HOW WE WORK IT OUT

The Business Traveller Airline Survey, created in conjunction with seatplans.com, gives you the information you need to choose the best airline, class and seat for your journey and budget

1 AIRCRAFT TYPE AND CLASS

We have arranged the survey by aircraft type to allow you to compare products across the whole fleet in each class.

2 SEAT CONFIGURATION

This is the way seats are arranged throughout the aircraft. The layout is important to know as some airlines are squeezing more seats into their twin-aisle planes by configuring them 3-4-3 as opposed to 3-3-3, for example, meaning you have less space.

3 SEAT PITCH

This is the distance between seats, measured from a fixed point on one seat to the same point on the one in front. The exact measurement differs from airline to airline, but is an indication of how much legroom you will get.

4 SEAT WIDTH

Airlines obtain the seat width either by measuring the cushion, the distance between the armrests or from the outside of one armrest to the outside of the other.

5 SEAT LENGTH

A measurement for fully-flat seats only. This is when the pitch becomes redundant – the length of your bed is what matters.

6 SEAT RECLINE

This can be measured from either a horizontal, a 90-degree or take-off position.

7 SEAT TYPE

This mainly depends on a seat’s recline. We have identified five main types: standard (ST), cradle-style (CS), fixed shell (FS), angled lie-flat (AF) and fully-flat (FF).

8 INDIVIDUAL SCREEN AND SIZE

With more airlines installing personal screens, it can be a shock to discover one that hasn’t. But the size of the displays can differ.

9 AUDIO-VIDEO ON-DEMAND

AVOD in-flight entertainment (IFE) – the ability to stop, start, rewind and pause movies, music, games and TV shows – is a must-have feature across the classes that has largely replaced the old-fashioned system of playing a selection of movies on a loop.

10 POWER SOURCE

Many aircraft offer in-seat power, be it through UK, EU, US, SA (South African) or UNI (universal) sockets.

11 INTERNET

Many carriers are now either allowing passengers to connect in-flight to the web through GPRS (charged via network providers at international roaming rates) or, more commonly, by installing onboard wifi at a set fee.

12 MOBILE PHONE USE

Airlines are increasingly allowing passengers to use their mobiles in-flight. Prices depend on network providers and not all carriers will allow all forms of communication, so we have specified which are available (see inside the mobile phone icon for whether emails, SMS messages or voice calls are possible on board).