Jet2

Jet2 is the UK leisure airline joined at the hip to its own package-holiday operation, flying holidaymakers from bases across Britain, with its roots and its biggest presence in the north, out to the Mediterranean, the Canaries and Europe's city-break and ski destinations. Seats sell both inside a package and flight-only, and the whole operation runs to the rhythm of holiday flying: full aircraft, morning waves out, evening waves home.

Every published Jet2 layout is a single economy cabin, so there is no cabin-class decision to agonise over. The product question is whether to pay for one of the extra-legroom rows, and the positional question is how far forward to sit when the transfer coach is waiting. The fleet mixes Boeing 737-800s with Airbus A321s in ceo and neo generations, plus an A330 widebody, so the same route can feel quite different depending on which aircraft turns up.

The 737-800 is the long-serving workhorse: a three-by-three economy cabin with paid legroom rows both up front and over the wing. The A321 runs more rows of the same formula, and the A321neo more again in the quietest airframe of the three; both spread their extra-legroom rows between the front bulkhead, the exit bands and a marked row further down the cabin.

The A330-200 is the one that raises eyebrows on a short-haul boarding pass: a widebody on holiday duty, laid out two-four-two the whole way back. That shape suits couples, who can take a window pair and answer to nobody, and it keeps every seat within one neighbour of an aisle. It is the largest single economy cabin Jet2 publishes, by a wide margin.

This is holiday flying and the cabin reflects it: the same seat from front to back, buy-on-board service, and a passenger list that leans heavily to families in the school holidays. Whatever you add to the fare buys position and knee room rather than a different chair, which keeps the decision simple.

The extra-legroom rows are the upgrade that matters. They cluster at the bulkheads and exits, with the standard conditions attached: bulkhead seats keep the tray in the armrest and lose under-seat stowage, exit rows fix the recline. On a four-hour run to the Canaries with every seat taken, one of those rows is money better spent than most of what the booking page offers.

Sit forward if a swift getaway matters: these cabins are long, full and slow to empty, and the rearmost rows also spend the flight next to the galley and the lavatory queue. The rows immediately ahead of each exit band tend to lose recline without gaining anything, which makes them the quiet catch on these layouts. Note that the single-aisle fleet skips row 13, so the numbering there runs one past the true row count.

On the A330, the taper at the tail strips the neighbours from a few centre seats, which solo travellers have been known to treat as a prize. On the narrowbodies, a handful of window seats near the wings and exits face blank panel rather than glass, so anyone booking for the view should pick an exact seat rather than a zone.