Passengers on Ryanair and EasyJet flights may be able to secure extra legroom at no additional cost by selecting specific seats, according to travel experts at Which?. While airlines typically charge for premium seats, some standard seats offer more space due to aircraft layout asymmetries.
Which? explains that some plane configurations are designed to accommodate an extra row of passengers, resulting in seats on the right-hand side (D, E and F) offering between half an inch and an inch more legroom than those on the left. These seats are often standard and may be assigned randomly for free, or are the cheapest category to purchase.
Bulkhead seats, located behind walls or curtains, also provide extra legroom as there is no row in front. However, Which? notes that these seats can be narrower if tray tables are stored in the armrests. Passengers can also ask cabin crew to move to empty seats after takeoff, especially if they have a reason for needing more space.
For Ryanair, which primarily operates Boeing 737s, seats D, E and F in rows 3-15 are the roomiest standard seats. EasyJet advises that on its Airbus A321neo aircraft, right-hand seats (D, E and F) in rows 3-13 offer a 29-inch seat pitch, a full inch more than left-hand seats in rows 6-17. Passengers can check their aircraft model using Google Flights.
