Originally Posted by
MSPeconomist
CNN keeps talking about some people who were lucky to be bumped from the flight. The picture seems to be a Malaysian couple with a very small baby. However, it seems to me that the aircraft had a few (less than ten but still at least several) empty seats when I compare passenger numbers (280 plus 3 lap infants) to the reported numbers of business class and coach seats on the MH 777. Can anyone explain the discrepancy? Are some seats blocked for crew rest on a flight of this length?
There are 2 situations that come to mind...
Passengers can purchase 2 tickets. One is their actual seat, the other is a "Reserved Seat" so they don't have anyone next to them. This is especially popular on US/Europe flights to the Pacific.
There could've also been an issue with any number of seats which passengers weren't allowed to sit. I've seen airlines even block seats because the IFE system was malfunctioning.