TUI 787-8 Seat Map & Best Seats (2026)
✈️ Quick Verdict
Configuration: 300 seats — 47 Premium Club in a 2-3-2 across rows 1 to 7, and 253 economy in a 3-3-3 across rows 10 to 40. This is the UK configuration.
Version lottery: Yes, against the 787-9 — and in economy the smaller aircraft wins outright.
Best seats: Economy — 11A/11B/11C and 11G/11H/11J, at roughly 35in. Premium Club — 3A and 3J.
Seats to avoid: 7A (no window at all, in a paid cabin), 6F/6G/6J (lavatory at your elbow in Premium Club), 30A and 30J (exit door in your legroom), and the whole of rows 38, 39 and 40.
IFE: Panasonic eX3, gate to gate. Wi-Fi: None recorded on this type.
TUI's UK 787-8 carries 45 fewer seats than the 787-9 and a Premium Club cabin sixteen seats smaller. On paper it looks like the lesser aircraft. In economy it is the better one, and by a margin that is unusual to find between two variants of the same type at the same airline.
Rows 11, 12 and 13: about 35 inches, in ordinary economy
Behind the bulkhead at row 10, the TUI 787-8 has three consecutive rows at roughly 35 inches of pitch — four to five centimetres more than the rest of the cabin. Every seat in those rows is well rated.
The 787-9 has nothing comparable. Its economy pitch is uniform from row 13 to row 44, all 282 seats of it, with no row quietly better than its neighbours. So if you are booking TUI long-haul in economy and you have a choice of aircraft, the 787-8 offers eighteen extra-pitch outboard seats that simply do not exist on the bigger jet.
How to use rows 11 to 13.
Row 11 and row 12 — take the outboard triples: 11A/11B/11C and 11G/11H/11J, 12A/12B/12C and 12G/12H/12J. Full extra pitch, proper window seats, and the centre triple of each row is at standard pitch rather than the extra.
Row 13 — the same extra pitch at 13A, 13B, 13C, 13G, 13H and 13J, but 13A and 13J have a window set behind the seat. Take row 11 or 12 at the window and save row 13 for the aisle and middle positions.
Row 10: the bulkhead, and it is a generous one
Row 10 is the front of economy and its legroom is measured as extra-generous rather than merely extra — and it is asymmetric. 10H and 10J have about 30 inches of clear space to the wall, 10G about 30, 10D/10E/10F about 29, and 10A, 10B and 10C about 28. The right-hand side of the aircraft is the better side of this row.
The costs are the usual bulkhead ones: no underseat storage, and the tray table and screen stow in the armrest, which narrows the usable seat width. If you want to sleep with your bag at your feet, rows 11 and 12 are the better buy. If you want to stretch out, row 10 wins.
Premium Club: rows 1 to 7, 2-3-2
Forty-seven seats, seven across as A and C, D/E/F, G and J. Row 7 is short: it has only A, C, D, E and F. There is no B or H anywhere in this cabin.
As on the 787-9, the back of Premium Club is where it goes wrong — and on the 787-8 the damage reaches a row further forward, into a cabin that is smaller to begin with.
The rows to avoid
- 7A — no window at that position at all, just wall. In a cabin you have paid extra for.
- 7F — immediately adjacent to a lavatory ahead; 7E is in the queue for it.
- 6F, 6G and 6J — immediately adjacent to a lavatory. All three are rated poor.
- 6E — in the queue. 5F, 5G and 5J — the same, one row further forward.
That is ten of the 47 Premium Club seats affected, all of them on the right-hand side and at the back. The left-hand side of rows 5 and 6 — 5A, 5C, 6A, 6C — is clean.
Best in Premium Club
- 3A and 3J — the only pair with a properly aligned window, and clear of both ends of the cabin.
- Row 1 — bulkhead extra legroom across the full width, at the cost of underseat storage.
- 2A+2C and 2G+2J — the cleanest outboard pairs for two travelling together.
- 4A and 4J have a window set behind the seat, so prefer row 3 or row 2 if the view matters.
In the 2-3-2 the outboard pairs are what you want. E is a genuine middle seat with a passenger either side; D and F are aisle seats. A family of three fits the centre triple well; a couple should avoid it.
Row 30: the same door trap as the 787-9
Row 30 sits behind the mid-cabin doors with extra legroom at all nine seats and nothing reclining into any of them. It looks like the best free row on the aircraft, and for four of the nine it is.
30A and 30J — exit doors L3 and R3 curve into the legroom from about 12 inches ahead, so your legs go out at a diagonal, and the window is set behind the seat as well. That is closer intrusion than the equivalent seats on the 787-9.
30D, 30E and 30F — immediately adjacent to a lavatory ahead. Take 30B, 30C, 30G or 30H: full bulkhead legroom, no door in the way, lavatory nearby rather than at your elbow.
