Azul

Azul is one of Brazil's largest airlines and the one that reaches the most cities, built deliberately to fly places its rivals do not. The network radiates from Campinas Viracopos outside São Paulo, with secondary bases at Belo Horizonte Confins and Recife, and the fleet is tiered to match: turboprops into the smallest airports, Embraer jets on mid-sized routes, Airbus narrowbodies on the trunk sectors and A330s on long-haul.

For seat pickers that tiering is good news, because much of the domestic fleet has no middle seats at all, and most of the rest carries a marked extra-legroom section to aim at. The Espaço Azul rows hold the additional pitch, sitting near the front on the A320neo and just behind the over-wing exits on the E2 and A321neo, and the A330 widebodies bring the genuinely different cabins, including a staggered flat-bed Business used on the international routes.

The published layouts run from the ATR 72-600 turboprop and the Embraer 195-E2 through the A320neo in two densities and the long A321neo, up to the A330-200 flown in two very different fits.

The regional pair are the quiet stars: both the ATR and the E-Jet are two-by-two cabins with no middle seat anywhere, and the E2 adds Espaço Azul extra-legroom rows just behind the over-wing exits. The A320neo family is all-economy, with Espaço Azul on the standard fits, while the A330-200s carry Azul's long-haul product: staggered lie-flat Business seats, in a compact cabin on one fit and an unusually long one on the other, ahead of an eight-abreast economy.

Domestically, Azul is an all-economy operation with a twist: the seats on its Airbus and Embraer fleets run wider than the narrowbody norm, and the Espaço Azul rows offer real extra legroom without pretending to be a different cabin. On the E-Jets and ATRs the two-by-two layout means every seat is a window or an aisle, which takes most of the anxiety out of choosing.

On the A330s, Business is a proper long-haul flat bed: staggered seats with direct aisle access, alternating between window-tight and aisle-side positions. Economy on the widebodies is a conventional two-four-two, comfortable by long-haul standards, with the usual premium on divider rows and seats away from the rear galleys.

On the domestic fleet the play is simple: pay for Espaço Azul or an exit row if legroom matters to you, and otherwise take a window or aisle as far forward as the fare allows. On the ATR the rear rows are both quieter, sitting behind the propellers, and quicker off, since most ATR services board and disembark through the rear door.

On the A330s, solo Business travellers should hunt the window-side seats in the stagger for privacy, and couples the paired seats. In widebody economy the divider rows carry the legroom at the cost of floor stowage, and the centre block is where the middle seats hide. Azul flies the A330-200 in two fits with very different Business cabin sizes, so check the published map for your specific flight.