Which seats does Singapore Airlines block for advance selection?

If you’re a regular Singapore Airlines Business Class traveller, you’ll probably be familiar with Row 11. Located at the very front of the cabin, this coveted row ranks among the most sought-after seats for SIA passengers, but securing it for your upcoming flight isn’t always easy.

That’s because it’s typically blocked for advance selection to all but the airline’s highest-tier frequent flyers.

It’s part of a broader policy that withholds certain seats across several cabins for operational or loyalty reasons.

Singapore Airlines periodically adjusts its seat blocking policies, and with some aircraft-specific variations in play, it’s a good time to refresh our comprehensive guide to the carrier’s advance seat selection restrictions.

This article cuts through the confusion to reveal exactly which seats are blocked in advance – and crucially, when those coveted blocked seats might finally become available for booking, and how to secure them.

The First Class and Suites policy

Years ago, Singapore Airlines blocked bassinet seats in its First Class and Suites cabins network-wide from advance selection. However, the airline discontinued this practice in 2019, making all seats available for selection immediately upon booking.

The change no doubt reflected SIA’s recognition that infant travel in these ultra-premium cabins was relatively uncommon, making the seat restrictions an unnecessary inconvenience for customers, especially with as few as four seats to choose from.

For example, in First Class on the Boeing 777-300ER, the bassinet position at 1A was previously unavailable for advance selection online. Even before a single passenger booked, the seat map looked like this:

While seat 1A was always available if you wanted it – perhaps because 1F was taken and you preferred to avoid the middle pair – you had to call Singapore Airlines directly to secure it.

Thankfully now there’s no need, on a 777-300ER flight with no bookings in First Class this is your seat choice:

The former policy was even more of an issue on the airline’s Airbus A380s. The former bassinet preselection rules meant you couldn’t pick one of the two double bed options in the 2017 Suites cabin (1F / 2F) online, since 1F is the bassinet position:

That scenario certainly wasn’t ideal for Suites passengers if one of the other Suites that can be combined into a double bed (1A, or 2A, or both) had already been selected, either by another couple or a solo traveller.

Thankfully it has long been resolved. No need to pick up the phone to secure the right side double bed on the A380 anymore:

This represented a genuinely sensible improvement. Blocking up to 25% of available seats for the remote possibility of infant passengers was illogical, and likely consumed considerable customer service resources – particularly since the phone agents would simply assign you the bassinet seat anyway upon request.

This means there are no longer any seats regularly blocked in any First Class or Suites cabin on any Singapore Airlines flight.

Contrary to popular belief, you will not be removed from a bassinet seat (1A on the 777-300ER or 1F on the A380) if a passenger with an infant subsequently books the same flight. Singapore Airlines may ask you to relocate, but will not compel you to move.

Passengers with infants are actually not entitled to a bassinet seat in any cabin – it’s first come, first served.

However, the airline does still block seats at bassinet positions in Business Class, Economy Class and Premium Economy Class.

PPS Club

PPS Club members receive no special privileges when it comes to advance seat selection in First Class or Suites. Whether you’re paying cash or redeeming miles, your status won’t affect access – all passengers can select from the full seat map in these cabins – as they should, given the fare.

However, the picture changes in Business Class.

On certain aircraft and routes, Singapore Airlines withholds specific seats from the advance selection pool, making them available only to PPS Club members.

If you are a PPS Club member, provided your membership number is included in your booking, these seats will be available for you to select both for you and your travelling companions on the same booking.

Your window of opportunity

Not all of these preferred seats are snapped up by PPS Club members on every flight, which means there’s still a decent chance for other passengers to secure them – if they’re quick. Any unassigned seats are typically released for general selection closer to departure.

Previously, Singapore Airlines operated two separate timelines for releasing blocked seats: 96 hours before departure for most routes, and just 48 hours for flights between Singapore and Europe or the USA.

Fortunately, this process has now been standardised.

As of June 2025, seat blocks are lifted across all routes exactly 96 hours (four days) prior to departure.

The Business Class rundown

Specific seats in SIA’s Business Class cabins on most aircraft and routes are blocked for advance selection, so that they are available for:

• PPS Club members, until a predetermined time before departure; and
• Bookings including an infant, until a predetermined time before departure; and
• Crew rest requirements, on longer flights (these are never selectable).

Here’s how it works by aircraft type and flight length.

