Seat blocking in WBC depending on booking class
Mar 11, 2018, 4:19 am
#1
FlyerTalk Evangelist
Original Poster
Join Date: Feb 2000
Location: London, UK and Southern France
Posts: 18,364
Seat blocking in WBC depending on booking class
Perhaps this is something that is already well known to others but I just discovered that KL blocks seats in WBC depending on your booking class. Thus, if you buy, say, a D class ticket, you will not see the same seat map as if you buy a C class ticket.
Mar 11, 2018, 4:43 am
#3
FlyerTalk Evangelist
Original Poster
Join Date: Feb 2000
Location: London, UK and Southern France
Posts: 18,364
In my case, quite substantially: 10 seats in a 777 cabin available when booking C class, 7 of which showing as unavailable (on KL and other online booking channels) or blocked (in EF) when booking in a lower booking class: see here.
Mar 11, 2018, 5:10 am
#4
FlyerTalk Evangelist
Join Date: Oct 2000
Posts: 14,352
I wonder what the logic is behind that.
As opposed to the 744, the 777 J cabin is pretty uniform as far as seats are concerned. Row 6 is best avoided because of the trolley traffic to and from coach, but otherwise the choice is basically between window or aisle, which comes down to individual preference.
Makes you wonder why, for instance, a D fare pax can select 4A, but not 3A. Perhaps they just want to keep as wide as possible a mix of window and aisle seats available for those who book full fare tickets at the last minute.
In any case, I always book the lowest available fare, and invariably find the seat map wide open. This may well be because I usually plan ahead and book three to five months out. Maybe the seat choice restrictions only kick in when the flight starts to fill up?
Johan
As opposed to the 744, the 777 J cabin is pretty uniform as far as seats are concerned. Row 6 is best avoided because of the trolley traffic to and from coach, but otherwise the choice is basically between window or aisle, which comes down to individual preference.
Makes you wonder why, for instance, a D fare pax can select 4A, but not 3A. Perhaps they just want to keep as wide as possible a mix of window and aisle seats available for those who book full fare tickets at the last minute.
In any case, I always book the lowest available fare, and invariably find the seat map wide open. This may well be because I usually plan ahead and book three to five months out. Maybe the seat choice restrictions only kick in when the flight starts to fill up?
Johan
Mar 11, 2018, 5:22 am
#5
Join Date: Oct 2009
Location: SJJ/AMS
Posts: 4,647
Interesting indeed — I’ll go and look back at a few past bookings to double check the booking class, purely out-of-curiosity as I don’t seem to remember any ‘odd’ seat-map arrangement. That said, I’m happily joining Johan in wondering what’s the mechanism (if any) behind this, even though I recently switched my long-haul (mostly SCL these days) to AZ — the 1-2-1 on their 772, the seat itself together with the decent food on offer all win hands down.
G
G
Mar 11, 2018, 6:08 am
#6
FlyerTalk Evangelist
Original Poster
Join Date: Feb 2000
Location: London, UK and Southern France
Posts: 18,364
Yes, I am puzzled too. I bought my ticket a couple of months ago and don't recall seeing anything special at the time as far as the seat map is concerned. Then again, I don't recall choosing the seat that was allocated to me and it is not a seat I would normally go for so perhaps I was having a senior moment at the time. Be that as it may, I was surprised to see so little choice in the cabin when I went to change it last week when KL was still offering 8 tickets for sale.
Mar 11, 2018, 3:15 pm
#7
Join Date: Mar 2016
Location: CPT,AMS
Posts: 4,412
Looking at the seat map of a future flight in June, booked in I class, I see 7 seats as unavailable, the rest is wide open (on a 777), interestingly enough if I make a new booking while not logged in, I only see a handful of available seats (1st picture), while if I login, I get many more to choose from (2nd picture)
Mar 12, 2018, 9:57 am
#8
Join Date: Jul 2015
Location: HAG
Programs: Der 5* FTL
Posts: 8,051
So 2nd and 3rd row available on top of the other rows.
Do you have FB status?
I can imagine they want to limit non-status low-fare passengers to what could be perceived as "worse" seats. Bulkhead rows or close to galley/toilets?
Do you have FB status?
I can imagine they want to limit non-status low-fare passengers to what could be perceived as "worse" seats. Bulkhead rows or close to galley/toilets?
Mar 13, 2018, 1:24 am
#10
Join Date: Mar 2016
Location: CPT,AMS
Posts: 4,412
Mar 14, 2018, 3:22 am
#11
FlyerTalk Evangelist
Original Poster
Join Date: Feb 2000
Location: London, UK and Southern France
Posts: 18,364
Mar 15, 2018, 3:08 am
#12
Join Date: Sep 2004
Location: Italy
Programs: LH SEN, FB platinum, BAEC bronze
Posts: 473
That explains why, on my coming flight to YVR (Z class, FB Gold) I cannot choose a "G" seat in row 3 which looks available on the KVStool map (I now have a C seat, but in a 2-2-2 config I usually try to get the aisle in the central section (D or G seat). The question is: what happens at OLCI ? Will the full map be available to everybody ?