At the dawn of time, I used to work for an airline. And while my airline colleagues and I did not predate Megalosaurus, we did share time with another dinosaur: the seatmap contact sheet. At the time, an airline agent would assign seats using a large contact paper diagram outlining the fuselage and showing each seat on the aircraft. Upon check in at the gate, the agent would remove a seat tab and stick it onto the paper boarding pass.

Why the airline history lesson? It's just a little background on why I love SeatGuru.com. Anyone with Internet access, can checkout out their flight's seatmap and get the lowdown on the good, the bad and the ugly seating options. On a recent flight to Hawaii, I avoided sitting in a seat with limited legroom, a fixed seatback and an arm's length distance from the biffy (airline talk for restroom). A visit to SeatGuru.com exposed the seat for what it was: poor, so I changed my seat to a decent window with no surprises.  

This week Egencia launched SeatGuru as a component of the booking tool, so business travelers have access to more than 350 airplane seatmaps from more than 50 different airlines. Travelers can find the best available seat on every flight with detailed maps of aircraft cabin layouts and overviews.

We've come a long way indeed.