I am unable to report whether this seat has zone 2 boarding or not, as I decided to go ahead and buy the upgrade to EC and glad that I did. The flight was completely booked and there was only enough room in the overhead for my rollaboard suitcase, so my personal item went underneath the seat in front of me, which would not have been available for seat 17G. I also noted that they started taking bags off for gate checking before they had finished the boarding process. I did get a look at 17G when I got up to use the restroom and don't think that I would have liked it much anyway. Although there is more "knee room" than a regular coach seat, the jumpseat in front of it goes all the way to the floor, which restricts the actual legroom. If you are not too tall, this seat might be a good choice, but I would not recommend it for anyone 6 feet or more.