Porter Airlines E195-E2 Seat Selection Guide (2026)
Porter’s E195-E2 is one of the more comfortable narrowbodies flying in North America: 2-2 seating, no middle seat anywhere, and 18.3-inch seats throughout. Which makes it worth knowing that two of the most expensive seats on board have no window at all.
✈️ Quick Verdict
Aircraft: Embraer E195-E2, 132 seats, rows 1–33
Layout: 2-2 throughout — every seat is a window or an aisle, no middle seats anywhere
Cabins: PorterReserve rows 1–4; PorterClassic Stretch rows 5–7 and 13–14; PorterClassic everywhere else
Version lottery: No — a single 132-seat configuration across the fleet
Best seats: Row 4 in Reserve. Row 14 in Stretch. 25A and 25D in Classic.
Seats to avoid: 2A and 2D — Reserve price, no window. Rows 10, 22 and 29 window seats. Row 33.
Wi-Fi: Viasat Ka-band fleetwide, rated in the 10–40 Mbps band. Entertainment streams to your own device.
The most expensive window seats on the aircraft have no window
PorterReserve is the front sixteen seats: rows 1 to 4, 36 inches of pitch, six inches of recline where the rest of the cabin gets two, plus dedicated check-in, early boarding, two checked bags, a meal on longer sectors and a proper glass rather than a plastic cup. It is the reason a lot of people book Porter at all, and it is priced as a premium product.
2A and 2D have no usable window. The window sits well behind the seat — far enough back that there is effectively wall beside you. Both are seats to avoid, and they are the only two in the entire front half of the aircraft. Everything you paid the Reserve premium for is still there; the view is not.
This is the sharpest version of a problem that runs the length of the E2. On a 2-2 aircraft every second seat is a window seat, and Porter's cabin has four rows where that window does not line up with anything: rows 2, 10, 22 and 29. In each case both the A and D seats face wall. A further nineteen rows have windows that sit ahead of or behind the seat rather than beside it.
If the view matters to you, the shortlist is short: 25A and 25D are the only PorterClassic window seats that rate as outright good. Rows 15, 16 and 26 carry no window flags either, so their A and D seats are the safe alternatives. In PorterReserve, take row 4.
Which PorterReserve row to pick
All sixteen Reserve seats cost the same and they are not the same seat.
Row 4 is the one to book. All four seats rated well, clean windows, no bulkhead penalties, and it still gets the full 36 inches. There is no reason to take any other Reserve row ahead of it.
Row 1 is the weakest, which is counter-intuitive because it is the front row of the aircraft. There is a bulkhead in front of it, so there is nowhere to put a bag at your feet, and with no seatback ahead the tray table folds out of the armrest — which means the armrest is fatter and the seat you actually sit in is narrower. 1A and 1D also have misaligned windows. Every seat in row 1 is rated with reservations.
Row 2: 2B and 2C are excellent aisle seats. 2A and 2D are the windowless pair. If you are booking Reserve as a pair and one of you wants the aisle, 2B and 2C work; if you both want a window, go to row 4.
Row 3: 3B and 3C rate well. 3A and 3D have misaligned windows — you will be leaning back to see out, but there is glass there, which puts them ahead of row 2.
PorterClassic Stretch: row 14, not row 13
Stretch is Porter's extra-legroom economy product — twenty seats at roughly 33 inches of pitch against 30 in standard PorterClassic, sold at a surcharge. Porter markets it at 34 inches; measured off the cabin plan it is closer to 33. Either way it is three or four inches more than the cabin norm, and on a five-hour transcontinental it is money well spent.
Stretch appears in two places. Rows 5, 6 and 7 sit immediately behind PorterReserve, and all twelve seats rate well — no exits, no galleys, no lavatories, nothing wrong with them. Rows 13 and 14 sit at the overwing exits, and those two are not equal.
Row 13 has a restricted recline. Row 14 behind it is an exit row and the path has to stay clear, so the seat back on all four of row 13's seats does not go all the way. Row 14 has nothing behind it demanding clearance and reclines normally. Same Stretch price, same legroom, and only one of them lets you lean back.
And then there is row 12, which is worse than either.
Row 12 is not a Stretch row. It is standard PorterClassic at the standard price with standard 30-inch pitch — and because it sits directly in front of exit row 13, all four seats carry the restricted recline anyway. It takes the exit-row penalty and returns none of the exit-row benefit. Row 11 is the same money and reclines properly.
