When it’s not possible to sit in a premium class on a long transatlantic or transpacific flight, a pleasant flight experience is still possible. One of the best ways to achieve this is to make sure you pick the best seats in economy for your journey. Of course, first, you have to know what the best seats are. So what is the best seat in economy on Delta’s Airbus 350-900? Read on!
Arriving to Charles de Gaulle Airport
We took the train to Charles de Gaulle Airport to sleep at the new Courtyard by Marriott for the early flight at 9:00 AM. The Courtyard is brand new and there was nothing to complain about except for the fact that the thermostat is so incredibly bright that it lights up the entire room and interfered drastically with my sleep until I taped a stack of napkins over it.
When you stay at an airport hotel, especially one within the campus of an airport, you do so because you expect a quick transit to the airport. With many of the hotels at Charles de Gaulle Airport, unfortunately, this is not exactly the case. From the Courtyard, it was about a four-minute walk to the free airport tram. There, the wait for a train can be up to five minutes. You ride for three stops, which takes six minutes. Then it’s almost a five-minute walk into the terminal. Altogether, this is almost a twenty-minute commute to the airport which made us a little longer for our flight than we wanted to be. This, coupled with the understaffed and work-shy staff at the airport made us a little later for the flight than we wanted to be.
But when we settled into our comfortable seats for the journey across the Atlantic, we knew it was going to be a pretty easy flight. So what are the best seats in economy on the Delta A350?
The best economy seat on Delta’s A350-900
You’re going to want to be looking at rows 40 and 41, but not all of the seats in these rows. For row 40, unless you want a bulkhead cramping your legroom, you’re going to want to look at seats 40B and 40C as well as 40G and 40H. These are perfect seats for a couple, there’s no window seat (and no window either, unfortunately) and truly unlimited legroom.
As with any seat, there are potential downsides. While it is true that people can crowd into your space while waiting for the restrooms, especially immediately after meal services, I was certainly willing to make that sacrifice for all of the legroom provided in front of us. There are also reports from some travelers that due to the proximity to the lavatories, passengers sitting in these seats can experience unpleasant smells, but I did not notice anything of the sort and even noticed flight attendants entering the bathrooms on a number of occasions to clean them.
For row 41, the only seats that are different from typical economy seats are 41A and 41J. It’s a window seat with no seat in front of it, which also means unlimited leg room but in this case, there is a window to look out of and sleep against. If you are by yourself, both of these seats are a great option as you have a window seat as well as direct aisle access without making any fellow passengers stand up by walking forward and then in front of 40B and 40C.
Also, note that we are talking about their flagship model, not the ones Delta bought from LATAM. The seats with unlimited legroom on those planes are row 36. We actually had a last-minute equipment swap and I noticed that we had been put in a normal row, so I had to call to clear it up.
Breakfast was edible if a bit salty, although it looked like someone sat on my croissant. There was a cookie handed out a few hours later and a small snack, a spinach feta pastry which was so unmemorable that I forgot to take a picture of it, before landing.
The Bottom Line:
The best way to ensure that you have an enjoyable flight in coach is to pick a good seat. When you are doing searched to determine the most comfortable seats in economy class, a quick visit to a site like Seat Guru helps to identify your best bet, and it’s definitely worth it to shell out a few dollars to ensure that you can sit in a comfortable place.
The flight from Paris to Atlanta was booked with flights on our way to the Cayman Islands. One of the best ways to accrue enough miles to book a transatlantic flight on Delta is with a sign-up bonus, such as the Chase Sapphire Preferred which is particularly helpful in accruing points. With Chase, you are able to transfer points to Delta at a 1:1 ratio, meaning that this flight could soon be within your reach with the 75,000 sign-up bonus that Chase is offering at the moment.