Having recently covered my choice of business class seats on Aer Lingus’ A330’s, but with the airline increasingly deploying smaller Airbus A321’s regularly on long-haul flights across the Atlantic, it seemed fitting to cover my top business class seat recommendations for this tighter cabin, too.

To start with, Aer Lingus’ A321 business class cabin is compact, regardless of which A321 variant; with only 5 rows in total, starting, oddly, from row 2. The proximity of the front of the cabin to the door, galley, and toilets; and the rear of the cabin to economy class, makes seat selection as early as possible arguably far more important even than on the larger A330’s.

Before we dig into it, I do want to say that where possible, in my opinion, the larger aircraft is preferable where possible; experience has taught me several times now that the general experience on-board these smaller aircraft is slightly inferior.

For example, no pre-departure beverage service is offered in business; there is consistently only one cabin crew serving the whole business cabin – a hustle, no matter how efficient you are; and then we have the post-meal queue-up of passengers for the lone toilet, made worse by the crew using the galley (also the waiting) area to clean up. I’ll be the first to say I could be imagining this, but the drinks also seem to run out far faster too – seemingly one, max two, bottles of each wine catered for the whole business cabin appears to be the norm.

I wish it weren’t so, and the crew do seem to do their best, but keep that firmly in mind for starters. But for some of our recent journeys, from Newark or Barbados for example, there’s simply no choice.

Solo? Here’s Top Choice…

If you are flying solo, the only reasonable choices to make 3A, 3K, 5A, 5K. Often called ‘throne seats’, these seats have signficant privacy and additional space either side of the seat.

While the seats don’t have a privacy door like in newer cabins elsewhere, the locker separating you from the aisle means you do ultimately feel cocooned away in your own private space. There’s also an abundance of space for your personal belongings, drinks, a laptop, and much more.

I had covered previously the narrow footwell issue – which is prevalent here too, although it’s never troubled me, especially considering the otherwise wealth of personal space.

One wonderful thing about Aer Lingus, for now – touch wood, is that business class seats are free to assign, including these significantly more spacious seats. So, if you’re travelling solo, and they’re up for grabs, don’t hesitate.

Second-Choice; A tough choice, as all other rows have two seats per side and so I’d likely pick the last row in the hope nobody else would end up beside me; and then it becomes your choice of being on the aisle-side for undisturbed access, or the window if you don’t mind having to high-jump over another passenger to use the bathroom.

Flying Together?

Flying together is a much easier set of options; personally, we tend to pick Row 4 A/C,or H/K as much as possible, right in the middle of the cabin.

I’ve flown in the front row, confusingly ‘Row 2’ multiple times and any chatter from the galley can be quite distracting given the lack of any real separation, to say nothing of the issue mentioned earlier in which the aisle alongside the front row becomes a temporary holding area for would-be toiletgoers. So that’s a firm pass.

The last row, Row 6 is also fine, but incurs the not insignificant risk of backing onto the baby bassinet area in economy, which is right behind. Best case, this is probably the quietest set of business class seat pairs in the cabin; worst case, it’s a long-haul long night of cry-induced wakefulness.

Next time around, I’ll cover my favourite economy seats on these compact long-range flyers. In the meantime, what’s your seat pick – do you agree, or would you prefer to be right up the front in the first row regardless?