If you have flown Ryanair, TUI, Jet2, Transavia, Norwegian, KLM's short-haul network, Smartwings or Enter Air in the last fifteen years, you have almost certainly been on a Boeing 737-800. It is the workhorse of European low-cost and charter flying, and most passengers never give it a second thought until two things happen: a headline about a Boeing accident, or the moment the seat map opens and they have to decide whether row 16 is worth the extra fee. This article deals with both. ✈️
The first half is about safety, written plainly. The 737-800 is not the 737 MAX, and the difference matters more than the shared name suggests. The second half is about the cabin: where the noise is, where the turbulence is felt least, which rows have legroom, which rows do not recline, and how a 189-seat layout is actually laid out. Airline configurations differ, so we describe the typical single-class layout and tell you where to check for your own flight.
Part one: is the Boeing 737-800 safe?
1. What the 737-800 actually is 🛠️
The 737-800 is the most common member of the Boeing 737 Next Generation family, usually written 737NG, which also includes the shorter 737-700 and the longer 737-900. It first flew in 1997, entered airline service in 1998, and stayed in production until the end of the 2010s, by which point roughly five thousand had been delivered, making it the best-selling single version of the 737 ever built. It carries between about 160 and 189 passengers depending on how the airline configures the cabin, is powered by two CFM56-7B engines, and flies up to around 5,400 km, which covers everything from Warsaw to the Canary Islands with margin to spare.
Its successor is the 737 MAX 8, which uses the same fuselage with new, larger engines and a redesigned wing. The two are easy to confuse from a seat, and airlines that fly both, such as Ryanair with its 737-8200 variant, do not always advertise which you are on. The quickest visual tell: the MAX has serrated, saw-tooth edges on the back of its engine nacelles; the 737-800 does not. Our separate article on whether the 737 MAX is safe covers that aircraft's history.
2. The safety record in numbers 📊
Aircraft safety is usually measured in fatal accidents per million departures, and by that measure the 737NG family is one of the safest jets ever built. Boeing's own statistical summaries and independent trackers have consistently put the NG's fatal-accident rate at a small fraction of that of the original 737 models from the 1960s and 1980s, and in the same broad category as the Airbus A320 family, its direct competitor. With several thousand aircraft flying tens of millions of flights, the fleet has accumulated an enormous amount of experience, and the rate has trended down over time as the type has matured. Where it sits relative to other aircraft is in our ranking of the safest passenger aircraft.
None of this means the aircraft has never crashed. It means that when the number of flights is taken into account, your chance of being involved in a fatal accident on a 737-800 is extraordinarily small, and comparable to the other aircraft you would be offered on the same route.
3. The accidents people search for 🔍
Being honest about the record means naming the events. The fatal accidents involving the 737-800 have largely been attributed by investigators to factors around the flight rather than to the design of the aircraft:
- Several runway overruns on landing, including Air India Express at Mangalore in 2010 and Ethiopian Airlines at Beirut the same year, were attributed primarily to crew actions and, in the second case, spatial disorientation.
- Flydubai flight 981 at Rostov-on-Don in 2016 crashed during a go-around in bad weather; the investigation pointed to crew handling in a difficult situation.
- Ukraine International flight 752 was shot down by a surface-to-air missile after take-off from Tehran in January 2020. It had nothing to do with the aircraft.
- The most recent, Jeju Air flight 2216 at Muan in South Korea in December 2024, involved a bird strike, a belly landing without landing gear, and a collision with a concrete structure at the end of the runway. At the time of writing the final report has not been published; the preliminary findings focused on the bird strike, the engines and the airport structure rather than on the airframe design.
What you will not find in the 737-800's history is a design flaw grounding the fleet. The MAX was grounded worldwide in 2019 after two accidents linked to its MCAS flight-control software; that system does not exist on the 737-800, and the NG family has never been grounded.
4. The pickle-fork story, explained 🔩
The one structural issue that made the news was in 2019, when cracks were found in a component called the pickle fork, which attaches the wing to the fuselage, on a number of high-cycle 737NG aircraft during inspections. Regulators ordered fleet-wide inspections, affected aircraft were repaired before returning to service, and the finding is now part of the routine maintenance programme. That is how the system is supposed to work: inspection catches wear before it becomes a failure. It is worth knowing about only because it is the story a search engine will surface when you type the aircraft's name and the word cracks.
