Points seat availability

Seeing all forward rows (half the seats on some) PE seats blocked on summer flights? So there is availability but seat selection only back of the PE section> haven't encountered this in past?

[mitchja]

Could possibly be Virgin Atlantic holidays seat allocation?

Also VS introduced “Preferred Seating” for a fee in PE ;

We want all our mutual customers to love their experience when they fly with us and recognise that many of them have their favourite place in the cabin. Therefore, we are delighted to let you know that we are extending our preferred seating to Premium customers, giving them more choice and control so they can select a location that suits their individual preference in our award-winning cabin.

From 23 August 2022 there’ll be a fee to select some seats in Premium, such as rows towards the front of the plane and these will only be able to be booked through our website. Other Premium seats will still be available to select for free at any time before departure.

And our Flying Club Gold, Delta Diamond and Platinum members and our corporate customers can select a Premium Preferred seat free of charge from time of booking as they do today for Economy seats.

Hard to believe VS could further cheapen using reward points. I don't even see an option to 'upgrade' from PE back to PE farther up using points?