scottishpoet

Your flight looks very busy so as people check in and more seats are needed i expect you block will vanish, probably in the last 2 hours before checkin closes

corporate-wage-slave

I agree that this looks full and by the time standbys go through the system then the chances are that WTP will be completely full by the time you get to boarding. The reason for not printing your boarding pass is in case there is a better seat you have your eye on, or if you would move to another seat if the TS block goes. From what you are saying this may not apply. There is the possibility that you may get upgraded in the hours before you arrive at the airport, and therefore not having a boarding pass may allow you to select seats in CW, however my experience is that in that scenario you can see the seat map (which is in EF anyway) but you can't actually move to another seat online or download the new boarding pass, you have to see an agent. In any event this has the overtones of any cabin cascaded involuntary upgrades happening in the 2 hours before departure, so too late really for last minute downloads. So if you think you have the best possible seat in WTP then it's ok to get your boarding pass.

kingstontoon

We had a slightly frustrating experience on BA979 HAJ-LHR last night. I'm Silver, my girlfriend is Blue and we had reserved exit row seats 10AB some time ago on the A319. At T-72, TS kicked in and blocked 10C. At some point yesterday, the aircraft type changed to an A320 so we were no longer in the exit row but decided that as the flight didn't look too busy, we'd stay where we were and hope for the empty row. 11C and 11EF in the exit row behind were available to move to. We checked in at the airport around an hour before check-in was due to close and ExpertFlyer confirmed the situation remained as above. There were also many empty pairs and individual windows / aisles further back. After a visit to the lounge, we went airside and I checked ExpertFlyer one final time. To my surprise, despite very few people having checked in after us, 10C was now occupied!

We had a quick word with the gate agents and they cheerfully moved us to the still vacant exit row 11EF, as having someone else in the aisle on an exit row is of course preferable to having someone else in the aisle non-exit. But I'm extremely curious as to what happened here, as surely only a Gold or above could see 10C, and there were better seats available throughout the plane to be picked. Could the check-in agent have simply overlooked the block or is it quite obvious?

I'm not looking to complain or seeking a boatload of Avios, just interested as to what may have occurred with TS in this case.

Cheers!

snaxmuppet

I am very interested in the comments on this. I have read and re-read the various guides to TS and I am grateful for the obvious effort people have put in to try to explain but I am still quite confused over TS.

corporate-wage-slave

It's difficult to know, but as a general point if you are trying to get an empty seat block you are best to choose seats two thirds of the way down the aircraft, many passengers prefer to sit towards the front and there are all sorts of arguments brought forward by passengers to make requests for this. It could have been a Silver or Gold in 10C, particularly if there was a curtain block beforehand and so the traveller only noticed available aisle seats further forward. If there original seat had a middle row occupant then there was no downside to going forward. It's also possible this passenger had a connection and persuaded the agent to move further forward for that reason.

ThatT1Feeling

kingstontoon

Thanks CWS. Just one of these things then I guess. 10C also nearly bought the last can of Adnams Mosaic but thankfully the crew found a final one for me!

scottishpoet

how long before checkin closes are you seeing all these empty/blocked seats?. It will change very dynamically in the last 2 hours. I usually check how things look aound the time checkin closes or juzt after.

On busy flights you are likely to have someone beside you even as a gch. 50% would be on a par with whT i see on my gla flight. Krk i seem to get a better hit rate, less busy and not so status heavy

scottishpoet

I find it easier if you think of it as "dynamic seating" rather than "theoretical seating".

Basically, 3 days before the flight, blocks are placed in the seat adjacent to any status holder. The computer then decides the "best" seats from the remaining seats to offer as people start checking in. Every time someone checks in "best" seats change.

As more people check in you can imagine that, because of the blocks, there are no longer enough seats left to allow more people to check in, so some of the blocks need to be released and made available. This is basically done based on status, the higher the status the longer the blocks stay. This process repeats, with more and more seats that were blocked being made available, till checkin closes.

On a full flight you will lose your block, no matter what.

if a flight is not full then your block may stay. The chances of this depend on 1/ what status you are, 2/ how busy the flight is, 3/ how many other status passengers are there on the flight

So as a silver, if the flight is not full, I find I often keep the block on my flights to/from KRK as it is not a status heavy route.

Whereas when I fly to Glasgow, which has way more Golds (I can tell by the difference in the size of boarding group 1) then I do not keep the block so often.

Nobody is guaranteed a block!

Hope that helps.

snaxmuppet

@scottishpoet Many many thanks. Yes, that is a great explanation and it does help.

Your explanation, along with the examples in the guide, now means I have got it!

I assume from the other explanations and discussions that the blocks are lifted at the front of the cabin earlier in the checkin process than at the back which is why if you want to increase your chances of having an empty seat beside you then sitting at the back increases that chance.

jamesreid978

My other half was on a flight in Y back to DXB earlier this week and in the row behind the exit row (seat 41A on a Hi-J 747). 41B was free and a very tall guy was in 41C, both 40A and 40C were taken by golds (they had their baggage tags on display) and presumably 40B was blocked. With being so tall, 41C moved into 40B, thus annoying the two guys in 40A and C. Should the Cabin Crew allow this? I imagine 40B wasn't available to select due to it being an exit reserved for golds and due to theoretical seating. In the end the original occupant of 40C, moved to 41C so to not have someone sat next to him in a middle seat, but obviously lost his gold entitled exit row with all the leg room. I feel in this situation, 41C should not have been allowed to move, since BA put measures in place to allow for that seat to be empty.

scottishpoet

This is one where I feel sorry for the crew. The pax sees the empty seat vacant. I doubt the cabin crew can explain the vagaries of theoretical seating and I doubt they are aware which seats are block for TS and which other seats are considered available

Since there is no guarantee of a blocked seat beside you I feel this is a situation you just need to suck up. Unfortunately this is a situation where there are different points of view, all of which may be considered correct.

scottishpoet

Personally I have not seen evidence of that.
However, one thing is that different people will see different seat maps on MMB. I suspect that Golds may have more seats available to them further forward in the cabin and that this behaviour is a symptom of that. Golds that buy tickets late, or on flexible tickets and rebook. I often find I am booking flights at 24 to 48 hours notice.

ThatT1Feeling

Interesting. On your outbound, all of rows 1-4 and most of Row 5 are booked. Row 12 is showing as CE but is blocked

On your return, all of Rows 1 & 2 are booked. Row 3 & 4 have one seat available

Popular, Gold-heavy flights apparently

corporate-wage-slave

Most crew will not know much, if anything about TS. Some crew have told me that what they know purely comes from this FT thread. It is also a non advertised benefit, so there isn't much anyone can do about this. Before TS the status passengers wouldn't even have the chance of the empty seat.

Arguably it worked out in the end: the passenger in 40C valued an empty seat more than legroom / access. If your legs can bend in the right places then WT does have good legroom for 99% plus of the population. 41C was the other way around so they swapped.