British Airways Executive Club - Policy regarding switching seats on international flight after boarding

So to keep it short, I am about to order a pair of tickets for my girlfriend and me to go to Norway to visit some of my family. The main leg of it is going to London, then a short flight from London to Stavanger. The tickets will be for the later part of August, and will most likely be with British Airways in the economy section but I am not 100% sure if I will be able to get two seats next to each other. I was just wondering if anyone has experience in switching seats with another customer on a BA/International flight? if so, were you successful? and what method did you use? Just ask a Flight Attendant while you're boarding?

Any help will be greatly appreciated, and sorry if this is a common post, I just found this site after searching around for helpful forums about this kind of stuff. I'll delete it once I've gotten a few good answers so I don't get in the way of other stuff!

Welcome to Flyertalk.

If you click on the little triangle over on the left, you can ask a moderator to move this to the British Airways forum where you will probably get a much better response.

So to keep it short, I am about to order a pair of tickets for my girlfriend and me to go to Norway to visit some of my family. The main leg of it is going to London, then a short flight from London to Stavanger. The tickets will be for the later part of August, and will most likely be with British Airways in the economy section but I am not 100% sure if I will be able to get two seats next to each other. I was just wondering if anyone has experience in switching seats with another customer on a BA/International flight? if so, were you successful? and what method did you use? Just ask a Flight Attendant while you're boarding?

Any help will be greatly appreciated, and sorry if this is a common post, I just found this site after searching around for helpful forums about this kind of stuff. I'll delete it once I've gotten a few good answers so I don't get in the way of other stuff!

You can see what seats are available on the flight before you purchase it, on ba.com you go through the booking, enter names etc. and then you can pre-reserve seats ($10 per leg I think for that distance). That way, you get to sit together (assuming no equipement change, etc!)

Asking once on board is a recipe for disaster, especially as the seats are likely to be 3-3 to Norway, meaning if 2 people are sitting together, they will want to stay together, and if you don't reserve seats, you could both end up with middle seats far apart, and no one is going to want to swop their aisle or window for a middle seat, nor is it fair for you to ask.

You can see what seats are available on the flight before you purchase it, on ba.com you go through the booking, enter names etc. and then you can pre-reserve seats ($10 per leg I think for that distance). That way, you get to sit together (assuming no equipement change, etc!)

Asking once on board is a recipe for disaster, especially as the seats are likely to be 3-3 to Norway, meaning if 2 people are sitting together, they will want to stay together, and if you don't reserve seats, you could both end up with middle seats far apart, and no one is going to want to swop their aisle or window for a middle seat, nor is it fair for you to ask.

I'm not expecting anyone to agree to switch seats, nor will I have any bad feelings against them if they say no. My girlfriend sometimes has trouble flying, with the heights/hitting turbulence she gets a little anxious so I would like to sit next to her if I could. It is mainly the Boston->London flight I am worrying about, since the flight to Norway is much shorter.

Thank you for the advice, but is it just really up to finding a passenger who will agree to swap seats with you on a flight from Boston to London? or will the Flight Attendants/airline staff prevent that?

If people really need to sit together, such as a very small child or a handicapped person who needs help during the flight, the GA or even FAs might help, but you can't expect a lot of assistance or sympathy when two adults just prefer to sit next to each other.

Look at seat maps before purchasing tickets and then pay the fee to reserve two seats next to each other on all flights.

IME with BA, the flight attendants came around and told we could move if we wanted as it was a light flight. I was actually able to get an entire middle row and lay down.

If people really need to sit together, such as a very small child or a handicapped person who needs help during the flight, the GA or even FAs might help, but you can't expect a lot of assistance or sympathy when two adults just prefer to sit next to each other.

Look at seat maps before purchasing tickets and then pay the fee to reserve two seats next to each other on all flights.