5. Age of the aircraft: does it matter? 📅
Because the 737-800 stopped being built a few years ago, the youngest ones are now several years old and the oldest are past twenty. Passengers sometimes worry about this. Age in itself is not a safety measure; maintenance is. Commercial aircraft are maintained on a schedule of checks that replace and inspect components on the basis of flight cycles and hours, and a twenty-year-old 737-800 in a well-run fleet is not less safe than a five-year-old one. The things that do age visibly, seat fabric, cabin panels and in-flight systems, are cosmetic. If a cabin looks tired, that says something about the airline's refurbishment budget, not about the airframe.
6. So what is the honest answer? ✅
The Boeing 737-800 is one of the most proven airliners in the world. Its accident rate is very low, its accidents have not been attributed to its design, and it is flown by some of the safest airlines in Europe on their busiest routes. If you are choosing between a flight on a 737-800 and a flight on an A320 or A321, the aircraft type is not a reason to pick one over the other. Book on price, schedule and baggage terms. Speaking of which, if that flight is Ryanair, read our Ryanair cabin baggage guide before you pack, because the sizer is where most people have their bad day, not the aircraft.
Part two: where to sit on a 737-800
Now the useful part. A typical single-class European 737-800 has 189 seats in 31 to 33 rows of six, three on each side of a single aisle, with two overwing exit rows roughly in the middle and toilets at the front and rear. Some full-service airlines run a lower-density layout with a business section at the front, which shifts row numbers, so treat the row numbers below as typical rather than universal and check your airline's seat map.
7. The noise map 🔊
The engines hang under the wing, and jet noise projects mainly backwards. That gives the cabin a simple rule: the further forward you sit, the quieter it is. The first ten rows are noticeably calmer than the back. The rows directly over and just behind the wing are the loudest, because you are sitting beside the exhaust, and the last rows are loud for a different reason: the rear galley, the toilets, and everyone queuing for them. If you want to sleep on a two-hour flight, the front third of the cabin is the place.
8. The turbulence map 🌊
An aircraft pitches around its centre of gravity, which sits close to the wing. Seats over the wing move the least in turbulence; seats at the very front and very back move the most, the back slightly more than the front because the tail is further from the pivot. Nervous flyers who want the smoothest ride should book somewhere between the front of the wing and the overwing exits, accepting a bit more engine noise in exchange for less movement.
9. Legroom: the exit rows and row 1 🦵
Standard seat pitch on a low-cost 737-800 is around 30 inches, which is tight for anyone tall. The escape from that is the exit rows. The two overwing exit rows offer significantly more legroom, and the row directly behind the second exit usually has the most space in the cabin because the seat in front cannot recline into it. Row 1 has extra legroom because there is a bulkhead in front, but the tray table is in the armrest, the seats are slightly narrower as a result, and there is no under-seat storage, so your bag goes in the overhead bin for take-off and landing. Airlines charge extra for all of these, and on the overwing rows you must be physically able to open the exit and willing to do so, which excludes children and some other passengers.
10. The rows to avoid ❌
A few seats on any 737-800 are worse than the rest, and they are usually sold at the standard price:
- The row directly in front of an exit row. These seats often do not recline, so that the exit path stays clear. You get standard legroom and less comfort.
- The last row. No recline because of the rear bulkhead, next to the toilets and galley, first to feel every bump, last off the aircraft.
- The overwing window seats with a misaligned window. On the 737, a few rows over the wing have a solid panel where a window should be, or a window that is half behind the seat. If you are booking a window seat to look out, check a seat map that marks them.
- Middle seats in the back third. Every disadvantage at once: noise, movement and no aisle or window.
11. Front or back for a quick exit? 🚪
On most European airports, a 737-800 disembarks through the front door only, or through both front and rear when stairs are used on the apron. If your priority is being first off, the front is the safe bet; if the airline routinely uses rear stairs, as several low-cost carriers do, the last few rows can be nearly as quick. Boarding usually happens in the same way, which is why bins at the back fill up first when rear boarding is used and the front bins fill first when it is not. Bring a cabin bag that fits the sizer and you avoid the whole problem; we compare the two Peli options that do in Peli 1510 vs Peli Air 1535.
