Pit of Misery starts @Row 7

in the case of the CR2 .. row 1 even

Evidently some Chinese airlines don't start at row 1, so it's a second-world problem as well :D

I believe the 737 and the MD80 seat numbering scheme came out of a long-ago attempt at standardization. From the then ‘standard’ domestic 757 AA configuration of 24 F, to align the seat numbers for economy so that all started at row 7, they began with row 3 for the ‘low first’ 16 seat cabins of the Super 80s and 737s. Oh how times have changed...

...someone around even earlier might be able to recall what the 727 configurations were...that was before my time.

At least they don't stick anybody in row 4 - that probably would not be considered "preferred seating". :p

So THAT'S why 1A and B are always blocked! Who knew?

This proposal sounds like the equivalent of asking hotels to standardize their room numbers. What difference does it make? They could call it row 75 in first class, I don't care. Just go where the matching number from your boarding pass is on the plane...why does anyone care what the digits are for their seat number? I don't understand.

Funny that your example in fact proves the counterpoint: hotel room numbers actually are standardized, in that the first one or two digits specify the floor number. Wouldn't you find it annoying if room #605 was on the third floor in Marriotts but on the eighteenth in Hyatts?

That confused me at the Hilton O'Hare recently. Room #2011 is on level 2, not 20.

mainly because there is no benefit to it starting on row 3. So it is benefit free confusion.

so why not eliminate that?

It makes a difference when you are booking or re-booking on the fly over the phone and the agent is asking if you which seat assignment you prefer. Without having a seatmap in front of you, you could erroneously select a bulkhead seat without wanting to (I personally hate them) or vice-versa. If all FC bulkhead seats were row number 1, you would now. Alternatively, if the Economy rows began at the same row number, you could do the same there. Obviously there are differences back in coach that may affect seat selection, but to at least align the bulkhead rows would be nice.