Air France seat selection

I just checked with Air France, and apparently seat selection is free, even on Economy flights from and to the USA.
After you make your reservation, you will be given a chance to pick your seat. But, there's a website, SeatGuru, that shows seating arrangements on many airlines and flights. Just jot down the flight numbers you are interested in and look at the seating arrangements which *SeatGuru* shows.

If you are considering an AF flight that is also offered by Delta as a codeshare, you can see the seating availability for your flight on delta.com. Just start a booking on Delta, pick the flight that is run by AF…and you can see the seating chart. Hope this helps?

Unfortunately Delta's site doesn't show the non stop from IAH to CDG. AF 0639

Edit: Ok think I found it. Does anyone know the difference between seats that say occupied (obvious) to unavailable?
Seats blocked off say both. Is unavailable perhaps something Air France holds seats back for whatever reason? The occupied seats have a person icon and the unavailable have an X on the seats.

You pay for seats in coach, and the price varies depending on what you choose. My son just bought super economy tix and selected his seats before final payment using the AF website. I was online with him while he completed the transaction.
Seat selection is included in business class.

with Air France, and apparently seat selection is free, even on Economy flights from and to the USA.

Correct for the US market, but otherwise, AF charges an additional 10€ to choose a seat.

Seats blocked off say both. Is unavailable perhaps something Air France holds seats back for whatever reason?

Blocked off seats might indicate crew rest seats which are not available to passengers.

Airlines block seats for a variety of reasons.

Some block for "crew rest" space (though on some more recent, larger jets there's a secret little sleeping room for crew up in the plane's attic for crew rest - they are amazing!). Some kind of crew rest space (secret sleeping caves, or just a business class seat with a little curtain around it) may be mandated by regulations or required by crew union contracts.

Some airlines block the best seats for their "elites" or VVIPs (on Thai Airways, the entire First + Business class cabins may be blocked for the royal family; on JAL, the best seats in business class are blocked for their elite mileage club members and Japanese government or industry VIPs).

Some airlines block off groups of seats so they can seat families together.

Unless they are reserved for crew or other VIPs, most un-needed blocked seats get released for The Rest Of Us at some magic hour before departure (often when online check-in opens up).

Bottom line: if a seat shows as "blocked", the exact reason is probably moot: you're not getting it (unless you are a VIP or a prince or you just luck out).

BTW, you can see exactly what seats are assigned, available (and blocked, too) on nearly every flight on (almost) all airlines, on a website called expertflyer.com. It's a paid service, but I believe it does have some limited features available for free or on a trial basis. It's very useful (even more so when combined with other resources), especially if you are picky about your seat.

Hope that helps.

You can see what seats are currently available using expertflyer, which is free for a certain number of lookups a day.

As an example, you mentioned Delta 8667, which is the codeshare number for Air France 639. To see current seat availability on expertflyer, put Air France in the airline and the flight number as 639. Don't use Delta, it won't work.

I saw some discussion above about blocked seats. On Air France blocked seats are often for bulkhead rows (disabled, families who need bassinets). Otherwise, they're typically reserved for crew or available to elite status passengers. Since they block seats (for non-elite passengers anyway), it makes it easier to be accommodated (call if you need to be accommodated). It's nice if you need to be accommodated or want a bassinet and are booking closer to the booking date.

On the other hand, it was a pain to get a bassinet with Delta (have to get the correct bulkhead location and then call to maybe get the bassinet reserved). You don't see bassinets often on Delta since most people seem not to know it's an option. Since Delta offers the bulkhead seats to elite flyers and sells them to everyone else, it can be difficult to be accommodated.

Korean Air is even better and will often block middle seats in a row of three if you are a couple with a lap infant and it's not a completely full flight.