I know it isn't a necessity, but it would make the flight a lot better if it was possible. I guess I'm mainly wondering if the FA/flight staff would prevent it from happening if I were to find a willing passenger to switch for whatever reason.

I don't think it will be that unlikely to find a passenger on the Boston to London flight willing to switch, as I have done the flight many times and have been happy to swap with someone who asked politely.

I know it isn't a necessity, but it would make the flight a lot better if it was possible. I guess I'm mainly wondering if the FA/flight staff would prevent it from happening if I were to find a willing passenger to switch for whatever reason.

I don't think it will be that unlikely to find a passenger on the Boston to London flight willing to switch, as I have done the flight many times and have been happy to swap with someone who asked politely.
If it will make the flight better, pay for seats!!!!! You cannot expect someone to take a less desirable seat just so you can sit together. Without reserved seats purchased in advance, you will probably each have a middle seat and want to swap one of the middles for a window or an aisle for which another passenger has paid extra.

I've swapped seats with people lots of times for just this purpose. It's even easier if you offer at least as good a seat (e.g., aisle for middle).

I've swapped seats with people lots of times for just this purpose. It's even easier if you offer at least as good a seat (e.g., aisle for middle).

Did you do anything in particular? or just ask someone that was sitting next to you/next to the person you wanted to sit next to, to swap? did you have to ask the Flight Attendants first?

I know it isn't a necessity, but it would make the flight a lot better if it was possible. I guess I'm mainly wondering if the FA/flight staff would prevent it from happening if I were to find a willing passenger to switch for whatever reason.

A couple of things:


FAs won't prevent you switching so long as you make the arrangement with the other passenger
If you do try to switch once on the plane - Do not squat! Never take the seat you want and then ask once the person arrives
Ask politely and only for like seat for like seat. No one will switch an aisle for a middle and you shouldn't ask them to
If someone says no, don't ask why or try to persuade them. It is their right to say no
The best advice is relly to pay the $10 ahead of time to book seats next to each other

Did you do anything in particular? or just ask someone that was sitting next to you/next to the person you wanted to sit next to, to swap? did you have to ask the Flight Attendants first?

No need to ask the FAs first

I'm not that familiar with BA...but if some sort of "desirable" seats are available for $10 each, I'd just pay the fee and be done with it. For this small amount, I'm assuming it's just confirming regular economy seats in the first rows of the economy cabin, not some sort of "premium" service or seat. That'd undoubtedly be more money.

If I am put into a situation where I definitely will be asking for a switch (e.g., traveling with a 5-year-old and separated due to IRROPS), I make sure to offer up my good seat for a lesser seat.

Two adults? We usually don't bother asking for swaps unless it's an easy case of offering up a clearly better seat to another person. We always carry books, magazines, iPad, etc. In a pinch, one can make it from Boston to London without a companion.

You can see what seats are available on the flight before you purchase it, on ba.com you go through the booking, enter names etc. and then you can pre-reserve seats ($10 per leg I think for that distance). That way, you get to sit together (assuming no equipement change, etc!)

Asking once on board is a recipe for disaster, especially as the seats are likely to be 3-3 to Norway, meaning if 2 people are sitting together, they will want to stay together, and if you don't reserve seats, you could both end up with middle seats far apart, and no one is going to want to swop their aisle or window for a middle seat, nor is it fair for you to ask.

If you preselect, another tip for 3-3 seating is to pick a row that's emply and select the Window and Aisle. Single middle seats are usually chosen last, and if someone does wind up in your row they're always more than willing to swap for the window or aisle meant 2 two of you either get 3 seats, or you can still sit side by side. No downside to this at all.

EricP0418, welcome to FlyerTalk! As this does seem focused on BA flights, let me move this to the BA forum for more discussion. Ocn Vw 1K, Moderator, TravelBuzz.

If I were you I'd save the money for advance seat selection but make sure you check in online exactly 24 hours before the flight. Of course there is technically a finite risk that there won't be any pairs of seats left on the aircraft, but in my experience the chances of that are vanishingly small.

