Finnair Plus - AY seat blocking finally?

On my last four flights in economy (intra europe) the seat next to me has been empty on planes with maybe 4-6 empty seats overall. I did not reqest an empty seat next to me and did not choose my seat before airport check in. What is your experence, AY finally blocking seats for elites or just wishful thinking...?!

The only flights I have taken with AY in whY during the last 6 months or so have all been so empty that I've always had an empty seat/row next to me so difficult to say. Again I very rarely check in luggage so I don't speak to check if staff that often but I guess it's worth ask next time around.

Same for me. Travelled to/from GOT several times this year and always an empty seat next to me. And I am not a frequent traveler. Thus, my guess is that it is just good luck.

yeah. they definately block seats.
when i was flying HEL-DEL the seat i wanted 22A and when i checked in online, and then at Warsaw airport, 22a Was "Not available" - NOT TAKEN!!!
they told me to do so, so at the gate i went to the guy and asked him to chang emy seat to 22A, and the whole row was empty :) (that was 1 hour before the flight)

yeah. they definately block seats.
when i was flying HEL-DEL the seat i wanted 22A and when i checked in online, and then at Warsaw airport, 22a Was "Not available" - NOT TAKEN!!!
they told me to do so, so at the gate i went to the guy and asked him to chang emy seat to 22A, and the whole row was empty :) (that was 1 hour before the flight)

If it's the Airbus 333 or 343 you are talking about, 22A is a bulkhead bassinet seat and blocked until check-in for this reason. Nothing unusual, Cathay for example also doesn't release these seats before check-in begins.

I think AY have blocked seats for a while - even for me as a AA EXP (Emerald). This has happened at the automatic seat assignment but also if I have asked at the counter.

About a year ago when doing OLCI I experimented a bit. I compared the seat map on the OLCI with ExpertFlyer where I had 7C (I think) and according to the seat map on finnair.com 7A was occupied (on an Embraer). This of course made me select 6C since 6A was empty. ExpertFlyer confirmed this.

When checking ExpertFlyer after completing OLCI (30 seconds later) BOTH 7A and 7C were empty and only 6C occupied (by me).

So some sort of seat blocking have been in effect for a while. And I think that assignment was done automatically.

Just landed after a BKK-HEL flight with the MD-11. Me and my wife tried to OLCI and rows 21-23 were full, we were assigned only 47D and 47E.

We boarded the airplane last, and to our curiosity rows 21 and 22 were half-empty. On 21C there was a FinnairPlus Platinum traveller with a blocked seat, so this is definitely in place for elites

Story would have ended here if the guy would have been the absolute rude idiot, as he started to shout at my wife that he has all 3 seats booked for himself, and that he will not "allow" her to sit on 21A. We sat on 21D and 21E and it was fine, but I hope this is not the usual Plat traveller pissed that he was not upgraded in C. Conflict was solved by FA who explained us about the Platinum benefit, and explained him that he only has 1 additional seat blocked and that he can't refuse any other person to sit on an empty seat on the plane.

On 21C there was a FinnairPlus Platinum traveller with a blocked seat, so this is definitely in place for elites

Thanks, good to get confirmation :)


Story would have ended here if the guy would have been the absolute rude idiot, as he started to shout at my wife that he has all 3 seats booked for himself, and that he will not "allow" her to sit on 21A. We sat on 21D and 21E and it was fine, but I hope this is not the usual Plat traveller pissed that he was not upgraded in C.

Upgrades on AY are extremely rare (at least according to my experience) so maybe he was just looking forward to being able to lie down and sleep if he had all three seats for himself. Anyway, I agreee with you that it was very rude behavior.

Not familiar with upgrade process, but this is what I noticed on the 2 flights:

- in HEL before boarding the check-in staff handed out different boarding passes to various people and they were all smiling and thanking after receiving them. During the flight at least 1 couple I saw in C (I had first row after C). Can't say I saw others in Y, did not see them or did not notice them. I assumed they were all upgraded.
- on the return flight from BKK FA told me that the person next to me was not upgraded because it was full in C, and I assumed again that AY is one of the great airlines that fills up C with paying passengers and then oneworld elites.

The person did not lie down, he slept in the window seat, not even in the aisle one with infinite legroom. Of well, I'mhome now, playing with my kid, so this is behind me :)

Finnair does not fill up the C cabin unless there is a real need for it.

However, they quite often (more often so lately?) assign the aft C cabin to Economy and this is filled up with elites and people with full fare tickets. I have seen this a few times even when the Y cabins haven't been fully booked. This may be what you saw.

Having more than one seat blocked I think is stretching it a bit. Acting that way is stupid. But, moving from row 47 to row 21 (as I read your post)without the blessing of the staff on board is also stretching it, in my opinion.

I am definitely one of those moving around a bit in case of open seats, but I would generally move aft and I would never seat myself next to anyone. Only if there is two open seats I would move.

The person did not lie down, he slept in the window seat, not even in the aisle one with infinite legroom. Of well, I'mhome now, playing with my kid, so this is behind me :)

Can you actually raise the armrest on M11 bulkheads so that you can lie down...? If so, where do the tray tables come from?

Sorry, I am (very luckily so) not that familiar with AY whY seating as of now..