Spring Airlines

Spring Airlines is the standard-bearer for the ultra-low-cost model in China, flying an all-Airbus single-aisle fleet out of Shanghai across the mainland and to Japan, Korea and South East Asia. The proposition is the honest one: a cheap seat on a modern jet, with bags, meals and seat selection sold separately.

At the seat map that translates into unusual consistency. Every published layout is a single economy cabin nose to tail, fitted with slimline seats that do not recline, which at least settles the oldest argument in economy before the doors close. The variable that matters is legroom: pitch shifts around the cabin on the A320s, and the roomier rows are precisely the ones the airline sells at a premium.

The published fleet covers the A320 in two densities, the A320neo and the A321neo. The two ceo fits differ only in how many rows are worked into the same fuselage; the neo matches the denser of them with newer seats. All of them run three-by-three from the first row to the last.

The A321neo is the outlier worth reading about before you book: the longest economy cabin in the fleet, pitched tight and even through the standard rows. Across the fleet, the A321neo included, the front row and the exits carry noticeably more room than the standard rows; on a cabin this long those marked rows do even more of the work.

This is budget flying without pretence. The cabins are clean and modern, catering is buy-on-board, and the seat is a thin-backed shell that holds its shape for the length of a short-haul sector. What the model does not squeeze is width: the Airbus fuselage leaves the seat itself slightly broader than the budget norm, which counts for more than it sounds on a full flight.

Because every seat is the same product, the decision is purely positional: how much legroom you are willing to pay for, how quickly you want to be off, and how far from the galleys you would like to spend the flight.

On the A320s, the extra legroom lives in the front rows and at the over-wing exits, and those are the rows worth the seat-selection fee on anything beyond a domestic hop. The middle of the cabin is the standard product; the last rows give up quiet to the rear galley and are the slowest off the aircraft.

On the A321neo, set expectations before boarding: the pitch is tight and uniform, so the exits are the main relief and the forward third is the calmer end of a very long single-aisle cabin. Wherever you sit, the non-reclining seat means the space you see on the map is the space you get.