What Happened to SeatGuru?
SeatGuru — the site most frequent flyers used to check seat maps and read reviews before booking — officially shut down on October 31, 2025. TripAdvisor, which had owned SeatGuru since 2014, quietly redirected the domain without announcement. The seat maps, 45,000+ seat reviews, and airline guides are gone.
At its peak, SeatGuru attracted over 4 million monthly visitors, most of them organic searchers asking "which seat should I pick on [airline/aircraft]?" That audience now has no obvious home.
Why SeatGuru Died
The short version: SeatGuru stopped updating its aircraft data during COVID-19 (2020–2021), and never caught up. Airlines reconfigured fleets, new aircraft entered service, and SeatGuru's data became increasingly wrong. By 2024, checking SeatGuru for a seat on a newly-configured A350 or 787 would sometimes return the layout for a completely different aircraft.
TripAdvisor eventually decided the maintenance cost of keeping accurate seat data for 400+ aircraft across 160+ airlines outweighed the advertising revenue. The site was abandoned.
The Best SeatGuru Alternatives in 2026
1. AeroLOPA (aerolopa.com) — Best for Seat Maps
AeroLOPA launched in 2021 specifically to replace SeatGuru. By 2026, it covers 160+ airlines with interactive seat maps, peer-reviewed seat ratings, and a heat map view showing which rows other passengers recommended. The design is cleaner than SeatGuru ever was.
Best for: Choosing a specific seat row and position on a known flight.
Limitation: Tells you which seat to pick, not which aircraft is fundamentally more comfortable.
2. SeatLink (seatlink.com) — Fastest Seat Check
SeatLink is a minimalist tool — enter your flight number, get the seat map. No registration, no clutter. It updates from airline data feeds, so it is more likely to be current than static databases.
Best for: Quick pre-boarding seat check.
Limitation: No reviews, no comfort ratings.
3. SeatMaps.com — Editorial + Maps
SeatMaps.com combines seat maps with short editorial notes about each aircraft configuration. Useful when you want to understand *why* a seat is good or bad, not just which seat wins.
Best for: Understanding an unfamiliar aircraft configuration.
4. AeroLogic Aircraft Comparison Tool — Best for Choosing Your Aircraft
Here is what the other tools miss: choosing the right *seat* on the wrong *aircraft* still leaves you uncomfortable. If your airline offers a choice between a Boeing 777-200ER and an Airbus A350 on the same route, the A350 will be more comfortable regardless of which seat you pick — because cabin altitude, humidity, and seat width differ at the aircraft level.
The AeroLogic comparison tool lets you compare any two aircraft side-by-side on the specs that actually matter for long-haul comfort: cabin altitude, cabin humidity, economy seat width, noise level, and range.
Best for: Deciding *which flight* to book when multiple aircraft options exist.
How to Check Your Aircraft Before Booking
- Search your route on Google Flights — the aircraft type is listed under flight details
- If multiple flight options exist on the same route, compare aircraft using AeroLogic
- Once you know which flight/aircraft, use AeroLOPA or SeatLink to pick your specific seat
The combination of an aircraft comparison tool (for the flight choice) and a seat map tool (for the seat choice) replaces everything SeatGuru used to do — and does it better.
Quick Reference: Which Tool for Which Job?
| Your Question | Use This Tool |
|---|---|
| Which seat row is best? | AeroLOPA or SeatLink |
| Is the A350 more comfortable than the 787? | AeroLogic Aircraft Comparison |
| Why is row 35 on this 777 bad? | SeatMaps.com editorial |
| Quick check before boarding | SeatLink |
| Detailed seat reviews from other passengers | AeroLOPA |
For raw cabin specs — humidity, noise level, seat pitch, window size — the A350-900 vs 787-9 comparison tool covers what SeatGuru never did.