleep if they have a place to rest their head: window seats often work best if your goal is to minimize distractions for a sleeping child.

Try Sitting in the Emergency Exit Rows

Emergency exit rows are popular with travelers because of the extra legroom. However, airlines require the passengers in these seats to be physically able to assist fellow passengers in the event of an emergency evacuation. As such, the airlines will not place small children in these seats. The exit rows are good choices for those who booked a family vacation with teenager-aged children who may appreciate the extra room. And, they’ll still be capable of assisting crew members if necessary.

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Enjoy More Privacy in the Middle Seats

Where to Sit on a Plane with Family in the middle seat

If you’re traveling as a group of three or six, consider booking the entire row and keeping a child in the middle seat. This will shield the child from other passengers and will also help make sure that your family is not too disruptive to other travelers. This seat choice will also keep things exciting for your child if they can change seats throughout the flight for different perspectives. For instance, if you have two children with one adult, the kids can take turns sitting in the window seat.

Where do you like to sit when flying with your kids? Tell us in the comments below!

About The Author

Gabby Teaman is a content writer who loves writing (of course!), editing, food, and the Oxford comma. When she’s not writing for Fareportal, she can be found Snapchatting videos of her puppy, blasting show tunes, or watching Netflix, all while trying to read everything in sight.