Originally Posted by
nshep
Flew on BA NEO today after boarding an announcement was made that no passengers can move to the ‘free’ seats at the back of the plane and that this will be checked throughout the flight.
I think that's the only bit which (in practical terms) is new here: BA have long blocked out the last two rows on NEOs, as is mentioned up thread and in the removed CE Club table discussion. However people often did move to the final row on boarding, either with or without crew encouragement, but the EASA ruling now makes it a no go zone. It's all a bit daft, the NEO arrangement was intended to standardise IAG's fleet in this area, and the Recaro seats are a lot lighter from a fuel usage point of view, but the extra capacity factor of NEOs now seems to be ebbing away.
I haven't yet been on a NEO where I've been asked to wait before disembarking, though it has been reported upthread.