Air China 787-9 Seat Selection Guide (2026)

The two business class window seats with no window

Air China's 787-9 business cabin runs rows 11 to 15 in a 2-2-2 Collins Parallel Diamond layout. Five rows, six seats each, all of them lie-flat. On a booking map they look interchangeable, and the window pairs — A and L — look like the obvious picks.

They are not interchangeable. We track window alignment seat by seat, and 14A and 14L have zero windows beside them. Not a small window, not a misaligned one — the fuselage frame lands there and you get wall. You pay a business class fare, you choose the window seat, and you fly to Europe looking at a panel.

One row forward, 12A and 12L are the only two seats in the entire cabin with a perfectly aligned window. Rows 11, 13 and 15 each get two windows at average alignment. So the window lottery inside this cabin runs from "best seat on the aircraft" to "no window at all" across four rows, and nothing on the airline's seat map tells you which is which.

Business Class — rows 11 to 15

Collins Parallel Diamond, 2-2-2, roughly 60in pitch and 21in wide, fully flat. The pairs sit A–C on the left, D–H in the centre, J–L on the right, with the aisles running between C and D and between H and J.

That geometry matters more than it looks. D and H each sit directly against an aisle — the centre pair is the only pair on the aircraft where both occupants can get up without anyone climbing past. C and J are aisle seats too. A and L are not: they sit against the window with a neighbour between them and the aisle. Twenty of the 30 business seats have direct aisle access — exactly the four non-window seats in each of the five rows.

So the choice in this cabin is a real trade. Window and view, or getting out when you want to. There is no seat here that gives you both.

Best business seats

• 12A and 12L — the only seats in the cabin with a perfectly aligned window. No aisle access without stepping past your neighbour.
• 12D and 12H — centre pair, both against an aisle, mid-cabin. The best pick for a solo traveller who wants to move around, and the best pair for two people travelling together.
• 11D and 11H — same benefits, front row, first off the aircraft. Nothing is flagged against row 11.
• 11A/11L and 13A/13L — two windows each at average alignment. The fallback window seats if row 12 is gone.

Business seats to avoid

• 14A and 14L — no window at this position.
• All of row 15 — the last business row, with lavatories immediately behind. 15A, 15C, 15H, 15J and 15L all sit against the lavatory wall, with the noise, odours and queuing traffic that implies; 15D gets a milder version of the same problem. There is no good seat in row 15.

Premium Economy — rows 31 to 34

Read this part before you pay the upgrade. Air China's premium economy on the 787-9 is 3-3-3, at the same 17in seat width as economy. Thirty-four seats across four rows. What you are buying is pitch: about 36in against economy's 31in. The cabin drawings bear that out — premium economy rows are spaced 15% further apart than economy rows, and 15% more than 31in is 36in.

Five extra inches of legroom is worth something on a twelve-hour flight. A wider seat, a 2-3-2 cabin, or a middle seat you can avoid is not on offer here. If width is what you wanted, this cabin will disappoint you, and the guides for China Eastern and China Southern's three-class 787-9s describe genuine 2-3-2 premium economy cabins instead.

32C and 32J are the best seats in the cabin

Row 31 is the bulkhead row, and it is seven seats wide, not nine. There is no 31C and no 31J — those two positions are empty. Which means the seats directly behind them, 32C and 32J, have open floor in front of them and nothing else.

This is the combination people go looking for in the bulkhead row and never actually get. Row 31 buys legroom at a price: no underseat storage, and the tray table and screen live in the armrest, which narrows the seat you are sitting in. 32C and 32J get the open space without paying either penalty — full underseat storage, a normal in-seat tray, an aisle beside them, and measurable extra legroom. They are the only two seats on this aircraft where the bulkhead trade-off simply does not apply.

Best premium economy seats

• 32C and 32J — aisle seats with nothing in front of them and no bulkhead penalty. First choice.
• 32A and 32L — the only premium economy seats with a perfectly aligned window.
• Row 31 (A, B, D, E, H, K, L) — genuine extra legroom if you can live without underseat storage and with a narrower seat.

Premium economy notes

Nothing in this cabin is rated red. Rows 33 and 34 are plain premium economy with no flags either way — a safe default if row 32 has gone. Every row is 3-3-3, so B, E and K are middle seats throughout.

Economy — rows 35 to 61

3-3-3 at 31in pitch and about 17in wide, split into a forward cabin (rows 35–46) and a rear cabin (rows 47–61). The seat letters are A-B-C, D-E-H, J-K-L — there is no F or G.

Row 48 is the best row in economy

48D, 48E and 48H sit behind a bulkhead with 73cm (29in) of clear floor to the wall — extra-generous by any standard, and the most legroom available to anyone in economy on this aircraft. 48A and 48L, in the same row, have a perfectly aligned window. Five green-rated seats in a single row, which does not happen twice on this aeroplane.

