Originally Posted by
Presguy
I havent taken the time to do the math on my own, but I've also seen others arrive at 79 for a -700.
Don't forget, though, that the new seating guidelines do allow families or groups travelling together to use the middle seat. So, in theory it's possible to exceed that 79 count, but still be within the new regs. This has happened on one flight I've been on so far.
I'm completely not trying to dispute that you've seen more than 79 on a flight. I wasn't there, and don't know what may have happened, and don't want to speculate.
However, this is being managed by the inventory (available seats for sale) being capped at the number of seats that would allow for all of the middles to be open (I actually don't know the cap number, and also haven't done the math myself, but it would be different based on total seats on that configuration, -700 vs -800 etc.). At the time the inventory is set, we have no idea how many will be families or groups traveling together, even if booked together they may not want to sit together - so that shouldn't affect the total number of seats that are sold on the flight.
There could have been an aircraft swap that resulted in less seats available than what was sold (from an -800 down to a -700).