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Social Distance Seat Blocking (Through 1/6/2021)

Social Distance Seat Blocking (Through 1/6/2021)

Old May 28, 2020, 10:41 pm
  #46  
 
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Flight today on E175. 5 of 12 F seats free. 2A, 3A, 1C & 1D, and 3A. The couples seated next to each other all were couples travelling together. So nobody sat next to someone they didn’t know. Only spot with someone sitting with just the aisle between them was 4A & 4C. And I assume if 4A wanted more space she could move to 1D.

I could see last night the flight disappeared from booking availability when there appeared to be 4 open F seats on the flight. Felt better about the social distancing on this flight.
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Old May 29, 2020, 8:27 am
  #47  
 
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Is AS allowing Y pax to move to the Preferred seats (behind Premium, available to elites at booking) at boarding? Asking because I'm flying SFO-JFK on a 319 tomorrow. Due to cancellation of earlier flight this one is relatively full in coach, both regular and Premium. But the Preferred block only has 2 pax, including me, so there's a great buffer. I'm curious whether those seats will get filled as pax redistribute themselves?
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Old May 29, 2020, 9:26 am
  #48  
 
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Originally Posted by mehitabel
Is AS allowing Y pax to move to the Preferred seats (behind Premium, available to elites at booking) at boarding? Asking because I'm flying SFO-JFK on a 319 tomorrow. Due to cancellation of earlier flight this one is relatively full in coach, both regular and Premium. But the Preferred block only has 2 pax, including me, so there's a great buffer. I'm curious whether those seats will get filled as pax redistribute themselves?
normally, those seats become available to passengers at 24 hour check in. (Excluding Saver fare seats). So, those Main passengers could select those seats after check in.
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Old May 29, 2020, 10:48 am
  #49  
 
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Originally Posted by pcoll
normally, those seats become available to passengers at 24 hour check in. (Excluding Saver fare seats). So, those Main passengers could select those seats after check in.
Thanks - I've been watching the seating chart shift around - now I understand why. I'm a long-time UA elite (Plat/1K, depending), now considering an AS status match. Interesting learning the small variations.
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Old May 29, 2020, 11:31 am
  #50  
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Originally Posted by mehitabel
... flying SFO-JFK on a 319 tomorrow. ...
thought all the 319s were parked ... seat map for the one SFO-JFK flight shows a 739 with about 20 scattered aisle/window seats in Y unassigned, plus three or four in PC
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Old May 29, 2020, 2:07 pm
  #51  
 
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Originally Posted by jrl767
thought all the 319s were parked ... seat map for the one SFO-JFK flight shows a 739 with about 20 scattered aisle/window seats in Y unassigned, plus three or four in PC
You're correct - I was conflating it with UA1025, a flight I'm now considering switching to. I originally booked AS254 dep 7am--also a 739--because it was so empty. (That was when UA was still filling middle seats on transcons at the gate.) When my flight was canceled, I was switched to AS1022, dep 8:30am. It's now much fuller than the UA flight I originally rejected. Sigh. I'm not faulting AS at all -- I'm just not wild about flying yet, as even with middle seats blocked (which I truly appreciate), we're way shy of 6 ft between passengers. I'm not trying to provoke debate, btw - I'm fully aware of the extent to which "safety" barometers are personal
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Old May 29, 2020, 7:35 pm
  #52  
 
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Any speculation about what we can expect beginning July 1? Current statement on seat blocking indicates until end of June.
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Old May 29, 2020, 9:32 pm
  #53  
 
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Originally Posted by pcoll
Any speculation about what we can expect beginning July 1? Current statement on seat blocking indicates until end of June.
well as of a few days ago it was only through May 31, so it seems pretty fluid at the moment.
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Old May 30, 2020, 1:01 pm
  #54  
 
