Where is the safest seat on a plane? Milan Busts Myths

There’s no such thing as a completely safe seat on a plane. Still, studies show your chances of survival are slightly better at the back than at the front. Statistically, the best bet is a middle seat in the rear third of the plane, close to an emergency exit. Accidents are very rare, though, so it’s fine to choose your seat for comfort.

The safest seat on a plane doesn’t exist. Look at it this way: when a plane comes down, every part of it falls at the same speed. That makes talking about the safest seat on a plane a bit like fortune-telling. That said, I have some good news: researchers have looked into this too, and they’ve found a few things worth knowing. Watch the video, then have a look at my Milan Busts Myths category. There I go through other travel topics that attract plenty of myths and misinformation.

This is the safest seat on a plane

Sit near an emergency exit: it may be the safest seat on the plane

Statistically, seats close to an emergency exit, at the front or the back, have the lowest fatality rate, and so do middle seats in the rear third of the plane. What matters most to you when you choose where to sit on a plane? For some people it’s the aisle, for easy access to the toilets; for others it’s a window seat with a view. Legroom can be a factor too, and so can sitting over the wing, or at the front rather than the back. All in all, there’s plenty to weigh up. But what about safety?

Then again, the wing blocks part of the view from the seats above it, and the view is the main draw of a window seat. Sitting at the back of a plane with rear-mounted engines can be noisy. Have you ever wondered which seats on a plane are the safest and which would give you the best chance of surviving a crash?

Planes don’t fly into mountains tail first, and you almost always see the tail fin among the wreckage. Logic would suggest that the safest place to sit is at the back of the plane. Still, all sorts of other factors come into play, such as how close you are to an exit and which part of the plane took the brunt of the impact. So it’s fair to assume that if you sit at the back, as close to an emergency exit as possible, you statistically have the best chance of survival.

The worst seat on a plane, according to research

When Time magazine wrote about the safest seats on a plane in 2015, it used data from the US Federal Aviation Administration (FAA). The data covered accidents in which some people died and others survived. According to that analysis, the worst place to sit is in the middle of the plane. Seats in the middle of the cabin had a fatality rate of 39%, compared with 38% in the front third and 32% in the rear third.

Another study, by the University of Greenwich, also found that after an accident the passengers sitting closest to an emergency exit had the best chance of getting out alive. That is especially important for surviving a fire after a crash. A plane is full of flammable jet fuel (kerosene), which starts burning almost immediately after impact.

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How to choose the best and most comfortable seat on a plane

For years I recommended SeatGuru.com, but the site shut down in October 2025. These days you can look up the seat map of a specific aircraft, with notes, on sites such as AeroLOPA. You’ll see the aircraft type when you book, or you can look it up by flight number. I mostly check the seat map on long flights, where I don’t want to leave anything to chance and I pay extra for a particular seat.

I also used SeatGuru to find the best and most comfortable seat on the plane for my nearly 15-hour flight from Paris to Santiago de Chile. Plane crashes and their death tolls can be shocking, but air travel has become safer over the years, especially compared with other modes of transport. According to 2024 figures from the US National Safety Council, the lifetime odds of dying in a car crash are 1 in 101. For plane passengers, there were so few deaths that the odds couldn’t even be calculated. All things considered, flying is still one of the safest ways to travel.

In April 2012, a team of scientists making a Discovery Channel documentary deliberately crashed a Boeing 727 in the Mexican desert for research. They wanted to see how passengers’ chances of survival differed from one part of the plane to another. Their findings showed that the people at the front faced the greatest risk, and the further back the seat, the lower the danger.

The safest seat on a plane: frequently asked questions

What is the safest seat on a plane?

There’s no completely safe seat on a plane. Statistically, though, the best option is a middle seat in the rear third of the plane, close to an emergency exit. That’s where passengers had the best chance of surviving an accident.

Is it safer to sit at the front or the back of a plane?

At the back. According to FAA data analysed by Time magazine, the rear third of the plane had a fatality rate of 32%, the front third 38% and the middle third 39%. The 2012 test in which scientists deliberately crashed a Boeing 727 in the Mexican desert produced a similar result.

Why is a seat near an emergency exit safer?

Because it gives you a shorter way out of the plane. A University of Greenwich study found that passengers sitting closest to an emergency exit had the best chance of getting out alive after an accident. That matters most if fuel catches fire after impact.

Where is the best place to sit on a plane?

It depends on what you prefer. An aisle seat makes it easier to get to the toilet and a window seat gives you a view, although over the wing the view is partly blocked. You can check the seat map of a specific aircraft on sites such as AeroLOPA.

Is flying safer than driving?

Yes. Air travel is one of the safest ways to travel, and the risk of dying in a plane crash is many times lower than in a car crash. So feel free to choose your seat on a plane for comfort rather than safety.

This is the safest seat on a plane. Milan Busts Myths

I’ve busted another travel myth in my article The centre of Europe isn’t in Slovakia: here are all the contenders.