In theory of course, that is fine, but in practice, there is no way of viewing the weight distribution. As passengers are not weighed before boarding, the airline will assign each passenger (and bag) an average weight to get a rough estimate of the weight on board. In real terms, blocking off the front and back wouldn’t affect it too much as people would sit to the front and rear. In the very worst case scenario, let’s say a rugby team of 20 players of 100kg each (2 tons) sat at the front, perhaps this would have an effect (the 737 weighs about 60 tons). Of course, safety is paramount and it’s far easier to close off the seats rather than asking said rugby team to move.
The seats are only closed off if there are under 132 passengers on the flight. If you take flights during the week, there is a good chance you’ll see this, and also after take-off, if you ask the cabin crew (or not), it is possible to take an entire row of seats for yourself.
Of course, there are other benefits to this for the airline. Having passengers penned in closer means less rows to count, meaning a quicker and less error-prone passenger check, and it is easier to serve refreshments.
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