The exit row trap: take 47B, 47C, 47J or 47K — not 47A or 47L

Row 47 is the exit row, six seats wide (A-B-C and J-K-L, no centre block), with extra legroom and no seatback in front. The window seats are the ones everyone grabs, and they are the two you should not.

47A has exit door L3 protruding across roughly 80% of its seat width, 35cm ahead. 47L has door R3 doing the same thing 40cm ahead. Both also have a poor window. 47B, 47C, 47J and 47K get the identical extra legroom with nothing in the way — though note the letter scheme: economy here is A-B-C, D-E-H, J-K-L, so 47C and 47J are the aisle seats and 47B and 47K are middles. If you want exit legroom on an aisle, 47C and 47J are the two to book.

Best economy seats

• 48D, 48E, 48H — 29in of clear floor ahead. The most legroom in economy.
• 48A, 48L and 55A, 55L — perfectly aligned windows. The only four in the cabin.
• 47C and 47J — exit row legroom without the door intrusion, on an aisle. 47B and 47K are the same row but middle seats.
• 35C and 35J — front row of economy, with a partial bulkhead ahead that leaves extra legroom on one side. Aisle seats.
• Rows 36–41 and 49–53 — plain, unflagged economy. The safe middle ground.

Economy seats to avoid

• 58A and 58L — no window at all. Wall only.
• Rows 45 and 46 — the mid-cabin lavatory bank. Most of both rows is rated red; row 46 also backs onto a galley, so add meal-service noise and light.
• Rows 59, 60 and 61 — the rear lavatories. Row 60 loses its A and L seats entirely and row 61 is three centre seats, all red.
• 47A and 47L — exit door intrusion, as above.
• 42A/42L, 54A/54L, 57A/57L — poor window alignment. Not disasters, but there are better window seats a row or two away.
• 44A/44B/44K/44L — close enough to the mid-cabin lavatories to catch the queue.

Window alignment, row by row

The 787's windows do not line up with every seat row. On this aircraft the difference is large enough to pick seats around, so here is the whole picture for the A and L columns.

Every other row with an A and L seat gets a single, reasonably positioned window. Note that row 60 has no A or L seat at all — the fuselage narrows and B and K become the window seats — and row 61 is three centre seats with no window anywhere in the row.

Cabin features compared

Quick-pick summary

Wi-Fi: check before you count on it

Our cabin research finds no in-flight Wi-Fi fitted to Air China's 787-9, in any of the three classes. Some seat listings show the aircraft as connected; we have not been able to corroborate that, and we would rather tell you the disagreement exists than pick a side quietly. If connectivity matters for your trip, confirm it with Air China for your specific flight rather than assuming either way.

This is one place where Air China's 787-9 falls behind its Chinese rivals. Both China Eastern's and China Southern's 787-9s carry Panasonic eXConnect Ku-band Wi-Fi across their entire fleets.

Frequently asked questions

Does Air China fly more than one 787-9 layout?

No. All 14 aircraft are configured 30 business / 34 premium economy / 229 economy. Unusually for a Chinese widebody fleet, there is no version lottery here — the seat map you see when you book is the seat map you will fly. China Southern's 787-9 fleet, by contrast, comes in three different layouts.

Is Air China's 787-9 business class 1-2-1?

No, it is 2-2-2 — Collins Parallel Diamond, five rows of six. The seats are fully flat and angled, and 20 of the 30 have direct aisle access, but the A and L window seats do not: you will need to step past your neighbour. If all-aisle-access business is what you are after, Air China's A350-900 and both China Eastern's and China Southern's 787-9s use 1-2-1 layouts instead.

Is Air China's premium economy worth paying for?

It depends entirely on what you thought you were buying. The cabin is 3-3-3 at the same 17in width as economy, so the seat is not wider and there is still a middle seat in every group of three. What you get is about five extra inches of pitch, a separate small cabin, and a better chance of an aisle. If legroom is your constraint, it delivers. If shoulder room is, it does not.

Which economy seats have the most legroom?

48D, 48E and 48H, with 73cm (29in) of clear floor to the bulkhead ahead. They beat the exit row. 48D and 48H are aisle seats; 48E is the middle of the centre three. The exit row itself is row 47, where 47C and 47J are the aisle seats to take — 47A and 47L have an exit door protruding into the space in front of them.

Which seats have no window?

14A and 14L in business, and 58A and 58L in economy. All four are sold as window seats and none of them has a window. A further ten rows have a badly offset window rather than none at all — the table above lists every row.

Which rows should I avoid completely?

Row 15 in business (lavatories immediately behind, five of six seats rated red), rows 45 and 46 in the forward economy cabin (mid-cabin lavatory bank plus a galley), and rows 59 to 61 at the back (rear lavatories). Row 61 is three centre seats with lavatories on the other side of the bulkhead.