SeatCounter: Will this CX flight be full?
 

I'll be flying CX 885 on 1/1/08. Here is the seat availability shown on seatcounter for economy class as of right now:

K9 H9 B9 Y9

I am traveling with 3 other people and I called 2 weeks ago in to request two pairs of seats by the window that were reserved for people with status (I have OW Sapphire). I asked if I can have 2 window, 2 aisle, with hopes of an empty middle seat, and the agent told me that this will be a full flight and gave me 2 window, 2 middle (with empty aisle seats - for now). I know as a fact that they did have rows of 3 available because they read out the availability to me. The 3 people I am traveling with have no status and booked with separate reservation codes.

After seeing the availability from SeatCounter, it looks like there is still availability in economy class, but I'm not sure if the economy class will be full by the time the flight departs a month from now.

QUESTIONS:
1. Since this flight is a month from now, do you think that economy class will be completely full (like what the agent told me)?

2. If the flight will probably not be full, do you think I'll be able to score empty middle seats if I call again and speak with another agent?

1. I was on a flight a few days ago. Two days before departure, EF showed Y9 B9 H9 ... When I boarded, it was almost full. In my section, only the seat next to mine was vacant. At a glance, I did not notice any vacant seat elsewhere.

2. It is possible, but I doubt how much they can/will do even if the flight is not full. Perhaps you can request that a few days before departure or do on-line check-in 48 hours ahead. In the flight I mentioned above, there were two ladies in 37A and 37C traveling together, and CX put a person in 37B.

I doubt it will be full. LAX-HKG in January is not that busy.

As for scoring a middle seat, I'm 75%(6 out of 8) that when I reserve a window seat with a middle seat empty, its stays empty, including the exit row(twice). I attribute it to being CX Gold more than anything else.

Oh, I missed that. Loading on 1 Jan is normally low. You should have a good chance. If you do not get that a few days before the flight, just check in 48 hours ahead.

Yes, status makes some difference. My adjacent sent was vacant because of that.

if I were you I would book aisle + window instead of middle + window...

- if you have middle + window, the aisle seats will most likely be filled in the end because other people of course prefer aisle instead of middle...aisle seats will get filled first before middle

- even if someone really got assigned to the middle seat, I'm sure he/she will very happily swap with you for either the window or aisle seat...I don't think anyone would "prefer" a middle seat

I just saw the seat map for the said flight on EF. For some reason, the situation is not good. I would suggest OP picks whatever he thinks is best for the moment and check back later when close to departure.

Thanks for the responses, guys. I'll will call today and ask them to give me window/aisle seats. I hope they don't give me a hard time about it.

My return flight, CX 884 from HKG to LAX on Jan 20 shows the following availability in economy:

B1 Y5

I think it'll be pretty safe to assume this flight will be full by the time Jan 20 rolls around, right?