AirTran Airways A+ Rewards - Seating question

I am looking at the seat map of FL 38 leaving SFO Oct 2 and arriving ATL 550AM Oct 3.

15E 16E 18E are unoccupied (all middle seats, understandable)

However, (25A and 25C) (27A and 27C) are unoccupied.

Does someone really like middle seats (25B or 27B) ?

Or does FL play some game with passegers to raise some money from advanced seat assignments? (For example, FL shows only 10 unoccupied seats instead of acutal 40 unoccupied seats to make people desperate to secure window or aisle seats for this long trans-con flights.. If only middle seats are available, people will not pay $6 to get a middle seat, since people will get the same middle seat when they check in. So FL shows some window and aisle seats to entice passengers??? )

They block the middles in case of a downgrade from a 737-700 to a b717. The seat plans are identical. This is also why they block row 18 on the 717.

On this long of a flight, it is worth the $20 to get the exit row, as there aren't very many comfortable seats on that bird, unless you upgrade.

AirTran gives Elites a lot more access to the seat map, so here's the 'text' version of what your flight looks like. There are only 4 or 5 reserved "middles", the rest are open.



Flight 38
Departing at 10:14 PM from San Francisco, CA (SFO) to Atlanta, GA (ATL)



1F, Available
1D, Available
1
1C, Available
1A, Available

2F, Reserved
2D, Available
2
2C, Reserved
2A, Available

3F, Available
3D, Available
3
3C, Available
3A, Available

F
E
D

C
B
A

10F, Reserved
10E, Reserved
10D, Reserved
1010
10C, Reserved
10B, Reserved
10A, Reserved

11F, Reserved
11E, Available
11D, Reserved
1111
11C, Reserved
11B, Available
11A, Reserved

12F, Reserved
12E, Available
12D, Reserved
1212
12C, Reserved
12B, Available
12A, Reserved

14F, Reserved
14E, Reserved
14D, Reserved
1414
14C, Reserved
14B, Available
14A, Available

15F, Reserved
15E, Available
15D, Reserved
1515
15C, Reserved
15B, Available
15A, Reserved

16F, Reserved
16E, Available
16D, Reserved
1616
16C, Reserved
16B, Available
16A, Reserved

17F, Available
17E, Available
17D, Available
1717
17C, Available
17B, Available
17A, Available

18F, Reserved
18E, Available
18D, Reserved
1818
18C, Reserved
18B, Reserved
18A, Reserved

19F, Reserved
19E, Reserved
19D, Reserved
1919
19C, Reserved
19B, Available
19A, Reserved

20F, Reserved
20E, Available
20D, Reserved
2020
20C, Reserved
20B, Available
20A, Reserved

21F, Available
21E, Available
21D, Available
2121
21C, Available
21B, Available
21A, Available

22F, Available
22E, Available
22D, Available
2222
22C, Available
22B, Available
22A, Available

23F, Reserved
23E, Reserved
23D, Available
2323
23C, Reserved
23B, Available
23A, Reserved

24F, Reserved
24E, Reserved
24D, Reserved
2424
24C, Reserved
24B, Available
24A, Reserved

25F, Reserved
25E, Reserved
25D, Available
2525
25C, Available
25B, Available
25A, Available

26F, Reserved
26E, Reserved
26D, Reserved
2626
26C, Available
26B, Available
26A, Reserved

27F, Reserved
27E, Reserved
27D, Reserved
2727
27C, Available
27B, Available
27A, Available

28F, Reserved
28E, Reserved
28D, Reserved
2828
28C, Reserved
28B, Available
28A, Reserved

29F, Reserved
29E, Reserved
29D, Reserved
2929
29C, Reserved
29B, Reserved
29A, Reserved

30F, Available
30E, Available
30D, Available
3030
30C, Available
30B, Available
30A, Available

31F, Available

31D, Available
3131
31C, Available
31B, Available
31A, Available

Thank you.

Row 21 and 22 are open based on your text. Still FL shows they are occupied. Interesting.

My father is taking this flight. Instead of paying $20 for exit row, I am thinking to give him $99 business upgrade if it is available.

$130 (I paid for) + $99 (upgrade) = $229 (business SFO-ATL) I think it is a pretty good deal.

21 and 22 will open up on Day of Departure - this is because those are the exit rows on the B717 - again, they thought about everything in the even of a Downgrade.

A friend at Air Tran (mgt) said only 10% of the passengers actually pay for seats, so don't believe the seat maps.

They block the middles in case of a downgrade from a 737-700 to a b717. The seat plans are identical. This is also why they block row 18 on the 717.



However, SFO-ATL is more than 2000 miles.. Out of range of B717

I do not think downgrade from 737 to 717 would be possible for this route. Is it correct?

However, SFO-ATL is more than 2000 miles.. Out of range of B717

I do not think downgrade from 737 to 717 would be possible for this route. Is it correct?

Yes, that's correct, unless they stop for fuel somewhere.

I think, in general, they just block one row of middle seats on all flights just to keep things simple.

Remember that seat maps are notoriously inaccurate. Airlines intentionally make sure the maps don't reflect what's really going on...they don't want the competition to see how full/empty the planes are.