This was a request I made directly to Ben, but perhaps its better discussed in the new Community Forum:
Now that Seat Guru is no longer an option, what website/app do you recommend for choosing the best seat on a flight? Which are free and which are worth paying a onetime fee or a subscription fee? Which have the most accurate information? Which present their seating plans in an easy-to-digest format? TIA
There are 2:
The each have slightly different information available, and they are kept up to date and free.
SeatMaps and Aerolopa are the two best options
Aerolopa is great. I was using it before the end of SeatGuru. Much more detailed seating maps.
@gp_7676 Fun fact- The LOPA in Aerolopa refers to Layout of Passenger Accommodations.
So, remember, instead of seating maps, they are Passenger Accommodation Maps.
There is something known as seatcompare.ai which has launched. Still in infancy, but looks promising. Inevitably, they really don't cover the softer aspects, but still a good way to check.
Aerolopa is my go to and has been for a few years. It’s well maintained.
Expertflyer.com has aerolopa representations are integrated into the seat map function by toggling the detailed view option.
I was originally a seatmaps.com guy but have mainly switched to aerolopa.com, now that they’ve integrated seat quality and more information on each flight (my favorite is letting you know which side of the plane the sun is going to be if you want to keep the window shade open).
I did like how seatmaps.com will sometimes attach reviews to various seat maps; can be easier than having to search for the proper review.
I just use AeroLopa these days, but also worthwhile using ExpertFlyer as mentioned, even in a free account you can search one flight and pull up seats maps for it.
@view I agree about ExpertFlyer. Though unless I'm mistaken, I don't believe they show which seats have misaligned windows?
ExpertFlyer.com seat maps will show the aerolopa.com visual, with the occupied/blocked/status/open etc from EF layered on top. You can see the window, plugged window, missing window, closet, lav etc
Attached is a BA 77W as an example
@hnl Oh wow, I actually had no idea they updated it to be like so. Though now I see that it's a subscription feature, having just logged back into ExpertFlyer for the first time in a while.
Did we ever learn the real reason why SeatGuru was actually scrapped?
Sure, after 2020, it stopped getting updated, but that was TripAdvisor’s own corporate neglect; it certainly wasn't because users stopped contributing or caring. The ability to drop real-world comments, add cabin photos, and flag quirky layout issues is what made it genuinely great.
When a company mothballs a beloved tool like this, it always makes me wonder if there was a financial or external incentive to make it disappear. Did the airlines quietly lean on them to pull the plug because they hated passengers exposing misaligned windows, silent seat restrictions, and bad layouts?
Today, alternatives like AeroLopa and SeatMaps have their merits, but none of them have replicated that living ecosystem of user-generated wisdom. Shuttering SeatGuru was like Twitter buying Vine, letting it rot, and then deleting the entire archive instead of letting someone else run it. It’s corporate vandalism of community-built history. Tragic.
I think of the ExpertFlyer seat map as "Aerolopa Lite", with the actual Aerolopa site showing much more detail. Seatmaps is useful sometimes for a cross-check, in my experience.
Careful of aerolopa's seat recommendations.....they arent really accurate and not pulled from real user opinions....they try too hard with the AI to determine if the seat is better or not.....
Quick heads up to anyone following this thread that Aerolopa has an app now! What really sucks about it is that beyond a 14 day free trial, it seems they want us to pay subscription charges to use it. Still, could be good for some people.
@kct_photo Ben wrote about it on September 1: https://onemileatatime.com/news/aerolopa-app-airplane-seats/ "14-day free trial, and after that, it costs either $5 per month or $29 per year" ... "The AeroLOPA website continues to be free to use, with everything we’re used to" (he described some of the additional features included in the paid app, but, the free website is probably best for most.)