Cabin cases that fit a 737-800 overhead bin
12. The overhead bins and the sizer 🧳
The 737-800's overhead bins are the older, shelf-style design on most aircraft, not the large pivoting bins fitted to newer jets. Airlines that have installed Boeing's newer Space Bins report about 50 percent more capacity, but many low-cost operators have not. In practice this means that on a full flight, cabin bags run out of space somewhere around the last third of boarding, and late boarders have their bags checked at the gate free of charge but out of their control. Two habits help. First, use a bag that is genuinely within the airline's dimensions, wheels and handle included, so that it slides in without arguing. Second, if your bag contains anything you would not want in the hold, board as early as your group allows or pay for priority. A hard case with latches, such as the 1510 or Air 1535, survives a surprise gate-check far better than a soft bag; a lithium battery inside it does not, so keep batteries in your personal item.
The seat map, summarised
| Zone (typical 189-seat layout) | Noise | Turbulence | Legroom | Best for |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Row 1 | Quiet | Moderate | Extra, no under-seat bag | Quick exit, tall passengers |
| Rows 2 to 10 | Quiet | Moderate | Standard | Sleeping, quick exit |
| Rows 11 to 15 (front of wing) | Medium | Least | Standard | Nervous flyers |
| Overwing exit rows | Loud | Least | Most | Tall passengers, paid |
| Row before an exit row | Loud | Least | Standard, often no recline | Avoid |
| Rows behind wing to row 28 | Loud | More | Standard | Rear-stairs airports |
| Last three rows | Loud, galley and toilets | Most | Standard, last row no recline | Avoid unless rear exit |
How to choose a seat in practice
- Decide what you are optimising for: sleep, legroom, a smooth ride or a fast exit. They point to different rows.
- Open the airline's own seat map for your specific flight, not a generic one; layouts differ between carriers and even within a fleet.
- Check a third-party seat map for the misaligned-window rows and the non-reclining rows before paying for a window seat.
- If you are tall and the flight is over two hours, the exit row fee is usually worth it. On a one-hour hop it usually is not.
- If you are a nervous flyer, sit over the wing and accept the noise. If you are a light sleeper, sit at the front and accept the movement.
- Dress for a cabin that can be cold at the front and warm at the back; what to wear on a plane has the details.
- Board as early as you can with a bag that fits, and keep anything valuable or battery-powered in the personal item under the seat in front.
For long-haul aircraft the logic changes, because the cabin is wider and the flight is longer; we cover that in how to choose your seat on a long-haul flight and in our guide to how the Boeing 787 differs.
Checked-baggage cases for the 737-800's hold
Frequently asked questions
Is the Boeing 737-800 the same as the 737 MAX?
No. The 737-800 belongs to the Next Generation family built from 1998; the MAX is the newer generation with different engines, a different wing and the MCAS flight-control software involved in the 2018 and 2019 accidents. The 737-800 has never had MCAS and was never grounded.
How do I know if my flight is on a 737-800?
Booking confirmations and flight-tracking apps usually show the aircraft type, often as B738. Ryanair's fleet is mostly 737-800 with a growing number of 737-8200 MAX aircraft; other European carriers list the type on the seat-selection page.
Which seats on a 737-800 do not recline?
Typically the last row and the row immediately in front of each overwing exit row. Some airlines also fix the recline on row 1. Check the seat map for your carrier.
Where is the quietest seat on a 737-800?
As far forward as possible, on the window side. Row 2 to row 8 window seats are the calmest on most layouts.
Where is the best seat for turbulence?
Over the wing, between roughly rows 11 and 18 on a 189-seat layout, where the aircraft pitches least.
Are the overwing exit rows worth paying for?
For anyone over about 180 cm on a flight longer than two hours, yes. You must be able and willing to operate the exit, and you cannot store a bag under the seat in front during take-off and landing.
Will my cabin bag fit in the overhead bin?
If it is within the airline's published dimensions including wheels and handle, yes, until the bins fill. On a full 737-800 with older bins, late boarders may have bags gate-checked; board early or keep valuables and batteries in your personal item.
The short version
The 737-800 is a safe, proven, unremarkable aircraft that has carried more European holidaymakers than any other jet, and the headlines that worry people belong to a different model. Sit at the front for quiet, over the wing for a smooth ride, in an exit row for legroom, and nowhere near the last three rows unless you plan to leave by the rear stairs. Then bring a bag that fits the sizer and stop worrying about the aeroplane. 🌍
