New airplane seat 'comfort scorecard' site launches

Josh Roberts believes the best trips involve long hikes and muddy boots. His life goals haven't changed much since he was a kid: He still wants to be Indiana Jones when he grows up.

Follow him on Twitter (@joshwhowrites) and Instagram (@joshwhowrites), and visit his website (joshrobertsbooks.com) or Goodreads page to learn more about his forthcoming novel.

Josh joined SmarterTravel in 2001, and is an active member in both the Society of American Travel Writers (SATW) and the Society of Children's Book Writers and Illustrators (SCBWI).

In addition to SmarterTravel, he has written for USA Today, The Boston Globe, Yahoo! Travel, The Huffington Post, Airfarewatchdog, TripAdvisor, Jetsetter, ABC News, Oyster, and Business Insider. His travel photography can be seen in Britain and Ireland's Best Wild Places, published by Penguin UK.

The Handy Item I Always Pack: "A lacrosse ball. It's small, lightweight, and works wonders on loosening up tight muscles."

Ultimate Bucket List Experience: "Being the first to discover an ancient lost city. Failing that, visiting as many of the already-discovered ancient ruins as possible."

Travel Motto: "Not all those who wander are lost." -J.R.R. Tolkien

Aisle, Window, or Middle Seat: "Aisle."

See recent posts by Josh Roberts

Notice: Undefined offset: 4 in /nas/content/live/stagingstmllc/wp-content/plugins/smartertravel-shared/includes/ads/includes/api.php on line 92

Notice: Undefined offset: 5 in /nas/content/live/stagingstmllc/wp-content/plugins/smartertravel-shared/includes/ads/includes/api.php on line 92

Notice: Undefined offset: 6 in /nas/content/live/stagingstmllc/wp-content/plugins/smartertravel-shared/includes/ads/includes/api.php on line 92

Notice: Undefined offset: 4 in /nas/content/live/stagingstmllc/wp-content/plugins/smartertravel-shared/includes/ads/includes/api.php on line 98

Notice: Undefined index: pass_through_args in /nas/content/live/stagingstmllc/wp-content/plugins/smartertravel-shared/includes/ads/includes/api.php on line 158

Notice: Undefined index: wrapper in /nas/content/live/stagingstmllc/wp-content/plugins/smartertravel-shared/includes/ads/includes/api.php on line 159

For years we’ve recommended the Seat Guru website as the best resource for checking the quality of a particular airplane seat when making your online seat selections. Now there’s a new airplane seat-rating site in town.

The “Airplane Seat Comfort Scorecard” at seatscorecard.com seems determined to give Seat Guru a run for its money as the top seat-selection resource. The site claims to be the product of more than “4,200 hours of analysis and research” and more than 20 independent research firms. It covers 10,000 seat reviews on 300 different airplane types on 70 airlines, including JetBlue, United, Southwest, and British Airways. According to a site representative, seatscorecard.com is “updated continually.”

My initial impressions of the site are positive. It’s easy to use and features intuitive visual tools for checking seat quality. Near as I can tell—by checking the planes and airlines I’m most familiar with—it appears to be accurate as well.

Considering the commotion caused by Northwest’s recent move to start charging extra for the best seats, tools like this and Seat Guru will only become more important with each passing day.

We hand-pick everything we recommend and select items through testing and reviews. Some products are sent to us free of charge with no incentive to offer a favorable review. We offer our unbiased opinions and do not accept compensation to review products. All items are in stock and prices are accurate at the time of publication. If you buy something through our links, we may earn a commission.