Calchas

That's just for the comfort and safety of the other passengers.

corporate-wage-slave

Row 8 is a good seat, particularly in the aisle, since you have unlimited leg room in all seats and easy access to the aisle in all seats on boarding and take off. Ditto row 21 and 22A and 22F. However my sleuthing around suggests you are travelling on Wednesday or Thursday, so this is what the seat pattern looks like (clear seats=available) for Wednesday:



And you would have no risk of being seat shifted for trim from the front, it's by no means empty. Ditto for Thursday:



Yes I've seen empty rows behind me, I guess I'm spared the application of that with my non shiny card. What I was referring to was Embraer seat shifting on the day, which respecting some experiences mentioned in this thread is nevertheless not an everyday occurrence on LHR services.

KARFA

One does insist that no other passengers sit within 10 metres when one is on a domestic flight

Sigwx

Generally speaking seat shifting for trim occurs on smaller types. As for mainline types should some planned cargo not arrive or be accepted, then some pax may need to be moved. This generally tends to be known about in advance after the initial load plan was generated, hence the bad beep at the gate. Last Minute Changes or LMCs may on rare occasion cause the need to put pax in different seats after they have boarded. On lightly loaded services seats do get blocked from the front.

Scots_Al

The most comical I've seen was on a Titan-operated GLA-LGW, before pushback, the captain announced that because the luggage had been loaded in the rear of the hold, and 'for some reason' everyone has chosen to sit at the back of the plane, almost everybody needed to move forward.

Of course, the reason why everyone was at the back was that the whole front of the plane was blocked on MMB/OLCI!!!

Calchas

Recently I travelled LGW-TRN on Thomas Cook (!!!) and back*.

They had loaded the aircraft so heavily towards the rear that they insisted the front cabin could not disembark until the rear cabin was empty.

I had this image of the plane tipping up on its rear wheels.

Apparently it's their standard policy.


* Not my fault. The seat pitch was only about eleven inches and there was no free bar. However, there was a large free cooked breakfast for all passengers on the way out and a free cooked lunch on the way back. Service was good, staff were helpful. Except for the pitch, I couldn't really complain! **

** This may be how we start describing BA soon.

BerksFlyer

Wednesday it is detective! My fear of being shifted is irrational, but it's amazing how long one can be scarred for following a shift from 2E/F (with D empty) to row twenty something on an A321 from MAN to LHR!

My main concern is getting off the flight and over to T3 for my debut on Delta and my first visit to The Clubhouse. I am very familiar with T5 and using T3 with AA but have no idea where I am going on this occasion. I have more then enough time but if we're late I would rather be in 1C, be first off the plane and onto a train.

tuff

A few years ago flying from EDI to LGW late evening and mid-week I was in Row 1 and the next people were about 8 rows behind me and there was announcement asking people to remain in their allocated seats. I did feel rather uncomfortable but I did get very good service from the front galley.

corporate-wage-slave

I totally understand, and I'm sure you also appreciate the difference between 1C and row 8 will be only a minute or so. There are some compromise rows, e.g. 4, but we are still dancing on a pin head. Your reference to train: this presumably refers to checked luggage that can't be inter-lined? If it is one ticket it can be checked through. Otherwise liberate yourself with hand luggage and use the same bus service you use for AA in T3. Enjoy the Clubhouse tomorrow!

bd95

I've been on several domestic services with extensive blocking for trim.

On A319s I've seen seats blocked right back to row 14 for a lightly loaded flight. They generally leave golds in situ but not silvers (ranting in lounge witnessed) but if you haven't selected a seat in advanced you won't be able to override the block as a gold.

bmi had one domestic configured A321 back in the day which was subject to very strange seat blocking for trim as it was often a last minute sub. The midhaul fleet was never really subject to it as the business cabin stretches back beyond doors 2 so the Y seats are largely behind the wings.

FWIW blocking for trim doesn't only happen on lightly loaded services. FR couldn't take a full load (which would be 189) out of BHD on their 738s and always had rows 3-6 (or similar, can't remember exact rows) blocked for selection on board and trim was always given as the reason, even on flights with every sellable seat sold.

BerksFlyer

My reference to train is my method of getting from T5 to T3. I am HBO (for five days on business. Mrs BerksFlyer is a damn good packer, amongst other things of course) so no need to worry about through checking anything. It isn't one ticket either as the BA GLA-LHR was booked weeks before the DL LHR-JFK, both through a TA.

Would you suggest bus is quicker? I won't have checked in for my Delta flight as they don't do an app for my windows phone hence my plan to pitch up in the front door of T3 (whilst looking longingly at the AA business check in and mourning a flight to USA without 140 TPs!).

As for dancing on pin heads, you're right. With my walking pace I'll probably be in front of row 1 folk shortly after alighting anyway!!

corporate-wage-slave

It's definitely quicker and easier to take the airside bus, you don't need a boarding pass. If you can't print your boarding pass in advance, just have some documentation to prove that you have the Delta flight (checkmytrip.com print out if all else fails) you will need to show this to leave the glass doors from the GLA flight in T5 domestic, around the outer glass corridor, following the signs for T3 Flight Connections, and then down to the bus. Takes less than 5 minutes to get to the bus gate, 11 minutes for the ride, and buses every 6 minutes - it would take you longer to walk from the HEX platform through the T3 zoo.

Once in T3 you will then need to show the documentation again, then go to the Delta/Virgin desk, which is just after Security. At that time of the day T3 flight connecitons should be empty, it does get more jammy later in the evening when the bigger Asian flights leave.

Jetstreamer

This seems to have happened on all my domestics recently, where the front 6 or so rows are blocked off a week or so before the flight. First time I saw this I thought the flight has heavily booked at the front so moved myself back so nobody would be sitting next to me. Boarded and noticed it was busy at the back and one or two people at the front! Now I know, I'm very happy when this happens and I've pre-selected in the front few rows.

BerksFlyer

Great advice cws (for me and others), thanks. I'll give it a go.

KARFA

BA1345 LBA-LHR for tomorrow evening 2100d. I have been isolated from the other passengers! After repeated clicking and use of the shift+alt+F5 trick I have managed to move all other passengers to row 10 onwards so I get rows 1-9 to myself