I've been noticing the lack of available elite coach aisle and window seats, sometimes starting as early as four weeks before the flights where this would not previously have been a problem up to about a week before the flight. When I look at how the remaining middle seats are colored on the seat maps, it looks to me like DL is only designating very few rows for elites, so that nonelites who buy early (presumably deeply discounted fares) are grabbing attractive seats near the front of the plane.

It seems strange that DL is choosing to give the advantage to such passengers rather than DL's own elites flying on more expensive fares. I can't believe that DL's yield management is so bad that they cannot predict the number of rows that should be blocked off for elites.

It's not just the flights to China. The flights I'm talking about are a mix of domestic destinations, mostly RTs ex-MSP, possibly with connections through ATL, DTW, and MEM.