Airbus A350 Medium Haul

	Blocked Seats
	Extra Legroom	Bassinet + Legroom
Blocked	11A 11D 11F 11K	19A 19D* 19F* 19K
Advance selection for	PPS Club	PPS Club Infant Bookings
Released to all J pax	STD – 96h

* 19D and 19F are not bassinet seats on the A350 MH, but do unlock for advance selection if you have an infant in your booking

Airbus A350 Long Haul

	Blocked Seats
	Extra Legroom	Bassinet + Legroom
Blocked	11A 11D 11F 11K	19A 19D 19F 19K
Advance selection for	PPS Club	PPS Club Infant Bookings
Released to all J pax	STD – 96h

Bassinet seats (Row 19) are not blocked on Jakarta or Kuala Lumpur flights using A350 LH aircraft

Airbus A350 ULR

	Blocked Seats
	Extra Legroom	Bassinet + Legroom
Blocked	10A 11A^ 11D 11F 11K	19A 19D* 19F* 19K
Advance selection for	PPS Club	PPS Club Infant Bookings
Released to all J pax	STD – 96h

^ 11A does not actually feature extra legroom on the A350 ULR, but is blocked for advance selection by non-PPS Club members anyway
* 19D and 19F are not bassinet seats on the A350 ULR, but do unlock for advance selection if you have an infant in your booking

The reason seat 11A is blocked on the Airbus A350 ULR remains unclear, as it is neither a bassinet position nor offers extra legroom. This appears to be a system limitation.

It’s actually ‘solo’ seat 10A that provides extra legroom, on the forward left side of this cabin. Curiously, this seat was previously available for advance selection by any Business Class passenger, but Singapore Airlines has since recognised its value and moved it to the blocked extra legroom category.

Airbus A380

	Blocked Seats
	Extra Legroom	Bassinet + Legroom
Blocked	11A 11D 11F 11K 91A 91K 96D 96F	91D 91F 96A 96K
Advance selection for	PPS Club	PPS Club Infant Bookings
Released to all J pax	STD – 96h

Singapore Airlines previously unlocked seats 91A, 91K, 96D and 96F to all bookings with an infant included, even though these are not bassinet seats on the A380, but that policy has recently changed.

These seats are now (correctly) included in the ‘PPS Club only’ advance selection category, since all they offer is extra legroom.

Remember that Business Class on SIA’s A380s offers three ‘double bed’ options at the bulkhead rows – 11 D/F, 91 D/F and 96 D/F.

It’s always worth checking whether these have been selected in advance by PPS Club members (or in the case of 91 D/F, potentially by those travelling with an infant), because if not this is your opportunity as a non-PPS status holder to snag these coveted pairs.

Even on Singapore – London flights, these are often still vacant at the key T-96 hour mark!

Boeing 737-800

There are no blocked seats in Business Class on Singapore Airlines’ Boeing 737-800s, regardless of the route.

This is neither exciting nor particularly notable – the seats are unremarkable, and type will be phased out of the fleet by late October 2025.

Boeing 737-8 MAX

The Boeing 737-8 MAX has no blocked seats in Business Class on any route. This includes the ‘throne’ seats 12B and 12J, which remain available from the outset to all Business Class travellers, regardless of status.

Boeing 777-300ER

	Blocked Seats
	Extra Legroom	Bassinet + Legroom
Blocked	11A 11D 11F 11K	15A 15D 15F 15K
Advance selection for	PPS Club	PPS Club Infant Bookings
Released to all J pax	STD – 96h

Bassinet seats in row 15 were previously available for advance selection on Jakarta flights using Boeing 777-300ER aircraft. However, Singapore Airlines recently changed this policy, and the same advance seat selection restrictions now apply to this route as well.

Boeing 787-10

Being a PPS Club member or having an infant in your booking unlocks all of Row 11 for advance selection on SIA’s Boeing 787-10 flights, even though two of the four seats in this row (11D and 11F) are not bassinet positions.

Crew rest seat blocks (Business Class)

Singapore Airlines also blocks seats in the Business Class cabin for crew rest purposes on longer flights. These seats are not selectable by any passenger, and the block is never released, for obvious reasons.

The good news is, these aren’t particularly popular seats anyway.

• Airbus A350 Long Haul
  Seat 18D is blocked for crew rest on flights of around 13 hours or more
  (e.g. SIN-MAN, SIN-AMS, LAX-SIN)
• Airbus A350 ULR
  Seats 17D and 17F are blocked for crew rest on all A350 ULR flights
  (e.g. SIN-JFK, EWR-SIN)
• Airbus A380
  Seats 23D and 23F are blocked for crew rest on SIN-LHR flights
  Only seat 23F is blocked on (shorter) LHR-SIN flights, and on SIN-FRA / FRA-SIN flights
• Boeing 777-300ER
  Seat 19K is blocked for crew rest on flights of around 13 hours or more
  (e.g. SIN-CDG)

Interestingly for many of these Europe flights, it means the crew rest seat block applies on the westbound flight from Singapore, but not on the (shorter) eastbound flight back home.

For example, 18D is blocked in Business Class on the 13 hour 20 minute Airbus A350 LH from Singapore to Amsterdam (SQ324), but not on the 12 hour 40 minute Amsterdam to Singapore sector (SQ323).

That gives SIA an extra Business Class seat to sell in that direction.

Unable to change seat online?

One slightly frustrating “feature” of the Singapore Airlines website and app is that within 96 hours of departure, it often no longer allows you to modify your seat selection for an existing booking, making it apparently impossible to move into an empty seat at a bassinet or extra legroom row, for example.

