IStock Photo 9467351 © Laurent Davoust

For some, “The Nightmare before Christmas” means Jack Skellington vs. Mr. Oogie Boogie—for others, it means you vs. other passengers on a crowded airplane, and loser gets the middle seat.

Airplane passengers almost universally dread the middle seat, and according to a market survey conducted by 3M, a full 80% of Americans try to avoid one—they’ll book early or online, change their seats at the gate last-second, jump in early boarding groups, run ahead, cajole, and beg. On average, the survey reveals, Americans would prefer to get stuck in traffic, endure a blind date, or visit the dentist than travel in the middle seat on a plane trip. The odds of drawing that particular straw, though, vary widely depending on the airplane model.

If you’re taking the British Airways redeye to London, for instance, the odds are relatively high. That’s because the BA fleet contains a large number of Boeing 747s (the first commercial airliner to be nicknamed the "jumbo jet") and the odds a seat on a Boeing 747 is a middle seat are 1 in 3.08.

A typical seat layout for a Boeing 747 is: on the main deck, 3-4-3 in economy (as in, 3 seats, AISLE, 4 seats, AISLE, 3 seats) and 2-3-2 in first class; and on the upper deck, 3-3 in economy and 2-2 in first class. Noticeably, a first class row has, in a 747, either 1 or 0 middle seats, while an economy row has either 2 or 4. That makes the odds 1 in 2.64 that an economy seat on a Boeing 747 is a middle seat, the highest of any Boeing 700's model. How high? The odds are about the same (1 in 2.65) that a household does not have a dishwasher. British Airways, Qantas, American, Delta, and United Airlines are primary 747 users.

If you plan on catching a flight over the holidays—anything from a Southwest hop to Love Field, to an Air France intercontinental to Berlin—be aware that other Boeing models have similar numbers (see below). For good measure, the middle-seat odds for an Airbus A300, another common airliner, are included. Of course, a sparsely filled flight usually means a passenger may sit wherever he or she likes (in which case, the odds would lessen), but on a full flight, like those at Christmastime, the odds are as follows:

• The odds a seat on a Boeing 737 is a middle seat are 1 in 3.36. In economy: 1 in 3 (used by Southwest, Continental, and Alaska Airlines).
• The odds a seat on a Boeing 757 is a middle seat are 1 in 3.39. In economy: 1 in 3.09 (used by Delta, United and American Airlines).
• The odds a seat on a Boeing 777 is a middle seat are 1 in 3.55. In economy: 1 in 3.16 (used by Air France, British Airways, American, and United Airlines).
• The odds a seat on an Airbus A300 is a middle seat are 1 in 4.3. In economy: 1 in 4.05 (used by Japan and China Eastern Airlines).

If you’re taking a full Boeing 767 this Christmas, however, take heart. The odds your seat will be a middle seat are only 1 in 10.5.

What the 767 has that the other models don't is a 2-1-2 or 2-2-2 row in business/first class and a 2-3-2 in economy, meaning any row has at most only 1 middle seat. Even in economy class, the odds a seat on a Boeing 767 is a middle seat are only 1 in 8.

American, Continental, Delta, and United Airlines are common users of the 767, so if you’ve booked a Christmas Eve 767 with one of those carriers, you can relax, knowing the odds are slim that you’ll be sandwiched between two armrest hogs.