The game theory of choosing flight seats

I’ve been traveling a lot and thinking about the strategy of picking the best seat on a plane.

Here is an interesting question that came across my mind.

If you are flying with a friend, which two seats should you pick on a plane? Assume you want to sit next to your friend, but you would prefer the neighboring seats are empty for extra space.

The plane seats on two sides, with three seats to each row as follows:

image from video by JimBobJenkins Youtube video

Which two seats would you pick?

My strategy

There’s nothing mind-blowing about my tip, but it is instructive as an exercise in game theoretic thinking.

My tip is this: if I’m flying with a friend, we usually grab an aisle and a window seat in the same row, leaving an empty middle seat in between us.

If we instead chose two seats next to each other–like a window and a middle–we are leaving a desired aisle seat which will quickly be chosen. Picking the window and the aisle in a way deters people from sitting next to us, as the middle seat is least preferred.

And if someone should occupy the middle seat, it is easy enough to trade with them an aisle or a window to make sure you sit next to your friend.

To put this strategy in game theoretic language, picking an aisle and a window seat is a combination that is weakly dominant strategy compared to picking either an aisle seat and a middle or a window seat and a middle.

Other tips

An alternate strategy is to pick two aisle seats in the same row. This does leave a gap in between me and my friend, however, so I don’t usually go this route.

Other than that, I try to pick a seat near the front of the plane to get out of the flight earlier. A smaller consideration is I try to sit far away from lavatories since people tend to congregate next to them.

I occasionally consult SeatGuru, a site that suggests desirable seats for airplane models, just to see if there are any interesting factors like power ports for specific seats on international flights.

What are your tips for picking a good flight seat?

Also check this video out

William Spaniel has an interesting video about how to get an empty seat next to you as a single traveler. Watch the video for its logical thought process. Though I would caution against its advice: the recommended seat is often empty because it is not a great location.

Youtube video: How to fly with an empty seat next to you



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  • Miqail

    And what if everybody uses this strategy?

  • Eloc

    I find that this is a really interesting problem on Southwest flights where seats are chosen as people board the plane. Several factors are working at once:

    1. People are trying to get aisle and window seats.

    2. People would probably prefer to be towards the front of the plane.

    3. People get to see the passengers they are choosing to sit by. This means that those stuck choosing middle seats will avoid large neighbors, and perhaps ones that are intimidating or look like they could use a bath.

    4. People don’t have perfect information. You see the seating options as you pass by them, but once you pass one you can’t really go back. This means that people are constantly weighing taking middle seat they can see against the chances that a better one will present itself further down the plane. In my experience, on relatively full flights almost always more people head towards the back than can actually sit there; those left make their way forward choosing the first available seat.

    My current strategy (I strongly prefer aisle seats and usually have a good enough boarding number to choose one) is to look for an aisle seat near a window seat that is occupied by a large or otherwise undesirable person, somewhere in rows 7ish-14ish, preferably closer to the front of that range (this avoids people who strongly prefer the front of the plane and avoids the people coming forward from the back who had hoped to find a better seat). However, it’s rare that I find that perfect mix, so I’m constantly weighing different options as I pass rows by.

  • http://thebestresponse.blogspot.com/ Jack

    For sure I can imagine some more such good rules. Suppose someone who dont trust people may choose the seat close to emergency exit in order to not to allow someone else to make something strange (take the exit) after some drinks being 30000 feet up.

  • http://www.mindyourdecisions.com/blog/ Presh Talwalkar

    To follow up, apparently if EVERYONE does this, then the airline takes action into it’s own hand.

    My friend tells me his seats often get moved so he is put together with his travel companion. Airlines are really something when it comes to customer service ;)

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