Air Plane Photos 2013: Airplane Seats

Airplane Seats

Source(www.google.com.pk)

An airline seat is a seat on an airliner in which passengers are accommodated for the duration of the journey. Such seats are usually arranged in rows running across the airplane's fuselage. A diagram of such seats in an aircraft is called an aircraft seat map.
On the oldest of planes, seats were armchairs which stood loosely in the cabin, but moving furniture in the aircraft is a safety hazard, and seats are now fastened to the floor. However, airlines usually want the flexibility to move seats around or remove them, so the seats are attached to rails underneath the floor which run along the aircraft fuselage. If the airline wants to reconfigure the seating, this is a minor operation.
For passenger safety, airline seats are equipped with seatbelts, and there is a "Fasten Seatbelts" sign above each seat which is lit up when passengers are expected to remain seated with the seatbelt fastened. This is during taxiing, take-off and landing, although turbulence may also prompt the captain to turn on this sign.
Seats are frequently equipped with further amenities. Airline seats may be equipped with a reclining mechanism for increased passenger comfort, either reclining mechanically (usually in economy class and short-haul first and business class) or electrically (usually in long-haul first class and business class). Most aircraft also feature trays for eating and reading, either in the seatback which folds down to form a small table in most economy class seats, or inside the armrest which folds out in most first class, business class, bulkhead, and exit row seats. Most airline seats also feature a pocket which may contain an in-flight magazine and safety instructions.
On small and short-haul aircraft, or on low-cost carriers, some of these amenities may not be installed. For instance, on several aircraft, Ryanair has installed non-reclining seats without seat pockets with the safety manuals stitched to the seat back instead.[1] Even on airliners with reclining seats, some seats may have a restricted recline or no recline. Typically this will be the rear row of the cabin where a rear bulkhead blocks the recline, or seats immediately in front of the emergency exit where a reclined seat might restrict access to the emergency exit, creating a potential safety hazard. Independent seat review sites such as SeatGuru often warn passengers against these seats. During take-off and landing the crew ask passengers to put their seats in an "upright" (unreclined) position[2] and to lift and stow their tray tables.
Airline cabins are frequently classified as narrow-body if there is a single aisle with seats on either side, or wide-body if there are two aisles with a block of seats between them in addition to the seats on the side.
The number of seats abreast is affected by the aircraft width. On very small aircraft such as the Beechcraft 1900 there are only individual seats on each side of the aisle (1+1 seating). The widest narrow body aircraft such as the Airbus A320 family and Boeing 737 aircraft have six abreast seating in a 3+3 layout. Asymmetrical layouts also exist, examples including the Embraer Regional Jet which has 1+2 seating while the Douglas DC-9 aircraft typically features 2+3 seating.
On wide body-aircraft the center block of seats between the aisles can have as many as 5 seats on planes like the layout on most McDonnell Douglas DC-10 and some Boeing 777 aircraft, although Boeing recommends the 3+3+3 over the 2+5+2 layout.[4] Very wide planes such as the Boeing 747 or the Airbus A380 have ten seats abreast, typically in a 3+4+3 layout, although this layout is also sometimes used as a high density layout on aircraft normally seating nine abreast, such as the 777 or DC-10.
Window seats are located at the sides of the aircraft, and usually next to a window, although some aircraft have seat rows where there is a window missing. Window seats are preferred by passengers who want to have a view, or a wall which they can lean against. Passengers in seats adjacent to the aisle have the advantage of being able to leave the seat without having to clamber over the other passengers, and having an aisle they can stretch their legs into. If a seat block has three or more seats, there will also be middle seats which are unpopular because the passenger is sandwiched between two other passengers without advantages of either window or aisle seats.[5] Middle seats are typically booked last.[6]
While there are some exceptions, most commercial aircraft seats are forward facing and on military aircraft seats are frequently rearward facing. Southwest Airlines previously offered a few rearward-facings seats on some aircraft but that scheme has now ended. Rearward-facing seats are also common on business jets, to provide a "conference" type layout. British Airways and United Airlines also has rearward-facing seats in its Club World and United Business (Intercontinental Business Class) Cabin. It has been argued that rearward-facing seats are safer because in the event of a crash, the sudden deceleration will propel the passenger into a rearward-facing seat instead of out of it, meaning the force is distributed over the entire seat back, instead of the straps of the seat belt. The argument against such seats has been based on passenger comfort, safety and cost. It could be argued that passengers who desire the natural layout of forward-facing seats may be uncomfortable with a rearward layout. On the safety aspect, the argument has been that during a plane crash, debris, such as luggage, will fly forward in the cabin, quite possibly into the passengers in rearward-facing seats. On the cost aspect, rearward-facing seats need additional strengthening which adds extra weight and therefore higher fuel costs.[7]

Many airlines provide maps of their seating configurations on the various aircraft they fly. BestPlaneSeat.com[8] SeatExpert.com[9] and SeatGuru.com[10] also show seat maps for a wide range of airlines and aircraft, along with descriptions of the best and worst seats on the aircraft.