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Does LX block seats in long-haul business (A330)? If yes: is ExpertFlyer able to see this? (For an upcoming flight it does show the paid seats/thrones, but not any blocked or premium-but-not-paid seats.)

From what I remember they used to do this a long time ago, for some of the mini-cabin and K seats (4DG, 4-7K, and maybe others?) - is that still a thing? I noticed a bunch of these seats opening up a few days before a recent flight (maybe at T-48H), but I don't know if this was due to blocking going away, or because of a group cancellation.

If I look at random flights on ExpertFlyer, I notice that 4DG and 4-7K are always shown as occupied, even on flights that are extremely empty and almost 12 months out. That suggests that these seats are blocked, but not visible as blocked to EF.

Correct, EF shows blocked seats as occupied. First row of mini C cabin is blocked for SEN and higher

Thanks - so it turns out that these seats (not just 4DGK, but also 5K, 6K, 7K) are released to everyone shortly before T-72. I just wish there were a way to see which of them are still occupied prior to that time (Swiss clearly don't want us to...). In case anyone from Swiss is watching: I'd be perfectly willing to pay for 4K or 5K on the A330/340 as a non-status passenger (although I'll still pick Polaris over that any day if available). Not the price of a throne, but still something.

that's the basic idea on the new cabins...get more people to pay, but it's way more than the throne seats (for the business suite)

Another question about 4DG on A330: I (SEN) and my wife (OZ*G) are on a same (paid) booking. I see 4DG available when I check my booking online. However, I can only put *myself* in one of the two. Doesn't access to preferred seating extend to SEN's travelling companions too? I tried calling in SEN line, they couldn't (or didn't know how to) do anything. They said "the other seat is blocked in the system", which is pure BS, because I could put myself in either 4D or 4G, but as soon as I selected my wife as a passenger, 4DG were grayed out.

Anything I can do about this?

Wouldn't be the first IT glitch...

Well, tried again, this time with chat. This is the explanation I got: "She may be on the same booking as the Senator, but she is not a Senator herself. Therefore, she is not eligible for the frequent traveler benefits."

If that's true, it's beyond me that they would happily sit two random SEN/HON members together, but would prevent said SEN/HON from taking those seats when travelling with family 🤦🏻‍♂️

edit:

It gets worse. I found two separate documents about ASR, where Swiss explicitly says that the benefit "applies for travel companions travelling in the same class." Went back to chat, quoted it to the agent, and then got told that I should contact Swiss for that, because Swiss and Lufthansa are two separate airlines (yeah, right).

Then I discovered Swiss has a chatbot support channel too, so tried get. Got to an agent who still couldn't do it, got 4G blocked somehow, and managed to delete our previous seat assignments in the process. A few minutes later 4G got released again, so I figured let me try again. Got a very polite agent, and while talking to him I noticed that the F upgrade waitlist that was on the booking was somehow deleted while two previous agents fumbled with it. The last agent couldn't assign us to those seats either, apparently, the only way a SEN/HON and a non-SEN/HON can sit together in 4DG is to wait until online check in opens (and hope that another solo-traveling SEN/HON won't book one of the two seats in the meantime) :P So, then I wanted to ask the agent to reinstate our F waitlist, but... the agent just closed the chat :o

Now I'm off to try to get at least that fixed...

I made a bogus booking and I see the same thing. I am SEN, and my wife has no status. I can select any seat, but she can't select 4GDK...but she can select 4A for free...go figure.

A330 J with LapChild
 

Hi All,

In June will be flying A330 ZRH ORD in J. 2 adults and 1 (11 month old) lap child. We currently have 6 D/G.

1) Can anyone speak to how high the divider is for these seats? Trying to discern how easy it would be to pass kiddo back and forth. I.e, UA J - pretty easy. SQ J - challenging. My experience has been there is a big space between “couple seats.”

2) 6A is open and I am contemplating putting one of us with kiddo there, and have other parent in 6D. Instead of passing kiddo back and forth we could just swap seats with each other.

3) It appears mini cabin is greyed out for lap child. If I were to get him his own ticket, I would assume he could select a seat in rows 4 and 5? No age restrictions in “mini cabin?”

Thanks all!

Looking to fly LON-ZRH in J with my wife and kids and have multiple options for aircraft: The E190, A220-300, A321, and A321neo. Is there any significant difference between the quality of the seats on those aircraft? I understand they're all going to be Euro business with blocked off middle seats, but not sure if some aircraft have better seats or IFE options? Cheers.

There could be aircraft swaps but, in general, the A321NEO has the worst seats, newest "slim" meaning no padding.

E-jets have smaller bagage compartments. The C-series and NEO have much larger ones. IFE consists of a small (shared) screen on the C-series, a larger (shared) one on the NEOs and the oldest A320s, compared to nothing on the E-Jet. But don't let that be decisive.

The C-series has effectively 1-2 seating in C, the E-jets 1-1, but you're of course free to use the free adjacent seats if your kids are young. So if you're a party of 4 then the A320/1 or E-jet might be better as you could have 1 or 2 rows to yourselves.

No need to tell you there is no lounge at LCY and only a crowded LH lounge at LHR unless you go lounge hopping with the kids. LCY is also risky in winter.

I would pick the C-series.

Very helpful, thanks for the response.

Just to circle back on this, I would take any middle pair D/G seats. There are no real dividers on the 330 so passing the football will be easy :) The mini cabin is quieter usually. The front of the main cabin can be a bit noisier...but since it's a day flight, this should not be a major factor. The 330 seats are great for families.

Very helpful, thank you!