Just booked LAX-SIN and both bulkhead rows in J were blocked out. I checked 3 other random dates to see if the bulkhead rows were also blocked and sure enough, they were.

I'll be traveling with my wife and infant, so in our case, we actually need the bassinet. I called SQ and the friendly agent was able to assign us the bulkhead row with the bassinet.

So it seems that by default, it's blocked out, but you can call to specifically request it.

I believe it does depend on the agent who handled the request. Had been told that it was blocked and then granted by different agents but for the same segment. So I guess some would go ahead to reserve the bulkhead seats but would inform you that they would release it if somebody needed the bassinet. Whereas some would just tell you it's blocked.

The bassinet seats on A330 are 11C/D/H. 11A/F/K are blocked for PPS and should normally accessible only to them. I know that that some agents would release the bassinets on request on the phone, but I'm surprised to hear that some agents obviously are flexing the rules a bit (too far).

Not all bulkhead seats are assigned for the bassinet (the seat maps on SQ website will indicate the bassinets for different aircraft type). The bassinets can anyway only be requested via phone. The other bulkhead seats in C will be accessible online to PPS and when OLCI opens to everyone.

Sorry, that A/K was not correct (don't know how I did that, senility I guess). It should have been 11 H/K on the A330. We've requested and received these seats both ways on the KIX-SIN route twice, once in Jan 2017 and then in Feb this year. In 2017 they did not even mention the bassinet, but this year they added the caveat that we might have to move, but as I said, in the end we did not. As I said, I'm not even a KrisFlyer member, all flights were awards using UA miles.

We originate from KIX and the requests were made by phone to Tokyo, in Japanese and talking to a Japanese agent, well in advance of the flights.

I was able to reserve bulkhead online on the A380 and 787-10 for our next KIX-SIN trip in Feb 2019 (again an award on UA miles), so I won't be calling this year.

After booking the *A award through UA, I got the SQ confirmation No. from UA and used that on the SQ site to book bulkhead seats 18 D/F on the A380 for SQ619 KIX-Sin and bulkhead seats 11 D/F on the 787-10 for SQ622 SIN-KIX. Of course these are not bassinet seats, but they were readily available to anyone online. Maybe the blocking varies significantly by route?

I was able to book 19A for my wife and infant (bassinet seat) over the phone, however the agent could not unlock 19D for me. I tried again with a different agent and got the same result.

I even tried switching to row 11 (which doesn't have a bassinet option) and the agent could not unlock those seats either. This was on the new LAX-SIN route.

Anyone know any workarounds?

Sure do: qualify for PPS!

I think it's one of those seats that if one books early enough, someone without status can take it. But once a PPS member is assigned, especially Solitaire, as long as it's not also a designated bassinet seat, it's not getting reallocated. And not everyone likes row 11. I once sat next to someone who complained about being given such a terrible seat despite having booked very early. They had to placate him by scrambling to move him elsewhere. And while they were looking for a seat he just kept complaining and complaining to the purser, trying to understand why he would've been assigned this row, doesn't his status make a difference, etc.

I don't think so: they are reserved for PPS+ right from the start as far as I can see.

I still can't get them on a lot of my flights (I tend to book late though, sometimes just a few days before).

Most of the flights I can get the seat I want. Definitely I would say since they started to block the seats the availability of bulkheads has significantly improved. Iam booking late as well.

Iam also quite selective. A330 bulkhead is a must. 77W 11A/K are preferred, the rest is so/so (I take a standard window seat rather than D/F bulkhead). Row 11 on A380 for me a no-go.

I just booked SFO-SIN. For the outbound (SQ1), row 11 is blocked, row 15 is not. For the return (SQ32), row 11 is blocked, row 19 is not. I booked 12K on the 77W, and 19K on the 350. Perhaps I should move to row 15 on the 77W?

Re outbound, I'd pick the minicabin with the foot cubby in row 12 over the larger cabin with the larger foot rest in row 15...much more noise and traffic in row 15 due to galley and restrooms.