Here's the deal: I have two flights booked, JFK-HKG-JFK in May and September.

My May flight, the seat map is completely full. There are maybe 3 seats, and even though I have an aisle seat, for the past few years I have been able to get the exit row seats. Not anymore, it seems.

My September flight is also pretty full. All exit rows seats gone already.

My question is this: Is this what I can expect from now on? Never have I experienced such a poor pick of seats, even when booking later than I am booking now. At first I thought this would be resolved as it was just a bug, but any explanations as to what exactly is happening, and is this what I can expect in the future?