Ryanair Airbus A320 (Lauda) Seat Map

Picking a Seat on Lauda's A320 for Ryanair

The regrets on this aircraft cluster in two places: row 11 and row 30. Row 11 sits directly ahead of the overwing exits, so 11A through 11F are pinned upright to keep the exit path clear — and unlike the rows behind, they get nothing extra in return. Row 30 is the other trap: 30A–30F back onto the rear lavatory and galley, with limited recline, constant queue traffic at your elbow, and a slightly tighter feel than the rest of the cabin.

What else should I skip?

29C and 29D. They're aisle seats at the back, which sounds fine until you realise they're the pair people lean on while waiting for the lavatory door. If you're deep in the cabin anyway, 29A or 29F keep you out of the traffic lane.

Where's the good news?

Row 13. All six seats — 13A, 13B, 13C, 13D, 13E, 13F — get exit-row legroom and keep their recline, which makes them the only seats on the aircraft with both. Row 12 is the near-miss: 12A–12F have the same stretched-out pitch, but none of them recline. On a 70-minute hop that's barely a sacrifice; on a four-hour run to the Canaries, you'll feel it.

Worth knowing: these seats do recline a few inches, which is not true across the wider Ryanair fleet. The cabins have been refitted and feel uniform aircraft to aircraft, and the grey seats — a holdover from these airframes' previous life — are marginally kinder than the fixed shells on the 737s.

I'm tall. Where do my legs go?

Row 13 first, row 12 second, row 1 third. Row 1 has no seat ahead of it at all, so knee space is generous and nobody drops a seatback into your lap. The trade-offs are real though: no underseat storage, so everything goes overhead for taxi, takeoff and landing, and the armrests are fixed, which costs you an inch or two of shoulder room. One more thing for anyone over six foot — the forward lavatory is well equipped but sits against a sloping sidewall that makes standing upright awkward.

Flying as a couple or a group of three?

The cabin is a straight 3-3 from row 1 to row 30, so there are no two-seat pairs anywhere. A couple booking 13A and 13B gets the best row on the aircraft and gambles on the middle; booking 13A and 13C blocks the middle outright. For a family of three, a full set in rows 2 through 10 is the quiet middle ground — standard pitch, but clear of both lavatory zones and the exit-row restrictions.

I want to sleep. Where's it quietest?

Rows 3 to 10 and rows 18 to 28. You want distance from both ends: the forward galley and lavatory sit ahead of row 1, and the rear pair sit behind row 30, so anything in the middle third of the cabin is insulated from service traffic. Avoid 11A–11F here too — a seat that won't recline is a poor place to nap. Bring your own distraction, incidentally; there's no seatback entertainment and effectively nothing streaming either.

Window people — which views are actually worth it?

Rows 11 through 17 sit over the wing, so 11A, 12A, 13A, 11F, 12F, 13F and their neighbours trade scenery for metal. That's the cost of row 13's legroom. For an unobstructed look at the ground, go forward: 1A and 1F look out ahead of the wing and the sightline is genuinely open, which is a large part of why row 1 is worth the modest upgrade. Further aft, rows 18 to 28 clear the trailing edge. If engine noise bothers you, note that seats around 10F sit right beside it.

I need to be off quickly.

Row 1 wins outright, with rows 2 to 5 close behind. There's a caveat specific to these aircraft: the A320s have no built-in airstairs, so you may be disembarking through a single front door or an air bridge rather than the usual front-and-rear split. That makes anything behind row 20 a slow exit, and row 30 the slowest seat on the aeroplane.