Keter

I have always been questioning myself if all the seats in the economy space section are actually paid or not. If i did not see these taken before airport check in starts my answer would be obviously NO (as for full flights EY will have to sit someone in that section anyways). However, i have seen a lot of seats taken before even online check in starts. However, i have never been able to get that seat for free. Well except for the last moment.
Today i was offered to select those seats for free before check in started (2 hours before if that matters, accidentally checked the available seats) - no idea why. Any ides how this works with EY?

Data: my fares have been economy choice plus (flex, books into B class) in all of the case (now and when i was not able to get the seat for free).

Dogmatick

Platinum guests get them for free and lower tiers I believe get a discount, also Etihad opens up check in more than 24 hours before departure so might have been lucky