On 6/24/2018 at 8:11 PM, possum1931 said:

I have never been refused any free drinks of orange juice.

Well I can tell you now this won't be the case on many LCC's.  But well done for you and your free orange juices

On 5/9/2018 at 8:36 AM, Jeremia Juxtaposed said:

I have just read Argus' post where he quoted your remaining questions. Regarding "choosing a seat"...it depends on the airline and travel class whether you can pre-book and whether it is free or not..

More airlines will charge extra for 'premium' seats in Economy class which generally means any exit row seat with extra leg room.

 

I just did an on-line purchase with Cathay Pacific with whom I am an infrequent flier. However, when it came to seat selection during this on-line purchase, virtually all seats were marked as unavailable which I assumed to mean a full flight but the 'premium' seats were still available at extra cost. I declined to select a seat at that time.

 

I was pleased to see they opened on-line check in 48-hours ahead of flight time versus the typical 24-hour window. When doing seat selection during on-line check-in, there were loads of non-premium seats available and it transpired the flight was probably 80% full on the day.

 

Maybe it's an attempt to get the unwary flight booker to fork out for a premium seat that they probably don't need? I found the seat pitch in CX Coach was adequate for my 6'4" frame on the 777 and the A330. Also note the self check-in and on-line check-in bag drop at CX in HKG has been rolled out and makes for a fast, no-queue check-in.