If you preselect, another tip for 3-3 seating is to pick a row that's emply and select the Window and Aisle. Single middle seats are usually chosen last, and if someone does wind up in your row they're always more than willing to swap for the window or aisle meant 2 two of you either get 3 seats, or you can still sit side by side. No downside to this at all.

I find this annoying (piggish?). If the flight is fairly empty, chances are you will get room to spread out anyway, and if the flight is fairly full, then it makes more sense for you to just sit next to your companion to start.

Well thank you to everyone for all the help, I just ordered the tickets and they are indeed with BA. I am trying to figure out how to pay to reserve the seats though, I'm okay with paying an additional fee, but do not see the option unless I am missing something. The site that I booked through has not sent me a full Ticket Confirmation/Receipt, but I am able to go onto BA.com and see my itinerary (flight #, time, etc.).


Am I just missing the seating reservation option? or is that not available right away sometimes?

I may have missed something, but if both passengers are on the same booking, why would they end up split up, unless they were very late checking in?

Fairly prompt OLCI (and although 'to the minute' is good, I don't think it's necessary to secure two adjacent seats) would do it surely?

Well thank you to everyone for all the help, I just ordered the tickets and they are indeed with BA. I am trying to figure out how to pay to reserve the seats though, I'm okay with paying an additional fee, but do not see the option unless I am missing something. The site that I booked through has not sent me a full Ticket Confirmation/Receipt, but I am able to go onto BA.com and see my itinerary (flight #, time, etc.).


Am I just missing the seating reservation option? or is that not available right away sometimes?

It may be that, if your flight has not been ticketed from the agent/site you have booked it through, you may not be able to pre-select the seats till it has been ticketed, an automated process which usually takes anything from a few minutes to a couple of hours.

Once it has been, go into "Manage My Booking" on www.ba.com using your booking reference and last name, and towards the bottom of the screen, will be a section, something like "Service Requests" or something, and you will see a link to seat selection. That is what you need to look for.

Hope you enjoy your flight, you never know... It may be me flying you over! :)

It may be that, if your flight has not been ticketed from the agent/site you have booked it through, you may not be able to pre-select the seats till it has been ticketed, an automated process which usually takes anything from a few minutes to a couple of hours.

Once it has been, go into "Manage My Booking" on www.ba.com using your booking reference and last name, and towards the bottom of the screen, will be a section, something like "Service Requests" or something, and you will see a link to seat selection. That is what you need to look for.

Hope you enjoy your flight, you never know... It may be me flying you over! :)

Alright, Thanks! I will check back in on them later in the evening. I have traveled with BA frequently throughout my life (father lives in England, along with most of his family) and can't say I've ever had a bad experience with the airline other than a defective tv screen that was just a chance circumstance!

Thanks to everyone that gave feed back, I will post back here if I have any difficulty securing reserved seats through BA.com, thank you all for being so courteous and helpful!

You can see the BA seating policy and costs here: http://www.britishairways.com/travel/mmbseatingpolicy/public/en_gb (UK site).

Basically, if you don't want to pay, you can select seats when you check-in online at 24 hours before your first flight.

As BBB says above, the link to book seats is in Manage My Booking (MMB), for which you'll need your booking ref. You can go through the selection process to see what is available without having to finish and pay. It may be worth checking this occasionally and only deciding to pay if things are looking tight. Otherwise, be online at T-24 to check-in and choose.

hth

No worries...

It may be that, if your flight has not been ticketed from the agent/site you have booked it through, you may not be able to pre-select the seats till it has been ticketed, an automated process which usually takes anything from a few minutes to a couple of hours.

Once it has been, go into "Manage My Booking" on www.ba.com using your booking reference and last name, and towards the bottom of the screen, will be a section, something like "Service Requests" or something, and you will see a link to seat selection. That is what you need to look for.

