Blocked seats?
May 15, 2019, 4:37 am
#1
Original Poster
Join Date: Sep 2010
Posts: 610
Blocked seats?
Good morning all
Im looking at a flight tomorrow for various reasons and looking on my free acct on expert flyer, half of the seats are full and the other half are blocked (over 40 seats in economy).
As i am not a pro in these matters as i dont actually understand why seats are blocked, can someone explain the high number?
Im looking at a flight tomorrow for various reasons and looking on my free acct on expert flyer, half of the seats are full and the other half are blocked (over 40 seats in economy).
As i am not a pro in these matters as i dont actually understand why seats are blocked, can someone explain the high number?
May 15, 2019, 4:38 am
#2
Join Date: Dec 2004
Programs: BA GGL, A3*G, Mucci de l'expertise des Apps
Posts: 3,366
May 15, 2019, 4:43 am
#4
Moderator, Iberia Airlines, Airport Lounges, and Ambassador, British Airways Executive Club
Join Date: Feb 2010
Programs: BA Lifetime Gold; Flying Blue Life Platinum; LH Sen.; Hilton Diamond; Kemal Kebabs Prized Customer
Posts: 63,811
This is Theoretical Seating in operation and there is a big thread on this in the dashboard. Those which are blocked are to direct the seating options in different ways to different customer groups. So the totally clear seats are the ones that no status passengers can get, if you are Gold / higher then many of those blocked seats will become available to you now. Much more in the main thread, the thing that excites people here are empty seats blocked next to Silver and Gold cardholders, but Theoretical Seating is much more than that. If you are feeling bored you could take a screen shot of the seat plan now, and then in a couple of hours do another query, and you'll see changes. Then you can ponder why the computer has made these changes (e.g. "did Mr/Ms 24A move to 24F? And that family group move forward?"). In other words it is very dynamic process. One third of passengers check in during the few hours, another third between then and the airport, and perhaps a third check in at the airport, numbers vary hugely by route.
Last edited by corporate-wage-slave; May 15, 2019 at 5:47 am
May 15, 2019, 8:59 am
#6
Join Date: Jun 2016
Programs: BAEC Gold
Posts: 1,166
The general explanation above about theoretical seating is essentially the “main” answer. Occasionally, a big block of blocked out seats together could indicate a large group booking - for which individual passengers (regardless of status) are not able to self-select seating. The occasional group booking trip I do - office ski trip and the like - it always shows up in ‘Expertflyer’ as a big blocked of “blocked” seats which ends up being our group