Thanks.

The weird thing is that I never booked or paid for any extra option. I get EC for free, and the seat is automatically preallocated. In this instance KL took it upon themselves to then move me to 5B. The seat map has now reappeared, so I've moved myself back to an aisle seat.

As for the return flight, the seat map does not show 1DEF (KL), but there's no row 13 (HV) either. Strange. Why they have suddenly blocked the first three rows on a flight with only one single seats (mine) assigned in the first 24 rows is also a mystery.

Johan

Haha. That is the clearest sign KL has something to solve with its website and payment system. Yes, you are plat of course and automatically get EC. And then getting this message 'Your payment is being processed'......;-). Luckily for us in our cases it was just the seat that was in danger. We've seen in this other thread that poor guy that thought he had arranged and paid for a flight change and lost his ticket since 'payment is being processed' despite a confirmation email that 'your additional booking was succesfully paid'. Or so.

Flew in 2F this morning. To my surprise, 2E was blocked "for your personal comfort", as were all the other middle seats in the first five rows.

Not sure what that was all about, I did not get the impression that these rows were reserved for elites. The Sky Priority line at the gate was ridiculously long, but the flight was packed with families returning from vacation and I suspect that many were in the wrong queue. Not that it mattered, the GAs decided it was a good idea to start boarding both lines at the same time.

Johan

TI don't think that hey're reserved for elites, but having had 2 KL flights on HV metal in recent days, I have noticed that the "business" cabin becomes available for selection in the days leading up to departure. Or maybe that was just because I finally got back my Gold status, and Elite Plus is what unlocks the front seats.

A non-elite acquaintance of mine who was on the same flight as me yesterday, and who apparently hadn't bothered to select a seat in advance or even look at the booking online, was seated in one of these "business" seats automatically. However, the flight was completely full so it may just have been that this was one of the few seats still available when he checked in.

I was preallocated 1A when the ticket was booked back in October, and moved myself to 2F. At that time I could select any seat in the entire cabin, inluding the middle seats in the first five rows that were now blocked, as the seat map in post #1 shows. Weird!

This morning's flight was if not completely full then almost nearly so. The seats in the front rows most likely ended up being given to those checking in last.

Johan