Hope you enjoy your flight, you never know... It may be me flying you over! :)

Alright it turns out that I can actually get to that screen, but it brings up a list of the different flights (Boston --> London, London --> Stavanger, etc.) and next to the Boston --> London flights it says "Seat choice will be available at check-in" with a link saying "How to get the best available seats", which when I click it just says it will be available at check in 24 hours prior to departure.

Does that mean that I am unable to pick my seat until 24 hours prior to departure even if I want to pay the fee? or am I missing something.

(Edit: Upon further investigation, it looks like my flight to London from Boston is Operated by American Airlines, would that effect how I am able to pick my seats? despite it still showing up on my BA itinerary?)

Alright it turns out that I can actually get to that screen, but it brings up a list of the different flights (Boston --> London, London --> Stavanger, etc.) and next to the Boston --> London flights it says "Seat choice will be available at check-in" with a link saying "How to get the best available seats", which when I click it just says it will be available at check in 24 hours prior to departure.

Does that mean that I am unable to pick my seat until 24 hours prior to departure even if I want to pay the fee? or am I missing something.

I think it probably means you flight is not ticketed yet. Have you had an e-Ticket e-mail yet, with your e-Ticket number starting in 125- ?

Also, who have you booked your flight through? Which site/agent?

I think it probably means you flight is not ticketed yet. Have you had an e-Ticket e-mail yet, with your e-Ticket number starting in 125- ?

Also, who have you booked your flight through? Which site/agent?

I have only gotten an e-mail confirmation of booking through the site that I used (Vayama.com) with what I'm going to be charged with, my BA Reservation Number, and a notice saying that they will email me a Ticket Confirmation / Receipt once my credit card is authorized. So no sign of an e-Ticket e-mail yet.

(Edit: Upon further investigation, it looks like my flight to London from Boston is Operated by American Airlines, would that effect how I am able to pick my seats? despite it still showing up on my BA itinerary?)

It would. There are some convoluted ways, but the easiest (and this is saying something) are to register an AAdvantage account on aa.com which will allow you to pull up the flight using the flight number, surname etc and look at the seat map.

(Edit: Upon further investigation, it looks like my flight to London from Boston is Operated by American Airlines, would that effect how I am able to pick my seats? despite it still showing up on my BA itinerary?)

Ah... There we have it.

As colmc says, register with AA and do it through them, or, try and get hold of the AA record locator through using a website like www.checkmytrip.com and log into the AA website if you can do it that way.

I think you are worrying too much. Most passengers get to sit together.

If you checkin -24 you should already be showing together but you will be able move the seats around to select any seats showing as empty and move yourself around on both your flights.

People usually only end up not sitting together if they leave it until the airport and are one of the last to check in.

When your flight is properly in the system, if you follow the links, you will be able to pay to sit together but I really don't think you need to do this but if it gives you peace of mind.

As I said earlier if you check in at -24, you will find you are already together.

Edit I did not notice you were flying AA, in that case follow the advice given by colmc and Jrussell.

Have a nice trip.

AA is the answer.

Call BA and ask for your AA record locator (6 letters)
Go to aa.com and click on "My reservations"
Click on "continue without logging in"
Enter your name and record locator
Your reservation details will appear
Click on "select seat"
A seat map will appear then select the seats you want
There should be no charge

AA is the answer.

Call BA and ask for your AA record locator (6 letters)
Go to aa.com and click on "My reservations"
Click on "continue without logging in"
Enter your name and record locator
Your reservation details will appear
Click on "select seat"
A seat map will appear then select the seats you want
There should be no charge

I called the British Airways help line (got redirected to some other company because of high traffic) and they were unable to find my AA record locator. From what the person who I spoke to said, it is an issue of the travel agent that I booked with not ticketing it yet, which I am assuming should happen once the credit card goes through. Is this a correct assumption?

