Vietnam Airlines 787-10 Seat Selection Guide (2026)
✈️ Quick Verdict
Aircraft: Boeing 787-10 — 4 aircraft, one configuration. The largest cabin Vietnam Airlines flies
Config: 361 seats — 24 Business (rows 1–6, 1-2-1) + 337 Economy (rows 16–56, 3-3-3)
Version lottery: No — all four aircraft are identical. The lottery on this airline is on the 787-9, which comes in two- and three-class cabins
The seat to know about: 39A and 39K — the extra-legroom bulkhead row, with the exit door curving into the legroom and the window set behind you
Best in Business: 2A, 2K, 3A, 3K — forward, window-facing, away from the galley. Every one of the 24 seats reaches the aisle directly
Best in Economy: 18A and 18K — the best-rated seats in the cabin, in the quiet forward mini-cabin
Best for legroom: 16A, 16B, 16H, 16K — 27 to 29 inches to the bulkhead wall
Seats to avoid: 54A, 54K (no usable window) · row 55 (wrapped around the rear lavatories) · row 56 (last row, no recline)
IFE: Thales AVANT, audio-visual on demand at every seat
Wi-Fi: Viasat Ka-band, 10–40 Mbps
The trap: row 39 is the legroom row that fights back
Economy on this aircraft is cut into three blocks by the two mid-cabin door pairs, and each door creates a bulkhead row with extra legroom behind it. The biggest of them is row 39, behind door 3, and it is the row a booking map will push you towards: nine seats, extra legroom on the six outboard ones, no seat back in front of you.
At the two window seats it goes wrong twice over. Exit door L3 curves into 39A’s legroom starting about 12 inches ahead, and door R3 into 39K’s from about 14 inches — so the legroom you paid for is there, but angled, and your legs have to go diagonally around the door. On top of that the window at both seats sits behind you, so you lean back to see out. Two premium-priced window seats, and neither does the thing a window seat is for.
If you want row 39, take 39B, 39C, 39G or 39H
Those four get the full extra legroom with no door intruding and no window to miss. They are not perfect — the lavatories ahead of the row mean a queue forms beside you — but that is one drawback instead of three. 39D, 39E and 39F, the centre three, get no extra legroom at all: they sit behind row 38’s centre seats, not behind the door. A row that looks uniform on a seat map is in fact three different products.
The forward mini-cabin is the best-kept part of this aircraft
Economy starts at row 16, and rows 16 to 20 sit ahead of door 2 as a self-contained 41-seat cabin — walled off from the main block behind, with its own quiet. Most passengers scroll past it because the numbers look mid-cabin and it is close to Business.
18A and 18K are the two best-rated Economy seats on the aircraft: well-aligned windows, deep inside the quiet block, nothing behind them for two rows and no lavatory within reach. If you are choosing one seat on this aircraft and you are not chasing legroom, that is it.
Row 16 has the most legroom in Economy
Row 16 is the forward bulkhead and the space is unusually generous, but unevenly shared. 16A, 16B, 16H and 16K get 27 to 29 inches to the wall — more than any other Economy seat on the aircraft. 16C, 16D, 16E, 16F and 16G get extra legroom without the same measured depth. All nine lose underseat storage and take the tray and screen out of the armrest, which narrows the seat a little.
Row 16 is unusually clean for a bulkhead: no lavatory ahead of it and no galley, because the Business divider is what sits in front rather than a monument. The row behind door 2, row 22, is the other generous bulkhead — 28 inches to the wall at 22A and 22B, 27 at 22H and 22K — but there the door-2 lavatories are directly ahead and the queue forms beside you. Row 16 is the better of the two.
Business: 24 seats, and no wrong answer
Business is 24 reverse-herringbone suites in a 1-2-1 layout across rows 1 to 6, lettered A, D, G and K. Every single seat reaches the aisle directly with nobody to climb over, and the A and K seats are angled to face the windows. There is no bad seat in this cabin, which is not something we get to write often.
Ranking them anyway: 2A, 2K, 3A and 3K are the pick — far enough back that the forward galley and the door-1 area are not on top of you, far enough forward that the cabin stays quiet. 1A and 1K are the most private but closest to the galley and the boarding door. D and G are the centre pair: book them together if you are travelling as two, take a window if you are not, since the centre seats sit beside each other with a divider rather than facing away.
Row 6 is the last Business row and backs onto the divider ahead of Economy. It is fine, but if you want the quietest suite, take rows 2 to 4.
