SeatGuru is lifeless: Listed below are one of the best alternate options

One in all our favourite instruments for info on one of the best airline seats is lifeless. SeatGuru was bought by Tripadvisor again in 2007, partially as a consequence of its reputation with frequent flyers, who counted on the location for granular info on seats for many main airways.

However Tripadvisor stopped investing within the website a number of years in the past, and its usefulness has declined over time. Nonetheless, it was a go-to software for me once I was making an attempt to pick seats in enterprise class on upcoming flights, or not less than discover less-worse seats in coach.

So I used to be crushed to search out this discover on my final search a number of weeks in the past.

With none discover, Tripadvisor and its father or mother firm Expedia shut the location down fully, redirecting customers to Tripadvisor (which does not have interactive seat maps).

I beloved all of the options in SeatGuru, together with the flexibility to search out seat maps for numerous variations of most airplanes and even obscure airways, the flexibility to see problematic seats (like these lacking home windows or that do not recline), and the coloured maps that confirmed seats and areas to keep away from or to choose.

Sadly, Tripadvisor stopped investing within the website about 5 years in the past, and the final new seat map was made in 2020. “She was on her final legs for a very long time,” TPG founder Brian Kelly informed me in a TPG group chat discussing the information.

However there may be some excellent news: There are a number of different contenders that may enable you analysis airline seats.

SeatMaps is, for my part, one of the best of the bunch. TPG has its personal software for locating seat maps, after all. ExpertFlyer (owned by TPG father or mother firm Purple Ventures) is nice, and the corporate is making a giant funding in it proper now.

Different TPGers swear by AeroLopa, though I discover it much less intuitive to make use of. There’s additionally a brand new contender, SeatCompare.ai.

So what’s your best option for you? Here is a short information to every software.

SeatMaps

For me, one of the best new contender has been SeatMaps, which has a number of the similar options as SeatGuru (RIP). Here is a map exhibiting enterprise class on a Swiss A330 flight. As you’ll be able to see, it suggests {that a} seat in enterprise class — 9K — has a partial or lacking window view, however comes with USB and AC energy plugs and Wi-Fi.

It additionally reveals what number of seats are in every cabin and the seat pitch, width and recline.

Here is a gallery of what it appears wish to seek for the seat particulars on an Etihad Airways Airbus A380. It is fairly simple (and useful).

I additionally like a number of the notes you get with SeatMaps, akin to this one for Seat 31K in premium economic system, which warns of drafts and the potential for getting chilly throughout the flight.

There are additionally sections for submitting your individual score, and you’ll see what number of stars the web site provides it.

Lastly, there are additionally hyperlinks to web sites that provide critiques of the product.

All in all, that is my favourite new software for serving to resolve on seats and even for choosing planes I wish to fly on sooner or later.

AeroLopa

Many individuals at The Factors Man swear by AeroLopa for seat maps. Whereas I agree that there are numerous fascinating facets to the location, I personally discover it very difficult to find what I am in search of — particularly, seat maps.

You typically need to click on on the airline you might be in search of after which hunt for the mannequin of the airplane you might be flying. Then it’s important to navigate to the precise mannequin of your airplane. As you’ll be able to see, there are eight potential A380 varieties. You would want to check the map in AeroLopa to the precise airplane you might be flying.

Here is an instance of a seat map I used to be trying to find that gave me suits. I used to be making an attempt to determine the seat map on an upcoming flight on Emirates. I clicked by to Emirates after which seemed up the airplane mannequin by way of my report locator. I then needed to choose from six various kinds of the 777-300.

After I clicked by all six and in contrast the seat charts to my precise flight, I used to be lastly capable of determine a seat map that matched my upcoming flight. As you’ll be able to see under, nevertheless, there aren’t any color-coded notes to mark good or dangerous business-class seats. It is a quite simple seat map.

It was a irritating person expertise for me, however your mileage might fluctuate.

I do like the underside of the display, the place AeroLopa supplies extra details about the cabin.

However the website simply would not do pretty much as good a job with trying to find seats. For me, that is a deal-breaker.

ExpertFlyer

I am an enormous fan of ExpertFlyer (owned by TPG father or mother firm Purple Ventures). To be sincere, I principally use it to search out award availability for business-class seats. You possibly can even set flight alerts, so you may be the primary to know when new award availability opens up. I’ve used it to attain uncommon business-class improve area on airways like American Airways.

However ExpertFlyer additionally has seat maps. As you’ll be able to see within the screenshots under, you’ll be able to search by airline and flight quantity, and it’ll pull up an interactive map.

As you’ll be able to see, ExpertFlyer additionally has cool options whenever you click on on notes. It is going to warn you if a seat not an amazing alternative. On this case, Seat 20L is a nasty alternative due to a protrusion from the exit door that reduces legroom.

Here is one other instance: You would possibly wish to keep away from Seat 5H as a result of it is close to the galley and toilet.

However ExpertFlyer additionally tells you when a specific seat is an effective choose!

ExpertFlyer will get even higher: It is going to notify you when seats open up that you’ve your eye on — even seats within the coach cabin with further legroom or on the bulkhead. You possibly can set an alert to be notified when a specific seat opens up, any exit-row seats, any window seats, any aisle seats and even two seats collectively. As you’ll be able to see under, I set an alert to watch two particular seats within the bulkhead row.

ExpertFlyer is understood for locating seat availability, nevertheless it’s additionally an amazing useful resource for evaluating seat high quality.

SeatCompare.ai

The latest entry within the battle over seat choice is SeatCompare.ai, which, because the title suggests, makes use of synthetic intelligence that will help you discover a good seat. SeatCompare.ai is at present in beta testing, however says “we’re including extra cabin knowledge each week.”

There’s loads this software cannot do — nevertheless it can discover your flight, let you know what seats to keep away from and enable you discover one of the best seats. Options like cabin configuration comparability are fascinating. I am additionally intrigued by the flexibility to obtain notifications in case your airplane will get swapped (which might result in unlucky cabin downgrades).

This software continues to be not thorough sufficient to change into my go-to, however will probably be fascinating to see the way it develops over time.

SeatMaestro

I additionally took a have a look at SeatMaestro, which has some fascinating options like seat critiques. The issue is that I discovered the location fairly buggy, and there have been so many pop-up adverts and loading screens that I discovered it almost not possible to make use of. The search perform did not work, and I needed to search by plane sort.

When you lastly discover the seat map, there are color-coded indications of excellent or dangerous seats in addition to person critiques, nevertheless it was essentially the most irritating website I attempted.

Perhaps you may have higher luck than I did, nevertheless it was my least favourite of all of the websites I explored.

Backside line

There are some nice alternate options to the now-gone SeatGuru. I notably like ExpertFlyer and SeatMaps. Will probably be enjoyable to see how this area progresses over time.

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