Choosing the best window seat for photos: wing, sunny side and seat planning

You booked the window seat, and then you are sitting next to a plastic wall, staring at a wing that blocks half your field of view, and the sun is glaring on the scratched pane. The approach to the city, of course, is on the other side. You find the best window seat for photos not by luck but with four questions you can go through before booking. This guide shows you how to read seat maps, choose the row to match the wing, work out the sunny side from flight direction and time of day and estimate the side for the approach.

How to then eliminate reflections and set up the camera is covered in the guide Photos from the airplane window. This one is about everything that happens before: choosing the seat.

The best window seat: the short answer

The best window seat for photos is at a real window, on the side away from the sun and, depending on your goal, well ahead of or a few rows behind the wing. Ahead of the wing you have an unobstructed view of landscape, cities and apron. Behind it you get the wing view with wing, winglet and often the engine. Which side of the aircraft shows the airport on approach depends on the runway direction in use. That can only be estimated in terms of probabilities.

Question 1: Does your seat really have a window?

That sounds banal but is the most common mistake. Windows sit in a fixed grid in the fuselage. Each airline installs the seat rows with its own seat pitch. Because the two grids do not match, the window shifts a little forward or back from row to row. Some seats have the window exactly at eye level, others half behind your shoulder, and a few seats face a wall panel.

This happens particularly often in these places:

• In front of and behind emergency exits: Around the exits, spacing and trim change, so some rows end up at a spot without a window.
• At bulkheads and cabin transitions: Where business and economy meet or a galley is installed, the seat grid shifts.
• In very tightly seated cabins: The smaller the seat pitch, the more rows share the windows, and the more seats sit at a pillar between two windows.

The seat map in the booking form often helps little here, because many airlines do not draw windows at all. Better are specialized seat map sites that trace the airlines’ cabin layouts and rate seats, among other things, by how well they line up with the window row. Check aircraft type and seating configuration there, because an airline can operate the same type in several cabin versions.

Question 2: Where do you sit relative to the wing?

The wing is subject and obstacle at the same time. What you see from a seat depends on the aircraft’s design.

Low-wing aircraft with engines under the wing

Almost all airline jets belong here, from the Airbus A320 and the Boeing 737-800 to widebodies such as the Boeing 787-9 or the Airbus A350-900. Here the following applies:

• Ahead of the wing you look freely downward and sideways. This is the seat for scenery, coastlines, cities on approach and the view of the apron while taxiing.
• Over the wing you mainly see the wing. There is hardly any view downward. In return, you usually feel turbulence less there.
• A few rows behind the wing is the classic wing view: wing, winglet and engine in the picture, and on takeoff and approach, flaps and spoilers are in motion. Behind the engine, the air shimmers in the exhaust jet, which you can see clearly while taxiing and on takeoff.

On short- and medium-haul jets with overwing emergency exits, these rows are a handy reference point. The exits are over the wing, so the free view downward begins a few rows ahead and the wing view a few rows behind. On longer variants such as the A321neo, it depends on the door layout the airline has chosen. A look at the seat map of the specific aircraft is a must there.

High-wing aircraft and rear-mounted engines

On turboprops such as the ATR 72-600 or the Dash 8-400, the wing sits at the top of the fuselage. You therefore look freely downward from almost every row. At the height of the propellers it is different: the nacelle blocks part of the view, and the spinning blades often create curved, distorted patterns in photos. Seats ahead of or well behind the propeller disc are therefore usually the better choice. How to tell the types apart is covered in the guide Telling the ATR and Dash 8 apart.

On regional jets with rear-mounted engines, such as the Bombardier CRJ900, the wing is smaller and the engines hang at the back of the fuselage. In the rear rows you look at the engine nacelle instead of the landscape there. Further forward you usually have the clearest view.

Design	Examples	Unobstructed view down	Wing view	What to watch for
Low wing, engines under the wing	A320 family, 737, 787, A350	ahead of the wing	a few rows behind the wing	Overwing emergency exits as a reference
High wing with propellers	ATR 72, Dash 8-400	almost everywhere	wing seen from below, at the top of the frame	Avoid the propeller disc
Low wing, rear-mounted engines	CRJ family	front and middle	wing small in the frame	at the back, engines block the view
Widebody	777, 787, A350, A380	forward cabin	rear cabin	large wing, seats directly above it see little

Question 3: Where is the sun?

After the row comes the side. On the side away from the sun, the window is in shade, scratches and streaks do not light up, and the landscape below you is lit. On the sunny side, you shoot into the haze, and every mark on the acrylic becomes visible.