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Flew the PDX SEA shuttle yesterday, at 2PM. It was a 737, and all middle seats were blocked from what I could tell, I was in 9F and could not see fully behind me, but from at least row 11 forward it was middles blocked and FC at 50%. Not looking forward to my SEA AUS work trip next week, only 4 seats available, so it looks like that is being capped at 50% as well.
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Old Jun 3, 2020, 9:05 am
  #55  
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I'm booked in F on several AS flights, and while AS may be capping sales, as far as I can tell they aren't actually blocking any seats in F at all. They allowed two pax to book seats immediately adjacent to me on one flight - I was in 4D on E75, and these idiots took 4A and 4C. I've moved to row 2, but have also made duplicate bookings on WN and will likely fly them instead.
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Old Jun 3, 2020, 9:07 am
  #56  
 
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Originally Posted by Kacee
I'm booked in F on several AS flights, and while AS may be capping sales, as far as I can tell they aren't actually blocking any seats in F at all. They allowed two pax to book seats immediately adjacent to me on one flight - I was in 4D on E75, and these idiots took 4A and 4C. I've moved to row 2, but have also made duplicate bookings on WN and will likely fly them instead.
I just flew a lot of AS F flights, in the 2-2 config and the horizon air 1-2 config there will never be somebody sitting next to you in F unless it’s somebody you’re flying with. Through June as far as I know
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Old Jun 3, 2020, 9:09 am
  #57  
 
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Originally Posted by Kacee
I'm booked in F on several AS flights, and while AS may be capping sales, as far as I can tell they aren't actually blocking any seats in F at all. They allowed two pax to book seats immediately adjacent to me on one flight - I was in 4D on E75, and these idiots took 4A and 4C. I've moved to row 2, but have also made duplicate bookings on WN and will likely fly them instead.
No guarantees, so just book the single seat A side. Every airline is doing this a bit differently -- I noticed UA seems to be actually blocking the C seats.
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Old Jun 3, 2020, 11:11 am
  #58  
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Originally Posted by Mauibaby2008
I just flew a lot of AS F flights, in the 2-2 config and the horizon air 1-2 config there will never be somebody sitting next to you in F unless it’s somebody you’re flying with. Through June as far as I know
I know that's AS's marketing pitch, but it's not consistent with Bellerina's first hand report upthread, nor is it consistent with what AS is currently allowing in terms of pre-flight seat selection. And I've been around the block enough times not to be willing to just have faith that the agents will sort it all out at the gate.
Originally Posted by metallo
No guarantees, so just book the single seat A side. Every airline is doing this a bit differently -- I noticed UA seems to be actually blocking the C seats.
For social distancing purposes, I do not find the aisle desirable due to aisle traffic.

It's true that UA is blocking seats for selection by passengers, but they are not blocking sales nor are they blocking seats for assignment by its agents. UA will allow its agents to book a row full across (and will sell every seat on the aircraft).
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Old Jun 3, 2020, 11:12 am
  #59  
 
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Originally Posted by Kacee
I'm booked in F on several AS flights, and while AS may be capping sales, as far as I can tell they aren't actually blocking any seats in F at all. They allowed two pax to book seats immediately adjacent to me on one flight - I was in 4D on E75, and these idiots took 4A and 4C. I've moved to row 2, but have also made duplicate bookings on WN and will likely fly them instead.
They are definitely capping upgrades to F to 50% capacity though. Throughout May I have lost out on multiiple F upgrades because I was 3rd or 4th on the list, with more than 4 empty F seats, but upgrading me would've put us over 50% capacity.
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Old Jun 3, 2020, 11:33 am
  #60  
 
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Originally Posted by Kacee
I know that's AS's marketing pitch, but it's not consistent with Bellerina's first hand report upthread, nor is it consistent with what AS is currently allowing in terms of pre-flight seat selection. And I've been around the block enough times not to be willing to just have faith that the agents will sort it all out at the gate.

For social distancing purposes, I do not find the aisle desirable due to aisle traffic.

It's true that UA is blocking seats for selection by passengers, but they are not blocking sales nor are they blocking seats for assignment by its agents. UA will allow its agents to book a row full across (and will sell every seat on the aircraft).
I have Q400 flights booked (as part of larger itineraries) in July and in August, all with a companion. On all flights, all of the aisle seats are blocked and the message on the top says “We’ve created extra space on our aircraft that may impact your seat selection options. Details on our coronavirus response page”. The seat map confirms this so I have selected window seats one in front of the other. So AS is definitely still seat blocking for pre-flight selection even into July and August. At least for now.
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