On Thursday night the Michael W Travels family flew to Portugal on Royal Air Maroc.
The first leg of our flight was from New York’s JFK Airport to Casablanca on the Dreamliner. Upon check- in (at JFK), we were assigned some of our least favorite airplane seats. By the end of the flight, I’d probably call them the WORST airplane seats ever!
You’re probably wondering where we were seated and what made them so bad. Let me explain…
Our family was seated in the back, middle section of the plane in the three, middle bulkhead seats.
Many love sitting in the bulkhead for a couple of reasons:
- Nobody sits in front of you so there’s isn’t any possibility of a seat reclining onto your legs.
- You usually get more leg space.
I hate the bulkhead for a few reasons:
- The armrests don’t move up and are like a wall between each seat. This makes it feel like there is less space in the seat.
- The tray tables seem smaller, I’m not sure if they are. I’m constantly worried that the meal tray will go flying off the front of the tray table. (Maybe that’s due to traveling with young children!)
- The inflight entertainment (IFE) screen comes up from between the seats. You can’t use it during takeoff and landing. The screens are also usually on a weird angle, making not as good when viewing.
- You have to keep your bags in the overheads during takeoff and landing. Kim likes to have her bag easily accessible for the kids stuff and snacks.
When we’re assigned the bulkhead, the airlines think they’re doing us a favor. (Neither of my boys ever actually slept in one of those bassinets.) I always ask if we can switch seats. This time, there were no other seats together on the plane.
Why do I now feel the bulkhead offers the worst airplane seats?
Right after takeoff and once the fasten your seatbelt signs went off, there seemed to be a mad dash to the bathrooms. (The Dreamliner has two aisles and right in front of our row were two bathrooms on each side.)
Lots of people had to wait to use a bathroom and while doing so, many thought that there might be an empty one to use on the other side. Due to this, they felt that the bulkhead space was a path to the other side of the plane.
If a flight attendant needs to get through (they only did this before takeoff), I understand but I don’t think it’s acceptable for other passengers.
I’d say during the flight 20+ times people walked in front of our seats (until I put a stop to it). This was beyond rude and annoying.
Quite a few times, my IFE monitor moved/ fell down or stopped due to the passengers touching it or bumping into it. I was also stepped on and kicked a few times, too. Yes, I was also woken up due to this a couple of times!
After getting annoyed by this behavior, I decided to close the path. Many flyers get upset when others put their feet up on the bulkhead. Well, my path to comfort and less annoyance was by doing exactly that. I also angled my IFE screen down a bit further so it was also in the way.
So did my plan work?
Short answer is yes but some still tried to get through.
- One passenger came by pointing towards the other side of the plane. This was an easy one to ignore.
- Another passenger said, excuse me, can I get through? I responded with a simple no and went back to watching a movie.
- While playing solitaire, one passenger had the nerve to tap me on the hand, then pointing to the other side of the plane. I shook my head no and went on with my game.
- And one seemed to get annoyed when I denied her passage. She told me she needed to get through and I said no. She responded “not nice”. I responded that it isn’t nice being woken up, stepped on and kicked as people constantly walk by. She walked away saying “not nice”.
So in the end I hope that my family never gets stuck sitting in the bulkhead again. I’ll gladly take less leg space along with less annoyance.
What do you think about this situation? Should other passengers walk through the bulkhead to get across to the other side of the plane or do you think it’s rude. I personally haven’t and would never do that.
Benji- A lot of people doing the wrong thing doesn’t make it right or me “not nice”.
Kyle- Keeping your bags up is quite annoying! If we get stuck in these seats again, I’ll place our bags on the floor after takeoff to cut off the route! We’ve had bulkhead before and never experiences this kind of behavior in the past.
tda- LOL- agreed!
Kate- The sides seats are much better- you just end up with people lingering in front of you but that space is even greater than in the middle. The middle area is meant for a bassinet which we don’t use. Another option is to request one which then closes off the extra space.
Royal Air Maroc was fine and I’d fly them again. ( We will on the way home!) They’re not the best airline but they get the job done. The FAs were nice enough, odd service, food was OK, IFE was very big & nice although it did stop working towards the end.
I would have found it really unpleasant too. I like bulkhead sears when they are on the side with a wall in front and far away from bathrooms. Still the storage issue, but a trade off I’d take. Hope your return is more pleasant. Would like to hear more about the airline. They fly from my home airport IAD and it’s a destination high on my list, but I’ve been reluctant to fly them.
Everyone cutting through your row was an ass. A little extra legroom does not make it a passageway.
Couldn’t agree more! I hate bulkhead seats simply because of the requirement of stowing your bags in the overhead bin. Dealing with all those people would make thing exponentially worse too. Thankfully I’ve never had to deal with that when I ended up in bulkhead rows.
If that many people were crossing you were wrong and you are in fact, not nice
Sean- So many people tried to cross through because they were too lazy to walk around and were extremely rude. When did the FA’s point to our area as a walkway during the safety briefing? Oh right, they didn’t!
Gene- So true but premium seats are a bit pricey both with cash or miles!
Jon- If you say so. Where is there a lit up floor to show it as a walkway? Ya know I wanted to take a look out of the window but others were sitting in those seats. I guess next time I’ll say excuse me or squeeze by! Those too could be a passageway. Right? lol
You are entitled and rude. That isn’t your space – it is a passageway and anyone can get through if they need to.
The problem here is flying in steerage.
So many people as you say tried to cross in front of you , because it is a natural place to cross over. I think the sheer amount of people trying to cross over shows you’re in the wrong here. That is simply the nature of the seats you’re sitting in…