Economy, section by section
How the cabin is divided
Economy runs from row 16 to row 56, but not continuously. The two door pairs split it into three blocks, and five rows are centre-only — rows 20, 21, 37, 38 and 56 are just D, E and F, because the doors and monuments take the window and aisle positions. Row 55 drops B and H. If you are counting seats across a row on a booking map and the numbers do not add up, that is why.
| Block | Rows | Character |
|---|---|---|
| Forward mini-cabin | 16–20 | 41 seats ahead of door 2. Quietest block. 18A/18K are the best seats in Economy |
| Midship | 22–37 | The main block. Clean and unremarkable through rows 23–34; the tail end backs onto lavatories |
| Rear | 39–56 | Starts with the row 39 bulkhead, then runs to the tail. Avoid the last four rows |
The rear rows to refuse
54A and 54K have glass but no usable view — the window sits well behind the seat, far enough that leaning does not help. 54B and 54H are against the rear lavatories.
Row 55 looks like a prize and is not. It is a seven-seat row, and 55A, 55C, 55G and 55K all reach an aisle directly with nobody outboard of 55A or 55K — genuine space, of the kind we normally recommend. But the entire row sits in the rear lavatory bank, with doors immediately beside it and the queue forming in the space that makes it attractive. Row 56 is the last row: three centre seats, no recline, lavatories behind.
Working forward: rows 35, 36 and 37 back onto the mid-cabin lavatories, and rows 21 and 22 have the door-2 lavatories ahead of them. Rows 23 to 34 are the longest clean run in the cabin if you want a seat with nothing notable about it in either direction.
Windows
The glass is out of line at 17A/17K, 24A/24K, 27A/27K, 39A/39K, 45A/45K and 50A/50K. At 50A and 50K it sits behind the seat; elsewhere the same. Rows 18, 19, 25, 26 and 28 to 33 all have clean alignment.
Quick picks by traveller
| You are… | Take | Why |
|---|---|---|
| Choosing one Economy seat | 18A or 18K | Best-rated seats in the cabin — quiet forward block, clean window |
| Tall | 16A, 16B, 16H or 16K | 27–29in to the bulkhead, the most legroom in Economy |
| Tall, and row 16 is gone | 39B, 39C, 39G or 39H | Full extra legroom without the door intrusion at 39A/39K |
| A couple in Business | 2D and 2G | Centre pair, side by side, both reach the aisle |
| Solo in Business | 2A, 2K, 3A or 3K | Window-facing, quiet part of the cabin |
| Travelling with an infant | Row 16, centre seats | Bulkhead row with the most floor space, and no lavatory queue in front of it |
| Wanting a quiet Economy seat | Rows 23–34 | The longest stretch with no lavatory, galley or door effect |
Comparable guides
- Vietnam Airlines 787-9 — two- and three-class cabins, a real lottery
- Vietnam Airlines A350-900 seat guide
- Vietnam Airlines A321 seat guide
- EVA Air 787-10 — the same airframe, a denser cabin
- Singapore Airlines 787-10 seat guide
Frequently asked questions
What are the best seats in Economy on the Vietnam Airlines 787-10?
18A and 18K. They sit in the 41-seat forward mini-cabin ahead of door 2 — the quietest block on the aircraft — with well-aligned windows and no lavatory or galley nearby. For legroom instead, 16A, 16B, 16H and 16K give you 27 to 29 inches to the bulkhead wall.
Which seats have the most legroom?
Row 16, the forward bulkhead, at 27–29 inches to the wall on 16A, 16B, 16H and 16K. Row 39 behind door 3 also carries extra legroom, but avoid 39A and 39K there — the exit doors curve into the legroom from 12 and 14 inches ahead.
What is wrong with row 39?
Three different things in one row. 39A and 39K have the exit door intruding into the legroom and the window set behind the seat. 39D, 39E and 39F get no extra legroom at all, because they sit behind row 38 rather than behind the door. Only 39B, 39C, 39G and 39H get the legroom cleanly, and even they have a lavatory queue ahead.
Are there any seats without a window?
54A and 54K have glass, but the window sits so far behind the seat that there is no usable view. The window is also out of line at 17A/K, 24A/K, 27A/K, 39A/K, 45A/K and 50A/K, where leaning does help.
Is Business class on the 787-10 any good?
Yes, and it is hard to get wrong: 24 reverse-herringbone suites in 1-2-1, every one with direct aisle access and the window seats angled to face outward. 2A, 2K, 3A and 3K are the quietest. The D and G centre pairs sit side by side, so book those together if you are travelling as two.
Does Vietnam Airlines fly more than one version of the 787-10?
No — all four are the same 24J/337Y cabin. The version lottery on this airline is on the 787-9, which flies in both a two-class and a three-class layout with different seat counts and row numbers.