Is there a reason why the back rows of flights are always unavailable?

[Owen Lucas]

Planning a few domestic flights, mostly with Delta, and I have noticed that the last 2 or 3 rows are always x'd out and unavailable.

Maybe it has always been this way and I am just noticing it now, does anyone know why this is happening?

Not to be political but there have been a lot of "migrant" flights lately so one theory is these are reserved for them. Otherwise I have no idea, maybe something to do with airline economics?

 

[FowVay]

Do you mind giving specifics on the routes that this is showing? You show the seating arrangement for an Airbus A319 and a Boeing B717 so the route would be helpful.

 

[vavavroom]

They might be trying to keep the rear rows empty unless the flight is getting close to being fully booked.

 

[Propflux01]

They keep them empty for last-minute flight additions, bumps, etc.

 

[cptbarkey]

If you are wondering how much a plane flexes at 200mph after takeoff or at 500mph, go ahead and sit there!

 

[Astro14]

Until the airplane is fully booked, filling those rows on a smaller airplane like a 319 could potentially cause the loading to exceed aft CG limits. So, block the seats until the rest of the jet is full to stay within CG limits for load planning.

 

[Owen Lucas]

Until the airplane is fully booked, filling those rows on a smaller airplane like a 319 could potentially cause the loading to exceed aft CG limits. So, block the seats until the rest of the jet is full to stay within CG limits for load planning.

I was a little perplexed why the least desirable seats would be saved or always filled, but CG makes sense, science to the rescue.

 

[Jimmy_Russells]

My first overseas flight (YVR to LGW) was back in 2008. This was kind of before online check-in became popular and all that and my wife and I were one of the last people to check in and weren't able to sit together. I kind of made a little stink about it and they ended up moving us to the very back row, together.

 

[skyactiv]

Business in the front, party in the back

 

[y_p_w]

Could have something to do with Delta’s basic economy, where seat selection is only available at check-in time. I’ve done it, and ended up in the back. Also had a time when my group of three ended up with only three aisle seats where we had no other availability. But the gate agent saw our kid and said we should have told time and he could have switched. He switched on to a window seat.

 

[barryh]

Until the airplane is fully booked, filling those rows on a smaller airplane like a 319 could potentially cause the loading to exceed aft CG limits. So, block the seats until the rest of the jet is full to stay within CG limits for load planning.

When I flew to Malta on holiday a month back with Easy Jet on an A320, I refused to pay extra for choosing standard seats and opted for seat allocation on check in. I reasoned that load planning would be part of the seat allocation algorithm and they might work from the centre outwards fore and aft. Check in opened 30 days before the flight and I checked in on line 2 mins after check in opened. Sure enough we were allocated 2 seats together just behind the over wing exit row. Good seats too, one being a window seat.

 

[Cujet]

On my weekly commute, JetBlue used to reserve the aft row for unaccompanied minors, and/or standby pax. I could move there if the row was empty. The policy has changed and now that row is full.