China Eastern Airlines Allegedly “Blocks” Large Number of Seats: How About Other Airlines? What Are the Rules?

Recently, a media outlet published a report titled “Is It Reasonable for China Eastern Airlines to ‘Lock’ a Large Proportion of Seats, Preventing Passengers from Selecting Them? Passengers Speculate That These Seats Are Reserved for ‘High-Tier Card’ Users”. The report mentioned posts from netizens asking “What Should I Do if China Eastern Airlines Has Locked Many Seats?” and “All the Front Row Seats Were Locked When I Tried to Select a Seat Half a Month in Advance”…

On social media platforms, many netizens complained about difficulties in selecting seats online for China Eastern Airlines flights. According to netizens, upon entering the seat selection interface, only the last two or three rows and a small number of middle seats were available for selection. Most of the front, window, and aisle seats were in a “locked” state and could not be selected. If one wanted to select these seats, they had to communicate with staff at the on-site check-in counter.

The report resonated with netizens, and many reported encountering similar situations. On November 26, a reporter from The Paper tested buying plane tickets and selecting seats on the China Eastern Airlines app and found that there were still locked seats, and the seat selection rules were not clearly set. Air China also had locked seats, but the seat selection rules were displayed before selection, making them relatively clear. China Southern Airlines did not have locked seat icons.

A reporter from The Paper inquired China Eastern Airlines about this matter, but as of the time of publication, China Eastern Airlines had not given a direct response regarding the locked seats.

Passengers Discover Front Row Seats “Locked” During Online Check-In, Online Seat Selection May Be Related to Membership Level

On social media platforms, many netizens discussed the issue of “China Eastern Airlines locking seats”.

Mr. Xie, a Shanghai resident, posted, “There are clearly many empty seats on the plane, but they are not available online.” Mr. Xie told a reporter from The Paper that on November 25, when he took Shanghai Airlines FM9321 from Shanghai Pudong to Zhengzhou and tried to select a seat during online check-in on the China Eastern Airlines app two days in advance, he found that most of the front row seats were locked. Public information shows that Shanghai Airlines Co., Ltd. is a member of China Eastern Airlines Group.

Considering that offline check-in might involve long queues, he still selected a seat online two days in advance. “At that time, the closest aisle seat I could choose was in the 54th row.”

What Mr. Xie didn’t expect was that when he boarded the plane, “after the cabin door was closed, there were clearly many empty seats, but they were not available online.” Mr. Xie told the reporter that after boarding, he saw empty seats in the front rows, but they could not be selected online.

“I’m complaining because China Eastern Airlines locked too many seats this time. Why weren’t the empty seats open to passengers during online check-in?” Mr. Xie expressed his confusion. “These seats are locked and not released. Are they reserved for high-tier card holders or for weight distribution considerations?”

The reporter found through public information that China Eastern Airlines’ “Eastern Miles” membership levels are divided into Silver, Gold, and Platinum cards, determined by the number of flights, mileage, and consumption amount. Among them, the Platinum card is the highest level, requiring an annual consumption amount of 150,000 yuan, along with either 50 flights or 105,000 kilometers of flight mileage.

On social media platforms, many passengers indicated that the seats available online were related to membership level.

On social media, Ms. Mo posted that although she was a Gold card member of China Eastern Airlines, she still “encountered the issue of locked seats”. On November 13, when she took flight MU8360 from Xi’an to Shanghai, she tried to select a seat on the Umetrip app two days in advance and found that all seats in the first 12 rows of the economy class were unavailable, with only a few seats in the back rows to choose from. At that time, check-in was not yet open on the China Eastern Airlines app.

Ms. Mo said that for the same flight, the seat selection pages for Gold and Platinum card members were different. Platinum card members could choose seats in the first row of the economy class, while Gold card members could not. Ms. Mo, who is a Gold card member, said that she had a friend who is a Platinum card member. She provided the reporter with screenshots of their seat selection pages for the aforementioned flight. The Gold card page showed that all seats in the first 12 rows were unavailable, with most seats locked. On the Platinum card’s ticket purchase page, three seats in the first row of the economy class and seats near the emergency exits were available for selection.

