China Airlines

China Airlines is Taiwan's largest carrier and its de facto flag carrier, built around a hub at Taipei Taoyuan with a network that leans heavily on North Asia, Southeast Asia and the transpacific routes to North America, plus a smaller long-haul reach into Europe and the southwest Pacific. A SkyTeam member, it has spent the past decade steadily modernising both fleet and cabins, and the product you get is closely tied to which aircraft flies your route.

The fleet splits between single-aisle jets for regional flying and a widebody long-haul group built around the A330, A350 and Boeing 777. The premium cabins range from a compact business on the narrowbodies to a full flat-bed with direct aisle access on the newest widebodies, and several routes also carry a genuine premium economy cabin, so the published seat map for your specific flight is the reliable way to see what is on offer.

The published layouts cover the A321neo and Boeing 737-800 narrowbodies, and the A330-300, A350-900 and Boeing 777-300ER on the widebody side, with sub-variants that differ in business density, whether a premium economy cabin is fitted, and how the economy cabin is packed.

The A350 is the modern flagship, with a staggered one-two-one business cabin, a dedicated premium economy cabin and a nine-abreast economy behind it. The 777-300ER carries the largest layout in the fleet, with a herringbone business cabin, a sizeable premium economy and a ten-abreast economy. The A330-300 turns up in two business densities. On the narrowbodies, the A321neo pairs a reverse-herringbone business with economy, and appears in one high-density variant that drops business for a premium economy cabin instead; the 737-800 runs a small two-by-two business at the front with economy behind.

On the A350 and 777, China Airlines business is a modern long-haul flat-bed with direct aisle access, personal screens and a full meal service, and both aircraft carry a separate premium economy cabin that sits genuinely between business and economy in space and service. The A330 business is a slightly older but still comfortable lie-flat product, so the published layout is the fastest way to confirm which generation of seat your flight offers.

On the A321neo, the reverse-herringbone business gives every seat aisle access even on a short hop, which is unusually good for a narrowbody. The 737-800 business is a simpler recliner up front. Economy across the fleet is a well-kept modern cabin, with seat-back entertainment on the widebodies and a tidy narrowbody cabin on the single-aisle jets.

On the widebodies the business seats are broadly equal, so position is the deciding factor: seats nearer the front board and clear first, those toward the rear sit further from galley traffic, and solo travellers tend to prefer the window-aligned seats in the herringbone cabins for privacy. Premium economy is worth considering on the long transpacific routes, where the extra space over economy matters most.

In economy, the bulkhead rows behind a cabin divider give extra room but lose under-seat stowage, and the last rows ahead of the rear galleys and lavatories are the ones to avoid for noise and traffic. On the A321neo and 737-800, the over-wing exit rows carry extra legroom in economy. Because the A321neo and A330 each turn up in more than one layout, check the published seat map for your flight before settling on a row.