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I hardly ever fly intra-EU; almost all my trips are TATL, but just booked LHR-BUD-LHR on 320s (in ET) for the end of the month and noticed something that looks odd in the seating chart.
I know that planes will tend to fill up from the front, but looking in MMB it shows that rows 5-13 have no available seats, rows 14 and 15 look 'normal' (i.e. a few seats taken, a few - mostly middles - empty), and then the rest of the plane all the way to the back wide open.
I'm guessing that the forward rows are therefore currently blocked rather than simply all booked by convenient parties of 3 or solo travels that prefer middles, and I guess this might be while they work out how many CE seats they will sell.....?
Can anyone say when these rows tend to become available for the unwashed? (And does this all happen in one fell swoop or in increments?)
Completely normal. Seats in a varying number of rows behind CE are blocked until approx T-72. Those not assigned to CE will usually open for selection by eligible pax around noon UK time 3 days before the flight in question. It is still possible that the CE curtain can move again after this time, depending on route.
Of course, if you have an HBO fare booked since the end of March, you will have to pay to select a seat other than the one assigned to you.