Originally Posted by
CAPT Tee
On flights to HKG and SYD (may all flights on B747 in general), UA blocks rows 35 to 39 from seat assignment until a few days before the flights. There are many people with confirmed reservation but no assigned seats.
This is it - but it used to be because that was the E+ section on the old 747s, so it protected those seats in case of a swap. Now that all are the new config, there's no need to keep them blocked out. Quite silly.