China Southern

China Southern is China's largest airline by fleet, built around twin hubs at Guangzhou Baiyun and Beijing Daxing with a network that blankets mainland China and reaches across Southeast Asia, Australia and the Pacific, into Europe and to North America. It flies one of the youngest large fleets anywhere, and because so much of that flying is domestic, the cabin you get is tied closely to which aircraft is rostered for your route.

The fleet splits between a very large single-aisle Airbus and Boeing group for domestic and regional work and a widebody long-haul group spanning the A330, A350, Boeing 777 and 787. One trait sets China Southern apart from most carriers we cover: even its short domestic narrowbodies carry a genuine two-by-two recliner business cabin up front, not a blocked-middle economy fare, so the published seat map is a reliable guide to where the real premium seat sits.

The published layouts cover the A319neo, A320, A320neo, A321 and A321neo narrowbodies, the Boeing 737-700, 737-800 and 737 MAX 8, and on the widebody side the A330-300, A350-900, Boeing 777-300ER and 787-9, with several sub-variants that differ in how many business seats sit up front, whether a premium economy cabin is fitted, and how densely the economy cabin runs.

The A350 is the modern flagship of the twin-aisle fleet, with a staggered business cabin that gives every seat aisle access and a nine-abreast economy behind it, and it also appears in a three-class version with a dedicated premium economy. The 777-300ER carries the largest layout in the fleet, with a herringbone business, a premium economy cabin and a ten-abreast economy. The 787-9 turns up in both two-class and premium-economy versions. Across the narrowbodies, the A320 and A321 families and the 737s run a small two-by-two business at the front with a standard six-abreast economy behind, in a range of densities, plus one high-density single-class A320.

On the A350, 777 and 787, China Southern business is a modern long-haul flat-bed with direct aisle access, personal screens and a full meal service, and several of those widebodies also 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 narrowbodies, business is a short-haul recliner rather than a bed: a wider two-by-two seat with more room, priority boarding and a better meal, but one you sit in for a couple of hours rather than sleep in. It is a real, physically separate cabin all the same, which is more than many domestic operators offer. Economy across the fleet is a straightforward modern cabin, with seat-back entertainment on the widebodies and a tidy, well-kept cabin on the single-aisle jets.

On the widebodies the business seats are broadly similar, so position is the deciding factor: seats nearer the front board and clear the aircraft first, those toward the rear sit further from galley traffic, and solo travellers tend to prefer the window-aligned seats in the staggered and herringbone cabins for privacy. Premium economy, where fitted, is worth considering on the long transpacific and Australian 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 narrowbodies the over-wing exit rows carry extra legroom, and the front two-by-two business rows are the pick for space on a short hop. Because so many of these types turn up in more than one layout, check the published seat map for your flight before settling on a row.