The ultimate guide to airlines flying rear-facing seats

There's a certain thrill to flying in a rear-facing seat.

In 2019, I flew an American Airlines Boeing 787-8 Dreamliner from Chicago to Dallas and actually enjoyed my experience flying backward.

However, there are a dwindling number of airlines offering this unique seating arrangement. What follows are the airlines currently featuring rear-facing seats on their wide-body aircraft, including cabin layouts.

Sign up for TPG's free new biweekly Aviation newsletter for more airline-specific news!

American Airlines

American Airlines offers rear-facing business-class seats on select Boeing 777-200s and Boeing 787-8 Dreamliners. Unfortunately, the fleet types are mixed — meaning that you won't know until just a few days before departure which configuration your plane will feature. Be sure to check the seat map in the days and hours before your flight to double-check.

These planes primarily fly long-haul routes, but in recent months, AA has scheduled wide-body flights on short domestic hops.

Aircraft and Cabin Configuration

• Boeing 777-200 — 37 seats in the business-class cabin, roughly half of which face backward
• Boeing 787-8 Dreamliner — 20 seats in the business-class cabin, roughly half of which face backward

Related: Best American Airlines seats ranked from best to worst

Britsh Airways

In the years leading up to the pandemic, every British Airways wide-body plane featured both forward- and rear-facing seats in Club World business class.

Daily Newsletter

Reward your inbox with the TPG Daily newsletter

Join over 700,000 readers for breaking news, in-depth guides and exclusive deals from TPG’s experts

Email address

Sign up

By signing up, you will receive newsletters and promotional content and agree to our Terms of Use and acknowledge the data practices in our Privacy Policy. You may unsubscribe at any time.

Recently, the carrier has taken delivery of new Airbus A350s and Boeing 787-10 Dreamliners and retrofitted some Boeing 777s with forward-facing, direct-aisle-access pods — a noticeable step up from the legacy Club World product.

However, unless you're flying one of the select routes with a new BA plane, odds are you'll see rear-facing seats in business class.

Aircraft and Cabin Configuration

British Airways has rear-facing seats in the business-class cabins on the following planes:

• Airbus A380 — 2-4-2 on the main deck; 2-3-2 on the upper deck, where there are eight additional rows of business class
• Boeing 777-200 — 2-4-2 (note some 772s have been retrofitted with the new Club Suite)
• Boeing 777-300 — 2-4-2 configuration
• Boeing 787-8 Dreamliner — 2-3-2 configuration
• Boeing 787-9 Dreamliner — 2-3-2 configuration

British Airways' Club World cabins tend to be laid out in a 2-4-2 or 2-3-2 configuration. In those two-seat sections on the sides, the seat next to the window faces backward. In the middle section of four seats, it is the middle two seats that face backward.

Related: How to fly BA's new Club Suite

Etihad

Etihad operates rear-facing seats in both its business and first-class cabins aboard the following aircraft:

Aircraft and Cabin Configuration

• Airbus A380 — This aircraft is Etihad's flagship, though there are rumors it may get retired due to the pandemic. It sports eight first-class "Apartments" arranged in a 1-1 configuration, with seats alternating between forward- and rear-facing. The rest of the upper deck is outfitted with business class pods in a 1-2-1 configuration, with half the seats facing forward, and the other half facing backward.
• Boeing 787-9 Dreamliner — In first class, there are just eight suites spread across two rows in an alternating 1-2-1 configuration. Business class also alternates between forward- and rear-facing pods in a 1-2-1 configuration.
• Boeing 787-10 Dreamliner — Etihad's longer -10 Dreamliner doesn't feature a first-class cabin, but biz is arranged in a similar 1-2-1 configuration as the -9 Dreamliner.

Qatar

Historically, rear-facing business-class seats meant that you'd be sitting next to your neighbor without direct access to the aisle.

However, when Qatar introduced Qsuite in 2017, the Doha-based carrier revolutionized flying backward. In fact, the carrier is now a two-time winner of the TPG Award for the best international business-class product.

Qsuite offers a bunch of different seating configurations that are ideal for every type of traveler — solo flyers, couples and families. The seats are arranged Tetris-style across the cabin and all Qatar wide-body jets outfitted with a Qsuite cabin offer rear-facing seats.

Aircraft and Cabin Configuration

• Select Boeing 777-200LRs, 777-300ERs, Airbus A350-900s and all of Qatar Airways' A350-1000s feature a Qsuite cabin arranged in a 1-2-1 configuration.

United

Back in the day, most of United's long-haul international fleet flew with rear-facing seats in business class.

Fortunately, those days are long gone. The carrier has its new Polaris business-class experience installed on nearly 70% of the fleet. (The rest of the long-haul fleet is equipped with forward-facing business-class pods in a 2-2-2 or 2-1-2 configuration.)

There are just 23 high-density Boeing 777-200s left with rear-facing seats, which primarily fly domestically or on short hops to Mexico and Latin America.

Aircraft and Cabin Configuration

• Boeing 777-200 — The last remaining Boeing 777s with rear-facing business-class seats are arranged in a tight 2-4-2 configuration. Both the couple seats and the center foursome alternate between forward- and rear-facing. There are four rows on either side and three rows in the center.

Related: Ultimate guide to United Polaris