Originally Posted by
hugolover
I noticed something interesting. The 19B I am booked on was initially showing the missing B seat on first row after ET. Then about a day before it appeared however it wasn't possible to assign it even though it showed as available. It would churn out an error. Now it shows as occupied on OLCI. Does the system now default to behaving in this way because until recently the seatmap was an accurate representation of this situation. What's the chances it will have no B seat.
My understanding is that due to the historic issue with converter seats being "hard wired" into MMB, the B seat typically isn't available until T-72, or sometimes T-24. This was when the ET aisle was narrower than the CE aisle and the front C seat was kept wide to prevent the trolley knee-capping its occupant through the curtain. That conversion practice has now stopped on the shorthaul Airbuses, and therefore there isn't a need to block off B.
So if you book the A or C seat in the hope of getting a B seat blocked, it's not going to happen unless the aircraft is quite empty. You have to remember the sweetener an agent can give to someone, on being told that it's middle seats only left, "at least I can get you a seat near the front".