Originally Posted by
lateott
@ST Dog It would be very helpful to this forum if you would provide a source since you are so definitive about your conclusion.
Wish I could remember now. I thought it was one of Juan's videos, but possibly a comment on one of them.
I modified the post to make it less definitive.
At the same time, I've seen no documented claims that the seats were blocked off, or that there were noise complaints from those seats.
Alaska could clear it up with a definitive statement but I've not seen that either.
I don't place much store in Snopes. They claim an email from Alaska yet didn't publish the email.
The closest to a source is a Tweet from Pete Muntean @CNN
In both cases the wording is vague. No one assigned could mean the actual manifest shows the seats empty, not that no one had a tickets for those seats.
The lack of a definitive follow-up to the question about a missed connection leaves it open.
Several posts here have already pointed out the incredibly low probability that those 2 seats would both be vacant on a flight that was 96% full.
Agree and a missed connection seems a likely reason for that. The flight wasn't full so no standby passengers to be assigned.
For the last few years I been told to stay in my assigned seat until after takeoff, even on flights with a lot of empty seats.