Row 39: the best-shaped seats in the worst place
As the fuselage narrows, row 39 loses its B and H positions and ends up as A, C, D, E, F, G and J. That leaves 39A, 39C, 39G and 39J with direct aisle access and nobody to climb over, and gives 39A and 39J genuine side space with the neighbouring underseat area to themselves.
And every seat in the row is either immediately adjacent to a rear lavatory or squarely in the queue for one — 39E, the middle seat, is the only one that merely catches the traffic. It is a rare case of the structurally best economy seats sitting in the single worst location on the aircraft. Unless you specifically want no neighbour and do not mind the door, skip it.
The rest of economy
The mid-cabin lavatory block
- Row 27 — 27B through 27H are immediately against the lavatories; 27A and 27J are in the queue. Avoid the whole row.
- Row 26 — 26C and 26G are against the door, and the rest of the row catches the traffic.
Choosing a free seat in the forward cabin, stop at row 25.
The tail
- Row 38 — 38A and 38J have no usable window; 38B and 38H are against the lavatory.
- Rows 39 and 40 — against the rear lavatories throughout. Row 40 has only D, E and F.
Windows
The best-aligned window pairs in economy are 31A/31J and 34A/34J. Set behind the seat: 16A/16J, 19A/19J, 22A/22J, 25A/25J, 33A/33J and 37A/37J, plus 13A/13J in the extra-pitch block and 4A/4J in Premium Club. 7A in Premium Club and 38A/38J in economy have no usable window at all.
787-8 or 787-9?
| 787-8 (this aircraft) | 787-9 | |
|---|---|---|
| Total seats | 300 | 345 |
| Premium Club | 47 seats, rows 1–7 | 63 seats, rows 1–9 |
| Extra-pitch economy | Rows 11, 12 and 13 at about 35in | None — uniform throughout |
| Economy bulkhead | Row 10, up to 30in to the wall | Row 12 |
| Compromised Premium rows | 5, 6 and 7 on the right-hand side | 8 and 9, plus 7A/7J |
| Mid-cabin door row | Row 30 — door intrudes from 12in | Row 32 — door intrudes from 16in |
Flying Premium Club, the 787-9 gives you a bigger cabin and better odds on a good row. Flying economy, the 787-8 is the aircraft to want.
Quick-pick summary
| If you are… | Take |
|---|---|
| In economy and tall | 11A/11B/11C or 11G/11H/11J |
| In economy and want maximum legroom | 10H or 10J — the roomiest side of the bulkhead row |
| In economy and want to sleep | 11A or 11J — extra pitch, a wall to lean on, storage at your feet |
| A couple in economy | 12A+12B or 12H+12J |
| A family of three in economy | Any centre triple, rows 14–25 |
| In Premium Club, as a couple | 3A+3C or 3G+3J |
| In Premium Club, want legroom | Row 1, any seat |
| Choosing a free seat | Rows 14–25 or 31–36; never 26, 27 or 38–40 |
Comparable guides
- TUI 787-9 seat guide — the bigger sister, with a larger Premium Club and no extra-pitch economy.
- TUI 737-800 seat guide — the short-haul fleet.
- British Airways 787-8 seat guide — the same aircraft in a four-cabin layout.
- Jetstar 787-8 seat guide — the closest low-cost long-haul comparison.
- Virgin Atlantic 787-9 seat guide — a competitor on the Caribbean and Florida routes.
Frequently asked questions
What is the best economy seat on the TUI 787-8?
11A, 11B and 11C, or 11G, 11H and 11J. Rows 11 to 13 run at roughly 35 inches — four to five centimetres more than the rest of the cabin — and row 11 gets it without the misaligned window that affects 13A and 13J. Row 10 has more raw space but no underseat storage.
Is the 787-8 better than the 787-9 on TUI?
In economy, yes. The 787-8 has three rows at about 35 inches; the 787-9 has uniform pitch across all 282 economy seats. In Premium Club the 787-9 is the better bet, because its cabin is sixteen seats larger and a higher proportion of it is clear of the lavatories.
Which Premium Club seats should I avoid?
7A has no window at all. 6F, 6G, 6J and 7F sit immediately against a lavatory, and 5F, 5G, 5J and 6E and 7E are in the queue for one. The right-hand side of the back of the cabin is where the problems are; 5A, 5C, 6A and 6C on the left are fine.
Why does row 39 have no B or H seat?
The fuselage tapers at the tail, so the row drops to seven seats. That leaves 39A, 39C, 39G and 39J with direct aisle access and no one to climb over, and gives 39A and 39J spare space beside them. All of row 39 is next to a lavatory, though, so the advantage comes with a real cost.
Does the TUI 787-8 have Wi-Fi?
No Wi-Fi is recorded on this type. The Panasonic eX3 entertainment system runs gate to gate at every seat.
Is this the same as the TUI fly Netherlands 787-8?
No. This guide covers the UK configuration at 300 seats. TUI fly Netherlands operates a 787-8 with a different layout and a different seat count, so the row numbers here should not be applied to it.