If the trip was booked through a TA then I would simply ask the agent for the AA locator. Do you have a BA locator for the reservation? The AA equivalent would normally be assigned at the same time. I would just ask your TA to sort things out or wait until the trip has been ticketed and try again.

It's also worth a try to call AA, give them the trip details and see if they can pull up your reservation, although AA is very reluctant to touch tickets issued by TA's.

Totally depends on the flight - some flights I have been on have been empty, others rammed to the gills. Anything longer than an hour or so I prebook, even if I have to pay, I've been on too many flights where only middle seats have been available. During school holidays, it can be really hard to find 2 seats together as people prebook for their children. I've seen so many people ask to switch (usually a middle for aisle!) stating that there weren't 2 seats together at OLCI.


I think you are worrying too much. Most passengers get to sit together.

If you checkin -24 you should already be showing together but you will be able move the seats around to select any seats showing as empty and move yourself around on both your flights.

People usually only end up not sitting together if they leave it until the airport and are one of the last to check in.

When your flight is properly in the system, if you follow the links, you will be able to pay to sit together but I really don't think you need to do this but if it gives you peace of mind.

As I said earlier if you check in at -24, you will find you are already together.

Edit I did not notice you were flying AA, in that case follow the advice given by colmc and Jrussell.

Have a nice trip.

I've seen so many people ask to switch (usually a middle for aisle!) stating that there weren't 2 seats together at OLCI.

I'm with the poster who said that you only swap if you can offer a seat of equal (or greater) value to swap into.

So if I was on a flight and asked to swap (and I have been) I'd be swapping an aisle for an aisle. No way am I going into a middle seat. And yes even when an FA has asked nicely I have seen pax refuse because whilst they are happy to try and help they aren't going to make things worse for themselves.

Trouble is (and I'm not saying this is the OP) most people who want to swap want to sit next to their significant other/ friends yet also want to retain a good seat. Well ladies and gents you can have one but not both !

When I am travelling on my own I would do everything possible (legal and above board) to avoid being hemmed in, in a middle seat.

Now that I have made BAEC Silver the seat selection at time of booking is a big plus, but not of course totally infallible.

So, please, if you do not have sufficient status, pay for the seat selection, or take your chances at T-7 (Bronze) or T-1 (Blue), but dont ask me to swap for a middle seat :eek:

That said, I would have no issue swapping an ailse seat if you asked nicely, and provided I was still in sight of the locker containing my carry on luggage.

To expand on my previous post, I've been the guy swapping seats so a couple could travel together. My only concern has been to get at least as good a seat as I had, which has always been the offer.

To expand on my previous post, I've been the guy swapping seats so a couple could travel together. My only concern has been to get at least as good a seat as I had, which has always been the offer.

Which is only fair.

I have also done it in the past but only on short haul where I didn't care which seat I was in. I once had a row of three to myself on a flight from HKG only for the cabin crew to shift a very overweight couple into the empty seats beside me after the meal service just as I was settling down for the night. :mad:

Thank God I had the aisle seat.

To expand on my previous post, I've been the guy swapping seats so a couple could travel together. My only concern has been to get at least as good a seat as I had, which has always been the offer.

On a recent flight a guy asked someone to swap seats as he and his colleague were separated. They appeared to have checked in at the last minute. They were both in middle seats and he had the cheek to ask everyone around their seats to swap. Everyone said "not to a middle seat, sorry", including myself.

If it involve a small child then I would have offered to swap for a middle seat, and also if there was a really good reason to do so, but no, I would not be swapping to a middle seat for a healthy adult unless I am particularly in a generous mood. I was not in such a generous mood after I had worked all night and was exhausted.

To his credit he took it well and sat down in his middle seat behind his colleague.

If you end up with two middle seats, perhaps a tactic would be to go to duty free, buy a nice bottle of booze and then offer it as a bribe for someone to swap seats so you could sit together. I might do it for a bottle of whisky depending on the flight :)