The best seat in the house
Since I am a frequent traveler, sites such as SeatGuru.com come in very handy. I was browsing Kayak, Orbitz and a few other sites to purchase a ticket to Utah, when I stumbled upon an ad link for SeatGuru. After clicking on the flashy banner ad it directed me right to the site. It’s a very clean, retro-looking site, not to mention that it is extremely intuitive and useful.
As mentioned on their website, SeatGuru.com was established in October 2001 by frequent flyer Matthew Daimler, who launched the company with a single color-coded interactive airplane seating chart. Having realized the vast differences between airline seats, he was determined to build a repository of this useful information and share it with other travelers. Over ten million visitors later, SeatGuru has enjoyed incredible success and has expanded to over 275 airplane seatmaps from over 40 different airlines.
In August 2003, SeatGuru.com was incorporated in Seattle, WA, following the launch of Google’s AdSense program. The AdSense advertising platform helped SeatGuru monetize its traffic. Those funds were quickly reinvested in the business, helping to improve and grow the website. With continued growth, SeatGuru hired its first full-time employee in 2004. SeatGuru expanded its website in early 2006 to include new features such as Comparison Charts and articles like our Laptop Power Guide while also adding helpful information and links regarding airline policies and programs. In 2007, SeatGuru.com was purchased by TripAdvisor.com.
The SeatGuru staff flies over 250,000 miles each year, but they can’t fly everywhere, so they depend on user generated information to highlight amenities, whether good, bad or ugly, on each aircraft. The site is then updated with both UGC and independent research/reviews weekly.
Another cool aspect of the site is that it allows pilots, flight attendants, and airline personnel to share their thoughts and insider tidbits with the public.
