Originally Posted by
flyingmusicianlax
Doesn't the FAA require that there be a certain number of F/As for the number of seats, regardless how many of this seats are filled? I recall reading that from an F/A on the UA forum.
Anecdotally, I have definitely been on multiple 738s where every seat was filled.
Yes, this is correct. However, an airline can get an exception for this, providing the seats are physically blocked. AA chose to do this and installed 4 fixed trays into the middle seats in rows 16/17.
C17PSGR was referring to those, in the sense that 4 seats go out "empty" on every 738. We can assume that's not what the OP was referring to, though.
Incidentally, starting in November, AA will start unblocking these seats and adding a row back in Y.