Best seats on the Porter E195-E2
| Seat | Cabin | Why |
|---|---|---|
| 4A, 4B, 4C, 4D | PorterReserve | 36" pitch, 6" recline, clean windows, no bulkhead penalties. The best row on the aircraft. |
| 14A, 14B, 14C, 14D | Stretch | Exit-row legroom with a seat back that works, unlike row 13. |
| Rows 5, 6, 7 | Stretch | Extra pitch, forward cabin, no exits, no galleys. All twelve seats rate well. |
| 25A and 25D | PorterClassic | The only standard-fare window seats that rate as outright good. |
| 2B and 2C | PorterReserve | Full Reserve product on the aisle, without row 2's window problem. |
| Rows 15, 16 and 26 | PorterClassic | Unremarkable in the best sense: no flags on any of the twelve seats, windows included. |
Seats to avoid on the Porter E195-E2
Row 33 — the last row. No recline, wall directly behind, rear galley alongside. 33A and 33B are immediately against a lavatory door and rated red; 33C sits in the queue. There are four seats in this row and none of them is a good idea on a five-hour sector to Vancouver.
2A and 2D. Reserve price, no window.
10A, 10D, 22A, 22D, 29A, 29D. The other three windowless pairs, all in PorterClassic. These are ordinary-price seats so the sting is smaller, but if you are picking a window there is no reason to land on one of these — 25A and 25D are a few rows away.
Row 12. Standard price, restricted recline, no legroom.
Row 32. 32B, 32C and 32D sit beside the rear galley — lights on and carts moving. 32A has a misaligned window on top.
Row 1, if you were expecting the best seat in the house. It is Reserve, it is comfortable, and it is still the weakest of the four Reserve rows. Book row 4 instead.
Cabin features
| Product | Rows | Seats | Pitch | Recline |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| PorterReserve | 1–4 | 16 | 36" | 6" |
| PorterClassic Stretch | 5–7, 13–14 | 20 | ~33–34" | 2" (restricted in row 13) |
| PorterClassic | 8–12, 15–33 | 96 | 30" | 2" (restricted in row 12, none in row 33) |
Seat width is 18.3 inches throughout, which is wider than the economy seat on most narrowbodies flying the same routes, and the 2-2 layout means half the cabin is on the aisle and half is on the window with nobody in the middle. Wi-Fi is Viasat Ka-band across the fleet, in the 10–40 Mbps band — enough for browsing and light streaming rather than video calls. Entertainment streams to your own device; there are no seatback screens.
Quick picks by traveller
| You are | Take | Why |
|---|---|---|
| Buying PorterReserve | Row 4 | The only Reserve row with no compromises |
| Buying Stretch | Row 14, then rows 5–7 | Legroom with a working recline |
| Couple, no extras | 25A and 25B, or 26B and 26C | 2-2 means a pair is always just the two of you |
| Want the view | 25A or 25D, or 4A/4D in Reserve | Clean window alignment |
| Tall, not paying up | Any aisle in rows 15–28 | Half the cabin is an aisle seat; no middle seat to trap you |
| Off the aircraft first | 4B or 4C | Reserve boards first and sits four rows from the door |
| Avoid at all costs | Row 33, 2A, 2D, row 12 | No recline, no window, or both |
Frequently asked questions
Which is the best PorterReserve seat on the E195-E2?
Row 4. It has the full 36-inch pitch and six-inch recline like the rest of Reserve, but none of row 1's bulkhead problems and none of row 2's window problem. All four seats rate well.
Do 2A and 2D really have no window?
The window sits well behind those seat positions, far enough that there is no usable view. Both are seats to avoid, and they are the only two in PorterReserve. If a window matters to you in Reserve, book row 4 or row 3.
Is PorterClassic Stretch worth paying for?
On the long transcontinental sectors — Toronto to Vancouver, Calgary, Las Vegas or San Francisco — yes. Three to four extra inches over a five-hour flight is noticeable. Take row 14 or rows 5 to 7; row 13 has the same price and a restricted recline.
Does the Porter E195-E2 have middle seats?
No. The cabin is 2-2 from row 1 to row 33, so every seat is either a window or an aisle. It is one of the few things that makes a regional jet genuinely nicer than a mainline narrowbody on the same route.
Does Porter have more than one E195-E2 layout?
No. Every Porter E195-E2 is configured with 132 seats across rows 1 to 33 in the same PorterReserve, Stretch and Classic split. Porter's other aircraft is the Q400 turboprop, which is a different type flying different routes.
Is Porter's Wi-Fi good enough to work on?
It is Viasat Ka-band, fitted across the E195-E2 fleet, in the 10–40 Mbps band. That is reliable for email, browsing and light streaming. It is not the tier you would rely on for a video call.