Alaska Airlines Boeing 787-9 Seat Map

Picking a seat on Alaska's 787-9

The best seat on this aircraft is 4A — a mid-cabin window suite far enough from the forward galley and the row 9 galley/lavatory pair that meal service and overnight traffic stay out of earshot, with an intact window line and a sliding privacy door. Every suite in this cabin is physically identical, which is unusual and genuinely helpful: it means location is the only variable you're trading, so you can shop purely on quiet and view. 4J mirrors it on the right side, and 5A/5J are effectively equal.

The seats worth booking

Business (suites, rows 1–9). The cabin is 1-2-1 with 76" pitch, 21" width, direct aisle access, seatback screens and 110/220v power at every suite. Middle pairs get a retractable translucent divider, so travelling companions should look at 4C/4G or 5C/5G — same mid-cabin insulation from both galleys, with the option to open up to each other. Solo travellers who want a window should stay in rows 3 through 5 or 7 through 8; the suites are the same, but the noise exposure is not.

Premium Class (rows 14–24). Row 15 is the quietly sensible choice. 15A and 15J sit ahead of the wing, so you keep a clear view down, and unlike row 14 you get normal underseat storage, movable armrests and full-width cushions. If legroom matters more than storage, 14A, 14B, 14J and 14E open onto the bulkhead with extra stretch-out room, and 14E is treated as an exit-row position.

Economy (rows 26–29 and 33–48). 34A and 34J are the standouts: extra legroom, nothing reclining into your knees, and full-size armrests and underseat bags allowed — the exit-row penalties don't apply. Rows 26 and 27 are also worth a look, since they sit in the small forward economy cabin ahead of the mid-cabin lavatories, and the mid-block of the rear cabin (roughly rows 35 through 44) is unremarkable in the best sense: seatback IFE, 110/220v power, no galley or lavatory adjacency. Wi-Fi is available throughout.

The seats to avoid

Business. 1A and 1J sit against the forward galley and closet, with more foot traffic and food smells during service, and row 1 has one fewer window than the rows behind — and because all suites are identical, there's no compensating extra space. 9A and 9J are the worst suites on the plane, backing onto the aft business galley and lavatory and the transition into Premium Class.

Premium Class. 14F and 14G take the double hit of galley and lavatory adjacency, and 14H is close to a lavatory. 14C and 14D are milder but still sit near the galley. All of row 14 also loses underseat storage and has fixed armrests with slightly narrower seat width. Note too that Premium Class runs on streaming IFE to your own device rather than seatback screens.

Economy. Rows 28 and 29 are ringed by the mid-cabin lavatories: 28D, 28E, 28F and 28G are the worst of that block, with 28B, 28C and 28H only marginally better, and every remaining seat in row 29 (29A, 29B, 29C, 29H, 29J) rates badly. At the back, 47B through 47H and 48D, 48E and 48F sit against the rear galley and lavatory — row 48 is the final row and only those three seats exist there. The compensation for row 48 is fast deplaning, and not much else.

Wildcards and trade-offs

Economy exit row 33 is the most interesting gamble. 33B, 33C, 33D, 33E, 33F, 33G and 33H all get exit-row legroom, but pay for it with narrower seats, fixed armrests and no underseat storage — and there is no 33A or 33J, so you cannot combine exit-row space with a window here.

Business 6A and 6J are structurally fine suites with a misaligned window panel. If you sleep the whole flight, they're a bargain; if you like watching the coastline, take row 4, 5, 7 or 8 instead.

Economy 45A and 45J have the same misaligned-window problem, and rows 46 and 47 have no A or J seats at all as the fuselage tapers. Also worth weighing: rows 16 through 29 sit over the wing, so window seats there trade the view for a solid grey expanse — a fair swap if you value the smoother ride over the wing.