I don't know. A search on the KL website turned up no relevant hits for "Select Seating".

The concept was introduced quite some years ago. It was announced that the "first few rows" (rows 9-18 on 747s, the only aircraft with a dedicated Select Seating cabin, which now of course has become Economy Comfort) in Economy Class would be pre-assigned to Elites and full-fare (YSB) economy pax only, and that seats in that section would only be allocated to other pax at check-in if there was no availability further back. Middle seats would not be blocked, but they would only be assigned on request to qualifying pax, e.g. if pax traveling together requested adjacent seats.

With the introduction of Economy Comfort I assume there is no longer any Select Seating on longhaul flights, but it seems as if it has been abolished on shorthaul flights as well.

Off topic, but on the flight mentioned in my previous post, I was in the second row of economy. In the first row, there were two pax traveling together. One of these was served from the ES cabin: drinks, the world famous box meal, and coffee. He shared all but the latter with his lady companion, but because he only had one plastic fork, he had to feed her the way mothers spoon-feed their toddlers. Highly amusing. KLM IFE is really in a class of its own!

Johan

This works quite well, also at the machines at check-in for those not transfering. OLCI 30 hours before departure and you can still change at the airport until 40 minutes before departure.

I was on KL for the first time in months last week and when I tried this trick, the machine didn't allow me to change - I asked and it was explained that the flight was overbooked. In the end a few seats were available because of the weather so the opup they almost promised didn't materialize. Would have been to ES on a 40 min flight to didn't care too much.

Hello Johan,

The KLM policy of select seating is as follows:
On all short haul flights all rows in the front part of cabin (from the curtain up to the exits are marked with $. That means that this part is reserved for full S class economy passengers and all other platinum, gold and silver KL-AF and elite plus sky team members. Normally the middle seat is kept empty. However a lot of times there are more than 30!!! platinum members and more than 50 all eligible select seating customers on the same flight. That makes it impossible leave the middle seat empty. On full flights a lot of people prefer to seat in the middle in the front than at the rear even if there are several open rows.
I would suggest you buy an exit row during the internet check-in or get it free if you are a gold or platinum member.

A lot of times all those elit customers fly with friends on the same booking and they are entitled to travel in the front cabin together. At some occasions some people are missing at gate so even if the flight is completely full there would be some open seats upon departure.

And of course there are always some customers that do not have their status card quoted in the reservation and only at check in we find out that they could opt for a select seating zone, but a lot of times these seats are already occupied.
I hope this little explanation is useful for your future travel.
Best

Thanks for the clarification, kai.lileboo.

It is all very fine in principle, but just doesn't seem to work all that well at all in practice.

I fully understand that there are various good reasons for allocating (middle)seats in the Select Seating zone. Yet time and again, I find myself surrounded by non-elites on flights that have lots of empty seats throughout the rest of the cabin. Sometimes, some of them are colleagues of mine, so I know for a fact whether they have status or not. On the midday/mid-afternoon flights I take, the number of premium/full-fare/elite pax is very low: rarely more than a handful in ES, and I would be greatly surprised if the number of elites behind the curtain reaches double digits. Certainly on the passenger manifests I have seen they have been few and far between. There have even been flights where I was told I was the only elite on board.

So, I still don't get it.

Johan

I guess you work for KLM?

The quoted entry it appears there is an official KLM policy to keep the middle seat empty for elites on short hauls, when possible.

I am flying between Rome-Amsterdam 1-3 times per month and are often one of the few elites on the plane (easy to identify if you count the pax that sit in the lounge and stand in line for the pre-boarding, especially at FCO). Pax are a combination of many tourists and some business people. But the "normally the middle seat is kept empty" rule when flights are far from full really does not hold, not flying from Rome, not flying from Amsterdam. I have had too often that I sit next to a tourist while surrounded by other tourists that enjoying their empty middle seats. Okay, it is only a 2 hr flight, but still..... if there is a policy why not following it?

Next time I will indeed check, and if needed, change my seat at the airport. Good suggestion!

From my understanding the middle seat policy does not exist.

There is a policy - short haul - to get Platinum and Gold (not Silver !) pax or higher fare paying non status pax to get to the front - but not if your booking contains non-Plat/Gold/high fare.

So we find ourselves often - Plat (for life) - my wife too - with 3 kids (Silver) in the last rows. KLM was surprised, shocked, apoliged and said the system was not working well. But with the number of flights we experience this, that did not hold - so in the end, they said only Plat/Gold/high fares and then only if the system works.

So in practice, we need to OLCI early and then call the Eliite line to get decent seats (together ) if at all.

In other words - KLM does not offer this benefit at all

-
Hello there,

I meant we (all elite passengers). I am not anymore but my wife is P and know all the details.
I feel sorry for all the top tier KL-AF-DL that the practice is different from what it had to be.
The system automaticly assign seats to special passengers (babies, wheelchairs, families, P, G, S cards... so actually no person is involved in that task. Maybe you could all write a complaint to AF.KL and explain your concerns. If they receive e-mails will sure do anything.

I would like to point out that I am top tyer on Star Alliance and the policy is the same, but a seat next to me is almost always occupied, when complained to LH they told me that if the passenger ask it they have to give it out even if the plane is not full.

My suggestion is that you check on line the day before and choose your seat by yourself if you are not happy with your pre-reserved seat.

I've looked a bit through the threads, but wondering.

I booked on KLM.com (UK site) for Aberdeen to AMS (and beyond) and the site says that I can select my seat when purchasing ticket. There was no prompt, so I bought the ticket and later have gone in to select this route seating and says 'not possible'.

As I have only a 50 minute transfer time in Schiphol, I'd like a front seat. How can I accomplish this?

Thanks

My experience on KLM connecting flights from Sweden used to be exactly the same as reported by many others: As Platinum Elite I more often than not would find myself in a full row, when lots of other seats in the plane were free, with many passengers enjoying a free middle seat. I have not flown KLM for the last year, not because of this, but it sure does not help!

Do online check in at 30 hours prior to departure. Seats for intra-EU flights are not pre assigned, unless you travel in Europe Select.

Gajan

In all fairness, that was not KL's doing; it was the pax.

They did provide the fork!

Johan

Hahaha... good one! ^

Thanks for clarifying ^