Does anybody know whether Select Seating still exists on shorthaul flights?

It has recently consistently been my experience that, despite using OLCI early, there have only been middle seats available forward of the emergency exit rows, whereas most rows farther back had six open seats.

I found a single window seat available yesterday, and went for that even though I prefer aisle, as the adjacent middle seat was still open. When I printed a new boarding card at the airport an hour or so ago, this middle seat had now also been taken. No doubt by a PE who just loves sitting in the middle. Back of the aircraft still empty, let's hope they don't have a weight and balance problem! There is enough to worry about outside: snow coming down in buckets; a phalanx of yellow monster vehicles is trying to clear the runway; a widebody lined up for take-off for almost an hour, waiting for deicing trucks. Looks like a lot of fun is being had by all.



Johan

My mother also recently has this. When doing OLCI for her flight (on a E190, so 2-2 seating) I chose her a window seat with a free aisle. Upon boarding she said that there was a guy seating next to her, while there were numerous free seats at the back (which that person must have seen when doing OLCI / check-in agent checked him in).

That said, I guess it depends on preference. The first 8 or 10 rows on the short-haul fleet do have more legroom compared to the other rows. Maybe people choose the front seats for this reason in stead of possibly having a row to themselves (besides that you get off the plane earlier etc..)

Not too sure if the "Select seating" product is still alive on short-haul flights; it has been scrapped on long-haul flights due to the various (paid) seating products.

Gajan

Very worrying, indeed! Just make sure to wear a hard-hat if you should venture outside! But, as you're one of our resident experts on the subject: does putting snow into buckets and then dropping them from a great height constitute "Dutch humour?"

-- Henry

Most of my s/h flights in Y in the last months have been relatively full so I couldn't tell.

I moved myself from pre-assigned 16B to OLCI 4D for my flight tomorrow. I had seq number 2 and there were definitely more than 1 seats already greyed out.

Interesting in deed. Not to give any advice or asking for any either, but just to clarify does your mother hold any status with FB? And could it be that the person who sat next to her was seated automatically by the system (some people actually don't care where they sit or share the same interest as most of us FT'ers)?

One interesting fact when FF are asked about seating preferences, the number one preference is to have a seat free next to them

My mother is FB Platinum.

I found out that non-elites have access to all seats at OLCI, also the first few rows in economy. They are not kept for elites and full-fare ticketholders. Lots of people prefer to sit in the front so they are off earlier (especially when having tight connections).

The only benefit you have is that the KLM system pre-assigns a seat for elites in the second or third row economy (at least that happens to me when I do OLCI for a flight between FCO and AMS). Maybe that is what they refer to as "Select Seating."

No, the original Select Seating concept was based on

• reserving the forward section of the Y cabin for elites and full-fare pax
  
  
• keeping the middle seats in that section free, if at all possible.

Whether it worked or not was completely hit and miss from day one, as check-in agents and just about every else could override the system and assigns seats anywhere to whomever they wanted to. Certain outstations consistently did a lot better than others, with AMS at the bottom of the heap.

I can recall flights where it actually worked as advertised, with lots of open seats and even whole rows towards the front, and the back of the plane packed, but not too many.

Johan

But this was I guess before OLCI. When I have visitors (non-FB members) and they check in online for the FCO-AMS, all seats show, also those in forward section.

Both OLCI and Select Seating have been around for so long that I can't remember which came first, but they operated in parallel for many years.

Johan

That used to be the case, but I now seem to get pre-assigned seats farther back each time I OLCI. If they keep it up, I shall soon end up in the rear lavatory.

Johan

I think it still does. We also get put in the row just behind ES quite often which I find quite annoying as the curtain can be a bit of a nuisance.

Gajan

Happened to me as well this morning, but in addition I was assigned a middel seat, with both adjacent seats occupied. That was a first!

Perhaps now that a free middle seat is a guaranteed Europe Business Class perk, they want to ensure that elites seated behind the curtain enjoy no such benefit?

Selecting another seat was no problem at all, there were plenty of aisle and window seats available, not to mention entire vacant rows, including both at the emergency exits.

Having checked in, I was informed that "due to a technical error it is not possible to print your boarding pass(es)". It was, however, possible to print a confirmation, which contained exactly the same information as a boarding cards, minus the bar code. Weird.

Johan