Weird automatic seat allocation
 

Not sure what's going on here. No J? No EC?

Mine is the only occupied seat in the first 24 rows. I had no problems moving myself around to various seats in row 2, which is normally also J.

This is the return leg, for the outbound I cannot even access the seat map.

Johan

Which flight is that? The seat configuration seems like the HV 737-800 rather than the KL one (no 1D-1F)

Ahh . . . that might explain it.

KL1125. Never seen a HV aircraft on that route before. Nor have I ever set foot on an HV plane. How's the legroom in the bulkhead rows?

Johan

See https://insideflyer.nl/klm-leaset-to...van-transavia/ (CPH is included) and https://www.seatguru.com/airlines/Tr...ng_737-800.php. next to https://www.seatguru.com/airlines/KL...ng_737-800.php
Essentially you loose 3 inch if you can book EC for free (or fly J....). Interestingly the KL and Transavia both have 32 full rows so overall density should be similar - I distrust Seatguru in saying KL has 30 inch for regular economy while Transavia is suggested less....where did the 18 extra inch for row 1-6 in KL go? Transavia has further 3 seats in row 1 where KL has a galley.

I've only flown HV once and not in a bulkhead seat so no idea, but on a similarly configured airplane, row 2 legs space is decent (compared to the rest of the rows) where as row 1 is very limited.

KL doesn't have row 13, so HV basically have one extra row on the A-C side.

Thanks for the info and links.

Is that true for all of row 2?

2DEF are bulkhead seats, but have more room than 1ABC? Or is it 2ABC that have more space?

Johan

2DEF has more leg space than 1ABC
2ABC is like any other normal row

Great, I already moved myself there.

I get to fly a new airline! How exciting!

Johan

You've never flown HV Johan? I gotta say, I'm surprised! :)

Yes that is what I meant - half a galley less and 3 seats more, that explains the difference between 186 seats at KL and 189 seats at HV in a 737-800. But my puzzle is that KL has 33 inch at row 1-6 and 30 inch in the rest, while HV is claimed to be 29-30 inch for all rows. Does not make sense...a KL 737-800 has the same length as a HV one not?

Maybe the galley on the right hand side is bigger to compensate for the 1/2 missing one on the left hand side?

If it is any consolation, I can report that I have flown DY, and found the experience entirely satisfactory.

Johan

Well, row 2 DEF is the way to go here, or row 1 or an exit row because all other rows are terribly bad with legroom on HV.

Just had another look at the seat map. Still wide open, but now the first three rows show as unavailable, and it says

"This flight is operated by https://www.klm.com/ams/productshop/...838-992794.jpg Please note that now only a limited number of seats is available. During check-in you can choose from more seats, and reserve seats in the Economy Comfort zone too"

The map does not show any EC rows, and I'm still seated in row 2.

For the outbound I yet again cannot access the seatmap, but I see that I've been moved from an EC aisle seat to a middle seat:

05B Economy Comfort (payment in progress)

and

Thank you for booking one or more extra options. As soon as your booking and payment are processed, your extra option(s) will be visible as confirmed via My Trip.

:confused:

Johan

These seem two issues. One: the extra option one books is not seen as paid for, despite positive emails with jubilant information such as 'Your extra's are fully booked and paid for' of KLM, see other treads on this. I had this a week ago on a KL flight AMS-LYS where I booked an upgrade to EC but for which my AMEX payment was somehow not processed [KL site at some points showed the caveat that payment still was processed]. Upon checking in, I was bumped to a regular seat, but I could pay again with AMEX for the upgrade to EC and this time it worked well. Two: HV aircraft operating a KL flight. Then there is no J, no EC. Indeed, the seats on HV are much less comfortable as on KLM in Y (as I expierenced a day ago seated in 4F on a flight from NCE to AMS, KL flight number, HV aircraft with KL catering rules).

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