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Passengers often consider bulkhead seats the Holy Grail of aviation. These seats are the ones at the front of the cabin with extra legroom, and larger aircraft may also have bulkheads at the front of each class, such as between business class and economy. They may also separate seats from the lavatories or galley. There is a wall in front of these seats, rather than the back of the seat in front, and securing these seats means extra legroom and more space to relax, often without paying much more.
However, frequent flyers will know that everything is not as it seems, as there are several drawbacks, including the immovable armrests (which make your seat narrower) and the lack of under-seat storage. My most recent experience with the bulkhead seat was on a China Eastern Airlines flight from Shanghaito Tokyo, and I must admit that it was a little frustrating not to have easy access to my small rucksack.
Comparing Bulkhead Seats To Regular Seats
The additional legroom is the main reason some travelers prefer flying in the bulkhead. The amount you can stretch out may not change, as a standard seat allows you to stretch your legs under the seat in front, provided you aren’t storing your bag there. However, you will always have more room for your knees. Such advantages apply most to tall passengers, but all guests will enjoy not having to worry about the occupant of the seat in front reclining into their personal space.
However, to access such dubious legroom benefits, you’ll have to make sacrifices, as bulkhead seats don’t have underseat storage for obvious reasons. Your bag wouldn’t be secure sitting behind the bulkhead, so it will have to go in the overhead bins, while normal seats have access to both underseat storage (for small bags) and the overhead bins. The Reddit post embedded below details what United Airlines passengers have to say about flying in a bulkhead seat.
You will also have to deal with fixed armrests, which can be a problem for wider passengers, and traveling couples may prefer not to have an armrest between them. The fixed and thick armrests are there to hold your tray table, rather than it being positioned on the bulkhead. I have also found it a little tricky to work out how to unfold the tray table when I’ve flown in a bulkhead seat, although I’m not the most practically-minded person. The armrest may also contain your IFEscreen.
Bulkhead Convenience Is Impossible To Ignore
Regardless of the class that you fly in, the bulkhead seatpositioning will usually put you right behind the galley or at the very front of your class. Such positioning comes with appealing convenience perks that many frequent flyers treasure, such as often getting served first during meal times and receiving more attentive service from the cabin crew.
After all, you won’t be stuck waiting for them to come past or respond to your call. Many airlines also offer priority boarding to passengers in bulkhead seats, so you can get settled in for the flight without having to rush. The position at the front also means you can deplane more quickly, which is particularly important for travel on large widebody aircraft or if you have appointments to keep at your destination.
Finally, bulkhead passengers have much more space. That means you can get up to use the toilet without having to disturb the passenger next to you, and the additional space also makes it much easier to organize your possessions when you deplane.
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A Less Relaxed Flying Experience
Choosing your seat is all about selecting the trade-offs that are most suited to what you need from your flying experience. The bulkhead seat gives you convenience at the cost of relaxation, as they are often close to high-traffic areas of the aircraft, like the lavatoryor galley. Particularly if you have the aisle seat, you may be inconvenienced by people queuing to use the lavatory, and their conversations could keep you awake on long-haul flights.
Light and smells from the lavatory may also spill into your space when the door is open, which is particularly troublesome when the cabin lights are dimmed. A bulkhead that is behind the galley, meanwhile, comes with different challenges. You’ll hear the cabin crew’s activity while they prepare meals and drinks, and chatter between them, even if the cabin crew are being particularly respectful of passengers’ need for peace.
These problems are mostly an issue for long-haul passengers, who are most likely to want to catch some sleep. Meanwhile, noise and activity are a price worth paying for easier boarding and deplaning for short-haul aviation.
Not All Bulkhead Seats Are The Same
Drawing definitive conclusions about whether bulkhead or regular seats are worth it is also challenging because of the fact that there is great variation between bulkhead seats. The problems outlined in this article primarily apply to economy class, where the drawbacks of the bulkhead seat mean it is not objectively better. Instead, you’ll need to pick a seat based on personal preferences and your body’s needs. In first and business class, however, the bulkhead seat will yield fantastic personal space.
Other benefits include improved privacy and service without the same drawbacks as economy in terms of storage space, armrests, and intrusive tray tables. There are also differences in the bulkhead experience depending on whether you are behind a full wall or just a partial divider. A full wall gives maximum separation and the sense of a boundary at the expense of feeling boxed in. Meanwhile, a partial divider is just a low wall or screen that you can usually see over or through.
This provides improved airflow and lighting and is closer to the typical seat experience. However, you will experience reduced privacy and greater noise spillover. As with anything related to aviation passenger experiences, it’s all about conducting research beforehand to understand exactly what the pros and cons are of flying in the bulkhead seat of your chosen airline. You’ll then need to figure out which option will be best based on your preferences and needs.
Window Vs Aisle: Another Frequent Flyer Debate
Whether to fly in the bulkhead seat is far from the only debate raging among frequent fliers. The most common is a comparison of the window and aisle flying experience. Avgeeks often love the window seat because of the stunning views that they can enjoy. It’s a great chance to snap some photographs of the wing and the clouds rushing by.
However, there are also issues with the window seat. The most obvious is that you are a long way from the aisle, and you’ll need to disturb the passengers in the middle and aisle seats if you need to use the restroom. At the same time, you won’t need to worry about being disturbed if you are trying to sleep.
The aisle seat has the opposite pros and cons. You will feel a lot less claustrophobic and can get up to walk around whenever you want. However, you have no chance to look out of the window and enjoy the view. You will also have to get up whenever your neighbor needs to get out into the aisle, and Cabin Crew might also bump into you as they pass.
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Other Seats & Layouts That Aren’t As Good As You Think
In my recent article titled ‘The Seat Map Trap,’ I explored some layouts that seem fantastic at first glance, but have undeniable flaws. One example was the Airbus A220, a quirky aircraft that often features a 2-2 layout for business class and a 2-3 layout for economy. This layout yields fewer aisle seats, but the front row of standard economy is halfway into the aisle, so people might tread on your feet as they go past. Make sure to check your carrier’s seat map before booking your flight to avoid this seat.
Another ‘seat map trap’ is Air New Zealand’s widebody business class, which is in a 1-1-1 configuration that is much more spacious than the more common 1-2-1. However, the configuration offers no true window seats, as all seats face away from the window. While the seat on the left faces a divider, the seats on the right and center face each other directly. That gives you much less privacy than you might expect flying in business class. A similar situation exists on older Virgin Atlantic jets.
Finally, exit row seats are often popular for the same reasons as bulkhead seats: more legroom and personal space. However, some layouts bring new problems. Some exit rows are positioned far back on larger aircraft, such as 
Delta Air Lines‘ Boeing 757-300s, which makes it take much longer to get off the aircraft. You will also often have to deal with fixed armrests that reduce seat width and flexibility.