In this case, you can still switch your seats by calling SIA or using Kris the Chatbot (click “Chat with a live agent”). They will happily assist to move you to an unoccupied seat, like 11A if available.

If you booked a Singapore Airlines flight through a partner airline or used frequent flyer miles from another airline, you can typically change your seat by accessing your booking on that airline’s website within 96 hours of departure.

For example, I secured Row 11 in Business Class exactly 96 hours before departure for an SIA-operated flight (SIN-FRA) that I booked under a Lufthansa codeshare through the Lufthansa website last year.

More recently, I booked a Singapore – Auckland flight in Business Class using Aeroplan miles (a good deal at 60,000 miles one-way) and was able to select Row 11 through the Air Canada website at the 96-hour mark – no phone call or online chat needed.

Economy and Premium Economy

Seat blocks in Economy Class and Premium Economy class relate to either bassinet positions and/or seats that attract an additional charge like extra legroom or forward zone seats.

The latter are available to KrisFlyer Elite Silver, KrisFlyer Elite Gold and PPS Club frequent flyer members at a reduced fee or even no charge as you progress through the status tiers, or you can pay extra to sit there.

The only seats you won’t usually ever be able to select in these cabins are bassinet positions, unless you have an infant included in your booking.

Seat selection fees in Economy Class and Premium Economy Class are cancelled 48 hours prior to departure.

• In Premium Economy, all available seats, including bassinet and extra legroom positions, are then available for free selection by any passenger.
• In Economy, extra legroom seat blocks remain in place even within 48 hours of departure time, but you can then select an unoccupied forward zone seat for free, regardless of your status tier.

The free Premium Economy selection then includes ‘solo seats’ on the Airbus A350 ULR aircraft, though good luck snagging one of those just two days before departure! There are only six on each aircraft, and PPS Club members or those willing to pay extra have usually secured them already, in our experience.

How to tell if your seat is blocked or already occupied

You can try securing a bulkhead seat in Business Class 96 hours before departure. However, it might already be taken by a PPS Club member or a passenger with an infant.

In that case, there’s little point in making this extra effort.

Let’s say you’re booked in Business Class on an A350 MH flight and the seat map on the Singapore Airlines website looks like this:

You were hoping to get one of the couple bulkhead pairs at 11D / 11F or 19D / 19F. The seat map on the SIA website shows that both of these pairs are already occupied, but how do you know if that’s true? Since it’s more than 96 hours before departure time, they could simply be blocked for selection only by PPS Club members.

Here’s how the same seat map looks on ExpertFlyer:

You’re in luck! It looks like 11D / 11F are blocked, which means they haven’t (yet) been selected by a PPS Club passenger. Be patient and wait to see what happens at exactly 96 hours before departure.

Provided the seats are still unoccupied exactly 4 days (96 hours) before your flight leaves, they should now appear for selection:

As you can see tools like ExpertFlyer can really help you decide whether it’s worth logging on as soon as the block is released.

Seats can be blocked for other reasons

Don’t be too surprised if you find that your ‘PPS blocked seat’ remains blocked at 96 hours before departure.

Seats can be blocked for a number of operational reasons, including medical requirements and technical defects, and top-tier frequent flyers can even request that the seat alongside them be blocked (subject to the booked cabin load), to give them more space and privacy.

Keep checking as it may still become available closer to departure time.

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The latest policy for seat blocking on Singapore Airlines flights is:

• No First Class or Suites seats are blocked for advance selection on any Singapore Airlines flight, except for special requests and operational requirements.
• Specific seats in Business Class on some aircraft types and routes are blocked for advance selection and can only be allocated to those with an infant in their booking, or to PPS Club members.
• Business Class seat blocks are removed 96 hours prior to departure. Securing a bulkhead row seat in Business Class at this time could be vital to securing more comfort for your journey.
• You may need to call or use the agent live chat function to move to one of these seats – it doesn’t take long and is definitely worth doing in our opinion.
• Bassinet seats are not blocked in First Class or Suites, nor will you be relocated even if a traveller with an infant subsequently books on the same flight.
• Some seats in Business Class are required for crew rest purposes on longer flights. These can never be selected by customers.
• Seat blocks for PPS preferred seats might not all disappear at 96 hours prior to departure. In this case, the seat(s) are blocked for a different operational reason.

Blocked seat selection on Singapore Airlines can be frustrating, but with a little timing and the right tools, you stand a good chance of grabbing one of the best seats in the cabin. Set a reminder for T-96 hours, and don’t hesitate to use SIA’s live agent chat or call centre if the website blocks you from making a last-minute seat switch.

Remember the Singapore Airlines website and app will always show a blocked seat as occupied, so tools like ExpertFlyer can help you determine whether you’ll stand a good chance of securing one of the better seats, once the block is lifted.

(Cover Photo: MainlyMiles)