I tried to post this question on Trip Advisor and Reddit and for the life of me could find where to start a thread, TripAdvisor has changed from a site that offered reviews and forums to just a travel agency sales site I guess and don’t know why I couldn’t find a thread starter on Zip Air or Reddit. I would just contact Zip Air directly but as part of their low cost service, heard that the don’t respond to emails and if someone gives me an answer here, other people will benefit.

I heard that Zip Air does not allow people to move around in coach cabin, that they tape it off in yellow but if I can get advance seat selection I can pick a row that looks empty (do NOT know if all seats are preassigned) if they are and I see I can’t get an empty row may book their more expensive seats but what I want to know even if the plane is 1/3 empty will they spread everyone around the plane or they cram everyone in same rows, and just section off part of the plane with the tape. On some YouTube reviews it shows the plane pretty empty but that was a couple of years ago.

I've not flown Zipair so have no idea . . . but if I had a question like that the place I'd both search for existing topics and post my own question would be on FlyerTalk (run by the same company as Fodors but unique log-ons/screen names). They know more about anything and everything air travel related than any other site I've ever seen. I'd post it on the separate FT forum for all Japan airlines.

I've never had a problem figuring out how to make a post on TA or Reddit. On TA, go into the forum you want and right near the top on the RH side next to the post count is black box that says "ask a question". You click on that. ON Reddit, when in the forum you want, again, on the RH side under the photo is a button to click that says "Create Post".

I haven't flown zipair but have read that in a couple places, that you can't just move to any empty seat you want, no. That's what a seat assignment is for, so while you might want to, I don't think they allow it. Other airlines wouldn't necessarily either, but might if it were within the same price range). But nowadays they have various prices for the first few rows sometimes even when it isn't a different cabin. Zipair is a very budget airline. Airlines generally don't want everyone to sit in the same area if it is very empty as it is a balance issue, but for 1/3 empty, they might do that. I could see why, for one thing, allowing people to move around wherever they want would encourage people to not pay for a seat assignment, AND would mean they would have to clean more areas. A lot of airlines have very tight turnaround schedules. I haven't been on a flight in a long time with many empty seats, though.

I don't know what this selection would cost you, but for a long trip, I wouldn't cheap out on that myself.