China Southern 787-9 Seat Selection Guide (2026)

Row 31 is the best row in economy, or the worst, depending on the aircraft

Row 31 is the front row of economy on every China Southern 787-9. It is the bulkhead row, so it has the legroom — 72 to 80cm (29 to 31in) of clear floor ahead, which is a genuinely large amount. It is the row people pay to sit in.

On the 78C and the 78W, six of its nine seats are rated red. 31A, 31B, 31C, 31H, 31J and 31K sit immediately alongside a lavatory, and three of them are bassinet positions on top of that. All the legroom in the world does not fix a lavatory door beside your shoulder for eleven hours. Only the centre three — 31D, 31E and 31G — escape it, and those three are rated green: the best economy seats on the aircraft.

On the 78Z, the same row is fine. Premium economy sits between business and economy on that variant, which moves the lavatories elsewhere, and 31B, 31C, 31H and 31J come out green instead. Same aircraft type, same airline, same row number, opposite answer.

The version lottery: 78C, 78W and 78Z

China Southern runs the largest 787-9 fleet of any Chinese carrier and splits it three ways. Twelve aircraft fly the 78C layout and eight the 78Z. No reliable fleet count exists for the 78W — so rather than invent odds, here is how to identify each one from the seat map itself.

How to tell which version you are on

Work down this list against the seat map your booking shows you. Each step takes seconds and you only need to reach the first one that answers.

1. Is there a premium economy cabin at rows 25 to 28? Yes → you are on the 78Z. It is the only three-class variant, and the one with 276 seats rather than 297. Stop here.
2. No premium economy — does economy run continuously from row 31 to row 62 with nothing skipped? Yes → 78W. Its exit row is 48.
3. No premium economy, and economy jumps over row 48 and rows 50–51, running back to row 65? → 78C. Its exit row is 49.

A one-glance shortcut for the two-class aircraft: look for row 48. On the 78W it is the exit row. On the 78C it does not exist at all.

The point worth holding on to: the rear economy cabins differ slightly, but apart from the row numbering the 78C and 78W are essentially the same aeroplane. Which is exactly why the numbering catches people out — the seat is the same, the number on your boarding pass is not.

Business Class — rows 5 to 11, identical on all three

The one part of this aircraft you do not need to worry about. All three variants carry the same 28 Thompson Aero Vantage XL seats in the same staggered 1-2-1 arrangement across rows 5 to 11, and every one of the 28 has direct aisle access — 28 out of 28, with almost the whole cabin rating green.

The seat letters alternate by row, which is the giveaway that you are looking at a staggered cabin:

• Rows 5, 7, 9 and 11 use A, E, G and K
• Rows 6, 8 and 10 use C, D, F and H

The stagger: A and K are the private window seats

In a Vantage XL cabin the window seats alternate between two positions. A and K, in rows 5, 7, 9 and 11, sit hard against the fuselage with the side console between you and the aisle — enclosed, quiet, the ones to book if you plan to sleep. C and H, in rows 6, 8 and 10, sit further inboard with the console on the window side, which puts you closer to the aisle and to passing traffic.

Both are excellent seats with a door and lie-flat bed. Only one type is tucked away.

Best business seats

• 9A and 9K — window-side stagger plus the only perfectly aligned windows in the cabin. The best two seats on any China Southern 787-9, whichever variant you are on.
• 7A and 7K — same position, mid-cabin, one row forward.
• 11A and 11K — same position at the back of the cabin, away from the forward lavatory. Unflagged on all three variants, including the 78Z where the galley sits behind row 11.
• Any E and G pair (rows 5, 7, 9, 11) or D and F pair (rows 6, 8, 10) — the centre pairs, for two people travelling together. Both occupants still reach an aisle directly.

Business seats to think twice about

• 5K — the only amber seat in the business cabin on all three variants. There is a lavatory ahead of it and you will hear the queue.
• 11E and 11G, on the 78Z only — the galley sits immediately behind them on that variant, so expect noise and light during meal service. The same two seats are unflagged on the 78C and 78W.

Premium Economy — 78Z only, rows 25 to 28

Twenty-eight seats in four rows, 2-3-2, lettered A-C, D-E-G, H-K. Roughly 38in pitch against economy's 32in. Sixteen of the 28 seats — C, D, G and H in every row — have direct aisle access; A and K are window seats with a neighbour beside them, and E is the middle of the centre three.

