TAROM

TAROM is Romania's flag carrier, flying from Bucharest's Henri Coandă airport across Europe and on domestic runs to Transylvania, Moldavia and the coast. It is a SkyTeam member of the unpretentious sort: a compact fleet, a short-haul network, and a front cabin that is actual business class rather than a curtain and an empty middle seat.

The published fleet splits between Boeing 737s and ATR turboprops. Two of the 737 layouts carry a real two-by-two business cabin at the nose, while a third is a high-density all-economy fit of the same 737-800 airframe, so the aircraft type on a booking does not settle what the front of the cabin looks like. The ATRs, a 72-500 and a 72-600, fly the short sectors two-by-two.

The business cabins are the distinctive part. On the smaller of the two 737-800 fits and on the 737-700, the front rows run four abreast where economy runs six: a wider chair beside a real gap, not a blocked middle. The 737-700 version is compact enough that its first row is a half row, a single pair of seats on one side of the aisle.

The all-economy 737-800 sits at the other end of the philosophy, a full three-by-three cabin from the first row to the last with the extra legroom confined to the exit band. The two ATRs are near-twins: the same two-by-two cabin, with the newer -600 the tidier of the pair and the -500 carrying a scattering of windows that do not quite line up with their rows.

Business is a European regional product done properly: the wider seat and the small cabin do the work over one to three hours, and the four-abreast layout means every seat touches a window or an aisle. Economy is a standard 737 three-by-three, tighter on the dense fit than on the two-cabin ones.

The turboprops are their own experience, and a pleasant one over an hour: no middle seats anywhere, boarding through the rear door, and a cabin short enough that no seat is far from anything. Propeller noise is strongest in line with the blades, so the further aft you sit, the softer the hum.

On any 737-800 booking, find out which fit is flying before paying for a seat: one layout carries a business cabin ahead of a gentler economy, the other packs the airframe full. In the all-economy fit the exit rows are the only real step up in space, and a few window seats near the wing look out at fuselage rather than sky.

In business the small cabins keep the seats closely matched, so take the first row to be off soonest or the last to sit a little further from the forward galley. On the ATRs, the -600 is the newer cabin and the easier pick; on the -500, window purists should book an exact seat, because several rows have the pane sitting ahead of or behind where it ought to be.