I was on air china alot this summer and realized that on narrowbodies, their lettering goes ABC-JKL, and always wondered why they just skipped 6 letters? After a few widebody trips, I noticed why, it really makes for consistent seating letters.

A is always left side window (universal to all planes)
B is always left side middle (where available)
C is always left side aisle

center block only applies for widebody flights:
D is always center block left aisle seat
E is always a center block middle seat
F is used only for the super-middle seat in a center block of 5 (F for FAIL) as well as the middle seat in a center block of three seats (still FAIL on 767s)
G is always a center block middle seat
H is always a center block right aisle seat

J is always right side aisle
K is always right side middle
L is always right side window

When planes get swapped out, especially with the 777s going from 2-5-2 to 3-3-3, wouldn't air china's system really help with swaps?

the 2-5-2 could be:
AC-DEFGH-JL

The 3-3-3 would be:
ABC-DFH-JKL

this way, only E and G folks will get moved from the 2-5-2, and likely into the B and K slots in the 3-3-3.

This way, if you picked a C, D, H, or J seat, you'd be assured of an aisle, regardless of which config.

and if ur flying in coach, you can stay away from the F seat, which almost always stands for "FAIL"

further examples of lettering for different configs:

1-1
A-L

1-2
A-JL

2-2
AC-JL

2-3
AC-JKL

3-3
ABC-JKL

2-3-2
AC-DFH-JL

2-4-2
AC-DEGH-JL

2-5-2
AC-DEFGH-JL

3-4-3
ABC-DEGH-JKL

1-1-1
A-F-L

1-2-1
A-DH-L

2-1-2
AC-F-JL

2-2-2
AC-DH-JL

i think that's all the configs u can come up with, unless some charter company crams 11 ppl in a row:
3-5-3
ABC-DEFGH-JKL


wouldn't this consistency really help?

Another thing air china does, Rows 1-10 are always reserved for the first class cabin, regardless of how many numbers actually get used. Rows 11-30 are for business class, regardless how many numbers they end up using. Row 31 and up for coach. This way, if you got 31C, you know you're in coach bulkhead aisle, regardless of which aircraft you're on...

I think UA and the rest of the domestic airlines could learn something from air china here in the name of consistency. This way, only middle seat folks get moved in case of swaps (smart couples would book window-aisle anyways, and swap with whoever ended up in the middle seat once onboard...)

This sounds very sensible to me.

Great point. I agree and have often thought about this. Kudos to Air China.

The only time that your model wouldn't work perfectly are the 1-1-1 and 2-1-2 configurations -- F should be a middle, but is actually on the aisle in these cases. (Maybe you could call the middle seat D (or H) in that case.)

But that's OK, these are not very common configurations, and, as you point out, would be in a premium cabin anyway.

Singapore Airlines does that - I always just assumed that's how airlines always 'letter' their seats.

On Ethiopian airlines, I got a boarding pass that said 43K for a Fokker50 (2x2)..

SQ doesn't do this exactly. In 744s, for example, the F section only letters up to F whilst the economy section spreads out to K.

I guess being the plebe that I am, I should've specified I'm only speaking of cattle class.

Air Canada (sort of) does this already. I have no idea if it really helps operations or not, but it seems to confuse a lot of passengers. Happened again yesterday, I was on a CRJ-705 and (2-2 configuration) and people were getting confused that seat C was on the port side of the aircraft, and not starboard.

Honestly I don't see how this is so confusing once you're already on the plane, the stickers on the overhead bins make things pretty clear...

I can see that semi-frequent fliers could find consistent lettering helpful. When they ask for particular seats at check in they can see from the BPs whether they have what they asked for - without waiting to get to the plane for a nasty surprise. I wish there were consistency in seat row numbers. I have been caught out a number of times with Asian carriers which can have the front cabin numbered 11, 12, 13 and then the rear cabin 21, 22, 23...

well in the 1-1-1, every seat is automatically an aisle seat, so that is taken out of the equation. The two side seats have windows and the views, while the center one does not (and usually exits to one side only), so FAIL!

In the 2-1-2, yeah, that may be the one exception, in that case, and only that case, it can stand for FAVORABLE.