The bulkhead trap applies here too, but only on one side. Row 25 has a lavatory ahead of its left-hand seats, so 25A and 25C are rated red while 25H and 25K on the right side of the same row are not. Four positions in the row — 25C, 25D, 25G and 25K — are bassinet mounts, which is where infants will be.

Best premium economy seats

• 27A and 27K — two windows each, no bassinet, no lavatory, nothing flagged. The pick of the cabin.
• 27C and 27H — the same row on the aisle.
• 28A and 28K — clean window seats, though the whole of row 28 sits in front of the economy bulkhead bassinet positions in row 31.

Premium economy seats to avoid

• 25A and 25C — lavatory immediately ahead, plus no underseat storage and the tray table in the armrest.
• 25C, 25D, 25G and 25K — bassinet positions.
• 26A and 26K — poorly positioned window.
• 25D, 25G and 25H — the bulkhead ahead covers 90% of the seat width, so the "extra legroom" is mostly wall.

Economy — all three variants

3-3-3 at about 32in pitch, lettered A-B-C, D-E-G, H-J-K. There is no F. Economy is split into a forward cabin and a rear cabin on every variant; what changes is how long the forward cabin is and how the rows are numbered behind the exit.

Row 31, the bulkhead

Covered at the top of this guide, and worth repeating because it is the single biggest seat-selection decision on this aircraft. Every seat in row 31 has 72 to 80cm (29 to 31in) of clear floor ahead, no underseat storage, and a tray table and screen that fold out of the armrest.

• 78C and 78W: take 31D, 31E or 31G — 31D and 31G are the aisle seats, 31E the middle. Avoid 31A, 31B, 31C, 31H, 31J and 31K — all six are next to a lavatory and all six are rated red.
• 78Z: take 31C or 31H for an aisle, or 31B or 31J if a middle seat with 31in of legroom suits you — all four are green. 31A and 31K have a poorly positioned window, and 31A, 31E and 31K are bassinet positions.

The exit row: two good seats, and they are not the window ones

The exit row is row 49 on the 78C and 78Z, row 48 on the 78W. Nine seats, extra legroom, no seatback in front. Seven of the nine carry a warning.

• A and K — exit door L3 extends across roughly 85% of the width of seat A, 30cm ahead; door R3 does the same to seat K across 80% of its width, 35cm ahead. Both also have a window set behind the seat. These are the two seats everybody picks and the two worst seats in the row.
• D, E and G — rated red. Lavatory immediately ahead of the centre bulkhead, no underseat storage, and D is a bassinet position.
• C and H — the extra legroom is real, but you catch the queue for the lavatory ahead.
• B and J — the only two seats in the exit row with no warning of any kind. Full extra legroom, no seatback ahead, no door, no lavatory. The catch is the letter scheme: economy here is A-B-C, D-E-G, H-J-K, so B and J are both middle seats. They are the least compromised seats in the row, not the most comfortable.

So: 49B and 49J on the 78C and 78Z, or 48B and 48J on the 78W — if you can live with a middle seat. If you want an aisle, take C or H instead: the legroom is identical and the only warning against them is the lavatory queue from the row ahead. Either way, get the variant wrong and you have booked an ordinary seat instead.

The mid-cabin lavatory block (78C and 78W)

On the two-class variants the forward cabin runs to row 47 and ends badly. Rows 45, 46 and 47 wrap around a lavatory block: row 46 loses its centre seats entirely (A-B-C and H-J-K only), row 47 is three seats on the right side alone, and 47K has no window at all. Most of the seats across those three rows are rated red or amber. The 78Z does not have this section — its forward cabin stops at row 41.

The rear cabin, and the two-row offset

Behind the exit row the 78C and 78Z number their rear cabin 52 to 65; the 78W numbers the same physical seats 50 to 62. The 78C's row numbers run two higher than the 78W's for the same seat — 78C row 54 is 78W row 52.

Practically, that means the seats to avoid at the back move too:

• No window at all: 62A and 62K on the 78C and 78Z; 60A and 60K on the 78W.
• Rear lavatory rows: 63, 64 and 65 on the 78C and 78Z; 61 and 62 on the 78W. Mostly red on all three.
• Clean middle rows: 52 to 61 on the 78C and 78Z; 50 to 59 on the 78W. Nothing flagged anywhere in that block on any variant.

