Budget airlines are cheap, effective and incredibly popular. Ryanair, Europe's biggest airline by passenger numbers, flies around 200 million passengers a year on 3,800 flights a day. easyJet carried 93.4 million passengers over the 2025 financial year, a 4.2% increase compared to the previous year.
Despite their popularity, they are not known for luxury. Passengers are attracted by cheap tickets for short-haul travel rather than luxury journeys.
But there is a simple hack that can make your journey more comfortable. Experts at Which? say one simple tip gives you extra leg room.
"Want more legroom on a flight? Just sit on the right," experts for the consumer watchdog say. "Take Ryanair for example. Almost all of their planes are Boeing 737s, so choosing seats D, E, or F in rows 3 to 15 will give you the most legroom. With easyJet, meanwhile, you should choose seats D, E, or F in rows 3 to 13 if you're flying on their Airbus A321neo. It will give you an extra inch of legroom compared to sitting in r ows 3 to 17 on the left-hand side of the plane. All planes are different, so it's always worth checking before you book. Just head to Google Flights and type your destination and dates in to find the model number. Then use seat plan experts AeroLopa to find your aircraf t configuration."
Aerolopa allows you to enter your flight details, allowing you to then choose the seat which, in theory, should give you the most leg room.
Right-Side Seats Offer More Legroom on Ryanair and EasyJet