The End: SeatGuru Finally Calls It a Day
- Sam
- Nov 1
- 3 min read
Well, this is a bit sad, isn't it? 25 years on, SeatGuru has officially shut its doors. If you've flown at some point, chances are you've used this website at some point to figure out which seats to avoid on your next flight.
What's Happened?
SeatGuru launched way back in 2001, and for years it was the go-to resource for checking aircraft seat maps. They offered colour-coded seats showing you which ones were brilliant, which ones were fine, and which ones you absolutely shouldn't book unless you fancied spending your flight with your knees around your ears.
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TripAdvisor spotted its value and bought SeatGuru. Makes sense, getting people onto your travel website by offering useful tools is clever business.
Unfortunately SeatGuru stopped updating its seat maps in 2020, with the website staying online all this time with increasingly outdated data, with some people unfortunately still relying on this information. But now when you visit seatguru.com, you'll just see a message saying "SeatGuru has closed down" and a nudge to visit TripAdvisor instead (which, misleadingly, doesn't offer the same seat map advice at all).
Why Shut SeatGuru Down?
Yes, updating seat maps takes a bit of work, but considering the amount of traffic the site could generate, you'd think it would be worth keeping alive? For a brand like Tripadvisor, having the most popular airplane seat map resource seems like a no-brainer (if anyone from Tripadvisor is reading this, lets come to a deal).
Clearly this just comes down to SeatGuru not making enough money for Tripadvisor.
What Should You Use Instead?
An early piece I wrote for Points Well Made was "My Essential Travel Apps", and in there was my go-to replacement for SeatGuru, aeroLOPA.
aeroLOPA shows you incredibly detailed seat maps where you can draw your own conclusions. Want to know exactly where the windows are? Sorted. Need specific seat details? It's all there. What is lacking though are the user friendly colour coded seats, which gave SeatGuru a level of accessibility that aeroLOPA lacks.
Let me know if you would like a guide on how to use aeroLOPA!
My Final Thoughts on This...
It's a sad day seeing SeatGuru shut down - it was such a staple of travel planning for so many years. But if we're being honest, the site hasn't been useful for ages with those outdated maps.
It's just a shame that TripAdvisor bought it only to essentially abandon it...
Still, at least we've got aeroLOPA to pick up where SeatGuru left off. And if you're planning any trips soon (perhaps booking with those hard-earned Avios?), definitely give it a try before selecting your seats.
What's your go-to resource for checking seat maps these days? Let us know!
Sam
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