Online Check In Seat Selection- Blocked Seats
 

My wife and I are flying ORD-HKG this coming Wednesday in J. Unfortunately, I booked too late to secure 2 window seats in the mini-cabin so I was forced to select two seats in the main business class cabin instead. I was hoping to snag two seats in the minicabin in the event two people were upgraded to first class. I logged in to the Cathay Site a little less than 47 hours before the flight only to find that it will not let me change my seat selection. Looking at expert flyer, there are two window seats in the minicabin that are blocked off. Is there any way I can get these seats? Thanks!

I just realized my mistake, I went to manage my booking rather than online check in. Nevertheless, the two window seats in the minicabin were not available for selection. Expertflyer shows them as blocked. Is there any way I can get both of them?

You could try calling reservations. They may be able to assign them to you. However, given that it's T-47 hours, they may just tell you that it needs to be done at the airport. If that's the case, I think your best bet is to just show up as early as you can for your flight and request them at the Business check-in counter.

I just called and the person on the line told me the seats were taken. Its a bit strange actually. On expert flyer it says within 55 hours CX may change seat maps to show all occupied seats as blocked. However on the map it shows 11 A&D and 12 A & D as occupied, 11G and 12 G as free, and 11 K and 12 K as blocked. I figured this meant that 11 K and 12 K were just blocked and not occupied. I guess I was wrong. Think I should call back and see if another agent can do anything for me?

Personally, given it's a 15+ hour flight, I'd give it one more call to see if you get the same story from the second agent as well.

I just called back again and the agent said that the seats weren't available. I wonder if they really arent available or maybe they are saving them for someone else. I don't have any elite status and booked the seats on CX using AA miles. I guess I will try again at the airport tomorrow. My flight gets in to ORD at 11 AM and we don't depart until 3 PM so that gives us a little time.

After the FLT is changed to the OLCI system (sometime between T-55 and T-48), occupied seats indicates those who have checked in, and blocked seats indicate, for the most part, those who have seat assignments but not yet checked in.