The 30th row

9 years ago

I've always been curious about experimenting with different seats inside airplanes so, in this entry, I will try to sum up my conclusions about traveling on the 30th (the last) row of a Boeing 737-800, from Amsterdam to Lisbon with KLM Airlines (now AirFrance).

I would assume I was going to get less stress and confusion seating there than, say, the middle of the airplane. I was wrong.

The first thing I noticed, when reaching my seat, was that both the baggage compartments for these 3 rows (28, 29 and 30) were already filled with KLM stuff. I ended up having to put my jacket 5 or 6 rows further up the aircraft. Not a good start; if you don't have enough space to put all your crap, KLM, get bigger planes! Don't make people have to pay for it.

I sat down. The first thing I noticed was that this is the only freaking row on the airplane where the seats don't recline back. That really pissed me off, since I could no longer make use of this uber cool inflatable pillow I bought. Another thing that was really bad - though, in truth, I never noticed - was that at least in the 30C (mine) and 30D aisle seats there is this metal thing keeping the seat in front more stable, which kind of reduces the space available for my feet. Not sure if it's there in all aisle seats, but it's kind of annoying.

Now a bit of good news for those that want to experience a lot more turbulence that in the middle of the plane: You get the food first, since one of the trays goes into the front, and another starts from the back (you are in the last row, after all). This would be actually a good thing, except that the food was crap. Ok, it was shit. No, I take that back; I have tasted shit that was better. That particular corgette salad was inedible and the bread, I'm pretty sure, had been baked the day before. After the food, and as usual, I got the choice amongst several sweets. I went for the lolly pop. I figured that if this company treats me like I'm 6 years old, and have no conscience whatsoever of how much they are robbing me, I might as well continue the child-like behavior.

Now that the good news are done, let's go back to the crap. Literally! This seat is back to front with the bathroom doors. This means that, from times to times, you will get this really awesome (make that awe "full") sky breeze that will make you return the food you already ingested. That, combined with the fact that you will get dozens of air toillet users passing through you during the flight, will make for an extremely rewarding flight experience. One that you will never forget, at least.

To make it really really awesome, my laptop's battery was at 5% when the plane lifted off...