I earn most my elite miles flying US-Europe--in coach. The ultimate luxury is to have the neighboring seat empty (read: sleep easy, not scrunch & bump).

Is there a way to maximize the chance of this happening on CO (or NW or KL)?

Would it be best to book the aisle seat in the CENTER section in Premium coach seating in a 2-3-2 configuration--versus the seat on the '2' side (because other elites or anyday passengers are more likely to request the window or aisle on the 2-side)?

Do CO or NW or KL actually wait till the last minute to assign non-elite people to the elite sections--or does it not really make a difference as far as empty seats, whether one is sitting in the premium coach area?

Just curious! Any insights appreciated!

With KLM, I flew IAH-AMS roundtrip twice this month and got very little favorable attention as a CO Plat by KLM. Was relegated to the very last row in coach on one of the flights to AMS. The forward elite section apparently is reserved for Flying Dutchman elites and not CO. An agent in Berlin did work some keystrokes and got me into the bulkhead row 11 for AMS-IAH and that was nice.

As for getting empty seats, my experience on four transatlantic segments was that ALL coach seats were taken. KLM is somehow bucking the trend of slack demand to Europe.

Domestically, I think the elite seating area has more empty seats until the day of the flight. Then, when assigning seats at the airport, they are often assigned front to back. Thus, the elite area tends to fill up leaving the empties at the back. CO seems to make no effort whatsoever to keep empties in the elite area. I've noticed the same kind of thing internationally, but most of my travel is domestic.

In my experience, elite seating isnt any less likley to be crowded than any other seating. The only difference is that elites are the only people allowed to request a seat up front at the time of reservation. When it comes to check in, anybody is allowed to take those seats.

If you want elite seating on KLM metal, you have to call NW before your flight, and they'll put you into any available seat, whether you're booked in WBC or Coach.

[This message has been edited by kpalle (edited 03-26-2003).]

The only times when I have asked to be seated next to an empty middle seat, and been assigned to an empty row of three by the window (on a KLM 747) was the last but one row of the plane. The Check-in agent, both times in AMS, on being asked gave me the three empty seats even though I had pre-selected my seat in the elite-section, which was packed.