777 seats 5C/H held for elites?
 

Hi...I hope this has not been previously asked. I am planning to book business class AAdvantage awards ORD-NRT on JAL (equipment is 777 starting in the fall).

I am looking at seat maps, and it seems that on every flight (even flights 11 months from today that just opened), seats 5C and 5H are occupied. (Same with 7C, 7H.) I would guess that they are blocked off for elites. Is this correct?

Now I'm a lowly AAdvantage Gold (OW Ruby, equivalent to JMB Crystal). Will I be able to get these seats, and if so, is there a trick to it? Will I be able to select them on JAL's web page after I have booked the tickets through AA?

Many thanks,

Looking at the outbound on Nov 24th, 5C & H are marked "unavailable" as opposed to "already assigned". However, 7C & H are both "available" but 7A & K are "unavailable".

You are right, in row 7 it is 7A/K that are invariably blocked. This is true even for July 18, 2010, which just opened for booking.

Why 5CH but 7AK? I was thinking bassinets, but that would be the same in rows 5 and 7, no?

In any case, if it's being saved for babies (so many babies in J?), then there is no way for 2 people to get window+aisle seats in these preferred rows.


PS Does anyone have any comment on row 6, which IS open on all flights? Seatexpert says that some may be disturbed by opening and closing of curtains from galley behind, but it doesn't seem to me to be a big deal since it's behind you.

I emailed JAL from their website and asked that they open up 7A for my NRT-CGK-NRT flights as I am Oneworld Saphire through AA EXP.

Got a call from a very nice lady in JAL today confirming 7A, however she did say if there were a number of babies and they needed every bassinet they would have to move me, but she took my mobile number and email and said they would advise me in advance if this was going to happen.

I was very impressed.

I have now just realised that the seatmap I was looking at was not correct. Is 7A one of the best seats? It's a two class 777 from NRT-CGK-NRT, can anyone offer seating advise?

Your configuration is W51. Why not go for row 1 instead :)