In the Northern Hemisphere, the sun is in the south during the day, more in the east in the morning and more in the west in the evening. That gives a simple table for the rough flight direction:

Flight direction	Morning	Midday	Evening
eastbound	sun ahead, both sides rather bright, left a bit shadier	sun on the right, left in the shade	sun behind, left usually calmer
westbound	sun behind, right usually calmer	sun on the left, right in the shade	sun ahead, right a bit shadier
northbound	sun on the right, left in the shade	sun behind, both sides usable	sun on the left, right in the shade
southbound	sun on the left, right in the shade	sun ahead, risk of glare on both sides	sun on the right, left in the shade

The table describes tendencies. How strongly the season shifts the direction of the sun is explained in the guide Planning the sun position. The logic behind it applies at the fence just as it does in the aircraft. And for evening moods, the light of the golden hour counts for more than the shady side.

The flight direction is not always the straight line

On long routes, aircraft do not fly a straight line on the map but a great circle. A flight from central Europe to the US East Coast therefore starts heading northwest and often leads far north before turning southwest. For seat choice, that means: look at the actual flight path, not just the location of the two cities. Why that is the case is covered in the article Why aircraft fly curves.

Question 4: Which side is the approach on?

Many spotters want to see the airport from above on approach, their home runway, an apron full of long-haul jets or the skyline of the destination city. Which side is the right one for that cannot be predicted with certainty. The runway direction in use depends on the wind, and air traffic control guides aircraft to the runway along different paths depending on traffic. Basics are in the articles Understanding the runway direction in use at an airport and SIDs and STARs.

Still, you can get the odds on your side:

• Check flight paths from previous days. Flight tracking services store the routes of past flights. Look at the same flight number over several days and note which side the airport was on during approach. How that works is shown in the guide Flight tracking with ADS-B for spotters.
• Wind forecast for the arrival time. It tells you which runway direction is likely. With the article on Windy and other weather maps, you can estimate it days ahead.
• Know the terminal location. While taxiing, you see the apron on the side where the terminals are. At Frankfurt Airport, Munich Airport or Zurich Airport, it is worth a look at the airport map before you settle on a side.

But expect things to turn out differently on the day itself. A seat with good window alignment and the shady side is a win even if the approach takes place on the other side.

Which seat suits your goal?

Not everyone wants the same picture. Choose your main goal, and you get a recommendation for the seat choice.

Booking, check-in and aircraft changes

You usually choose the seat at one of two moments. At booking, the selection is greatest, but on many fares the reservation costs extra. At online check-in, in many cases you get a seat assigned at no extra charge or can choose from the remaining ones. Window seats ahead of the wing are often already gone by then. What the rules look like at your airline is in the fare conditions.

Also expect an aircraft change. Airlines swap aircraft at short notice, for example because of technical problems or rotations. An A321 then becomes an A320, and your row is suddenly in a different position relative to the wing. If you have booked a specific seat, check the seat map again at check-in.

Special case: emergency exit

Rows at overwing emergency exits are popular with spotters: lots of legroom and the wing right in front of you. But special rules apply. Whoever sits there must be able to help in an emergency. Families with children or travelers with reduced mobility are therefore seated elsewhere. Bags usually may not stand on the floor in front of you in these rows but belong in the overhead bin. Your camera is then not at hand for takeoff and landing. What is generally allowed on board is described in the article Photographing and filming on board. Why window shades have to be open for takeoff and landing is covered in a guide of its own.

A window is not just a window

The pane itself also differs by type. The Boeing 787-9 and its sister models have comparatively large windows that are electrically dimmed instead of using a blind. The crew can control this dimming centrally, so on night flights you do not always decide yourself how bright your window is. A dimmed pane also tints the picture noticeably. You will find further differences between the modern long-haul types in the article A350 or Boeing 787?.

On long-haul flights, the position in the cabin also plays a role. In the forward cabin classes, seats are often arranged at an angle, and some seats are far from the window. If you book business or premium economy, check the seat map there particularly carefully.

Checklist before departure

What belongs in the camera bag for carry-on is described in the article Camera gear in carry-on luggage. And if you are changing planes on the way, take a look at the guide Spotting during a layover.

What matters

• Window alignment first, then everything else. The best side is useless if you are looking at a wall.
• Judge wing position by design. Low-wing, high-wing and jets with rear-mounted engines call for different rows.
• Sunny side by flight path, not straight line. On long-haul routes, the course deviates greatly from the direct line on the map.
• See the approach side as a probability. Flight paths from previous days and the wind forecast help; there is no guarantee.
• Consideration for neighbors. If you work at the window with a camera, you do not block others’ view permanently, you keep the light off and you photograph fellow passengers only with their consent.

Conclusion

A good photo seat on an aircraft is the result of four decisions: a real window, the right row relative to the wing, the shady side and the more likely approach side. Seat map sites show you the window alignment, the aircraft’s design reveals the right row, flight direction and time of day give the side, and the flight paths of previous days provide a hint about the approach. The rest is technique at the window – and a bit of luck with wind and clouds.