Best economy seats

• 31D, 31E, 31G (78C, 78W) or 31B, 31C, 31H, 31J (78Z) — up to 31in of clear floor ahead, without the lavatory.
• 49B and 49J (78C, 78Z) or 48B and 48J (78W) — the only unflagged exit row seats, though both are middles. 49C and 49H (or 48C/48H) are the aisle equivalents, with only a lavatory-queue caveat.
• Rows 33 to 43 (78C, 78W) or rows 32 to 38 (78Z) — the clean stretch of the forward cabin. The only exceptions are 37K and 41A on the 78C and 78W, and 34A/34K and 37A/37K on the 78Z, which have a poorly positioned window.
• Rows 52 to 61 (78C, 78Z) or 50 to 59 (78W) — the clean stretch of the rear cabin. Window seats in rows 54, 57 and 60 (78C, 78Z) get two windows each.

Economy seats to avoid

• 31A, 31B, 31C, 31H, 31J, 31K on the 78C and 78W — bulkhead legroom next to a lavatory. The most commonly mis-booked seats on this aircraft.
• Exit row A and K — door intrusion across 80–85% of the seat width.
• Rows 45, 46 and 47 on the 78C and 78W — the mid-cabin lavatory block. 47K has no window.
• Rows 39, 40 and 41 on the 78Z — the equivalent block on that variant. 41A has no window and row 41 is three seats on the left side alone.
• 62A and 62K (78C, 78Z) or 60A and 60K (78W) — no window, wall only.
• Row 32 on the 78C and 78W — directly behind row 31's lavatories; six of nine seats are amber, and 32A also has a window set behind the seat.

Quick-pick summary

Wi-Fi and entertainment

Panasonic eXConnect Ku-band satellite Wi-Fi across the entire 787-9 fleet, all three variants, at 10–40 Mbps — enough to stream. Entertainment is Panasonic eX3 with on-demand audio and video to individual screens at every seat.

This is one area where China Southern and China Eastern are ahead of Air China, whose 787-9s carry no in-flight Wi-Fi at all.

Frequently asked questions

How many 787-9 configurations does China Southern fly?

Three: the 78C and 78W, both two-class with 28 business and 269 economy seats, and the 78Z, three-class with 28 business, 28 premium economy and 220 economy. Twelve aircraft fly the 78C layout and eight the 78Z; no reliable count exists for the 78W — so rather than quote odds, use the identification steps above to work out which one you have.

Does China Southern's 787-9 have premium economy?

Only the 78Z does — 28 seats in a 2-3-2 layout at rows 25 to 28. The 78C and 78W are two-class aircraft with no premium economy cabin at all. If you have booked premium economy on a China Southern 787-9, you are on a 78Z, and 27A and 27K are the seats to take.

Is the business class the same on all three variants?

Yes. Twenty-eight Thompson Aero Vantage XL seats in a staggered 1-2-1 across rows 5 to 11, every seat with a door and direct aisle access, on the 78C, 78W and 78Z alike. The only difference is that 11E and 11G back onto a galley on the 78Z and do not on the other two. If you are flying business, the version lottery does not affect you.

Which row is the exit row?

Row 49 on the 78C and 78Z, row 48 on the 78W. This is the trap most likely to cost you money: the physical seat is in the same place on all three aircraft, but the number is not, and paying for extra legroom on the wrong number gets you an ordinary seat. Check whether row 48 exists on your seat map — if it does and it is the exit row, you are on a 78W.

Is bulkhead row 31 worth paying for?

It depends entirely on the variant, which is unusual and is why it leads this guide. On the 78C and 78W, only 31D, 31E and 31G are worth having — the other six seats are immediately beside a lavatory and all six rate red. On the 78Z there is no lavatory there, and 31B, 31C, 31H and 31J are green. In every case you lose underseat storage and get the tray table in the armrest.

Which seats have no window?

On the 78C and 78Z: 62A, 62K and 47K on the 78C, and 62A, 62K and 41A on the 78Z. On the 78W: 60A and 60K, plus 47K. All of them are sold as window seats. A number of other rows have a window set behind the seat rather than none at all — including 32A, 41A and 44A on the 78C and 78W, and the exit row A and K seats on all three.