Originally Posted by
Critic
The advantage to the elite zone is that if you're on a kettle-heavy route, Rows 22 and up fill up very fast, so if you can book into the EZ, you've at least got a better chance of getting a window or aisle.
Yes. but it often works the other way around, namely many flights are elite heavy, and it is the elite zone that fills up, leaving everything behind row 22 relatively emptier. In fact, some savvy CO elites will book the first few rows of the "kettle zone" in order to get a little more overhead bag space and even--if they are lucky--an empty seat next to them.