Boarding KL1128 this afternoon, I found 11 pax in Europe Select, who had been allocated all of four rows netween them. Upon passing the class divider, I was amazed to discover that apart from 3 pax in suits in 7DEF, there was nobody at all seated in rows 5 through 10. From row 11 onwards the aircraft, a 733, was almost full : about 60 pax crammed in 12 rows (72 seats).

For a few minutes after taking my emergency exit row seat 10A, I thought that for once the Select Seating rules had been enforced strictly. At the last moment, however, 4 pax took their seats in row 6. They certainly didn't look like frequent flyers, more like frequent drinkers. One of them resembled a walking beer barrel in a football shirt. They were followed by a solitary gentleman who tried to drag his wheeled bag down the aisle. Only problem was that it was wider than the aisle, but this didn't deter him. He got as far as row three, at which point the purser intervened and stowed the bag for him. This same pax decided that it was a good time to start wandering up and down the aisle when we were on short finals to AMS. For some reason I suspect he wasn't a frequent flyer either. Be that as it may, I had row 10 all to myself, and therefore no reason for complaint.

johan