Ms. Mo told the reporter that she called China Eastern Airlines customer service, and they said that Platinum card users could prioritize seat selection. When asked if all the seats in the first 12 rows were selected by Platinum card users, the customer service only gave a negative answer without further explanation.

Gold card ticket purchase interface. Provided by Ms. Mo.

Ms. Mo said that Platinum card members could choose seats in the first row of the economy class and near the emergency exits. Provided by Ms. Mo.

Reporter’s Test: Both China Eastern Airlines and Air China Have Locked Seats, China Eastern Airlines’ Rules Are Not Clear

After the report, has there been any improvement in the locked seats issue at China Eastern Airlines? What is the seat selection situation with other airlines?

On November 26, a reporter from The Paper, acting as a passenger, attempted to purchase economy class tickets for the same day, with the same departure and destination, through the official channels of China Eastern Airlines, Air China, and China Southern Airlines, without membership status, to check the online seat selection situation.

Through testing, the reporter found that both China Eastern Airlines and Air China had locked seats. Air China’s seat selection rules were displayed before selection, making them relatively clear. China Eastern Airlines’ seat selection rules were not clearly set, and the reporter did not see an option to redeem seats with points on the China Eastern Airlines check-in and seat selection interface. China Southern Airlines did not have locked seat icons, and before the seat selection page appeared, it informed that some seats were redeemed with mileage.

At around 8 pm that night, the reporter opened the China Eastern Airlines app and selected a ticket for the flight from Shanghai Hongqiao to Guangzhou Baiyun departing at 9:30 am on November 28. When opening online seat selection, the page did not display the seat selection rules. Seats from the 31st row onwards could be seen, with one window seat in the 31st row locked, all middle seats from the 45th to 48th rows locked, and three seats in the 61st row locked. Some seats were displayed in light blue, indicating they were unavailable but without specifying the reason. Some seats had a “person” icon and were also unavailable. Available seats were displayed in dark blue.

Screenshot of the reporter’s test of China Eastern Airlines seat selection.

The reporter tried to find the seat selection rules and found a small icon in the upper right corner of the page. Clicking on it revealed the economy class seat description. Light blue seats indicated preferred seats, seats with a “person” icon were occupied, dark blue seats were free, and locked seats were indicated with a lock. However, it did not provide more information about the locked seats, such as which passengers they were reserved for and how to select them.

Subsequently, the reporter opened the Air China official website and selected a ticket for the flight from Shanghai Pudong to Guangzhou departing at 9:45 am on November 28. After clicking on seat selection, a booking instruction popped up, requiring the selection of “I agree” before seat selection. The instruction stated that passengers could prepay to select seats online, which applied to the economy class. Free seat selection applied to first class, business class, super economy class, and economy class. It noted that due to airline safety and special service guarantees, not all economy class seats in the cabin were available for advance prepaid selection. During check-in, some paid seats might be released for other passengers to self-check-in. Additionally, it clearly stated that if one was a PhoenixMiles Platinum card member of Air China, they would enjoy the privilege of free seat selection in the economy class.

Air China displays seat selection prompts before seat selection.

Air China seat selection screen.

Upon entering the seat selection page, it could be seen that most seats from the 11th to 16th rows in the front section were unavailable, with the remaining seats locked. The closest available seat was in the middle of the 18th row, without additional charges. Additionally, seats in the 27th to 28th rows and the last row were locked.

The reporter opened the China Southern Airlines mini program and selected a ticket for the flight from Shanghai Hongqiao to Guangzhou Baiyun departing at 9:50 am on November 28. When clicking on seat selection, a legend popped up: light blue indicated economy class, blue indicated seats redeemed with mileage or selected seats, and gray indicated occupied/unavailable seats, with no locked seat icon. Upon entering the seat selection page, when the reporter tried to click on a light blue seat, it prompted that seat selection