Changes to free seat selection for Silvers (at least) coming soon?
Sep 23, 2014, 6:52 am
#46
Join Date: Aug 2014
Posts: 2,662
Yesterday I called BA to try and get a seat selected for a flight with Iberia coded flight (BA metal) next year. He tried to allocate the seat, but in the end told me that I'd have to phone Iberia directly. I then gave them a ring and they told me that they could not allocate as it was BA metal (chaos!)...they were then kind enough to transfer me back to BA. The second BA guy told me that the first time I'd called through to general customer services, and that the guy was probably new and didn't know what he was doing!
Funny enough, in the end the second guy was unable to allocate the seats either. He was quite confused and couldn't understand why a Silver status customer couldn't make a seat selection. He was very helpful though and told me that they would have to override the system, and that he'd call me back later today to confirm the seat had been allocated.
Now I presumed that the problem was because it was an IB coded flight, but he did actually mention that their systems were not recognising my Silver status. Therefore, I imagine that it is an IT issue. I hope that there isn't any truth in this rumor that this 'perk' will be enhanced away for Silver members.
My gut feeling is that it is indeed an IT problem.
Funny enough, in the end the second guy was unable to allocate the seats either. He was quite confused and couldn't understand why a Silver status customer couldn't make a seat selection. He was very helpful though and told me that they would have to override the system, and that he'd call me back later today to confirm the seat had been allocated.
Now I presumed that the problem was because it was an IB coded flight, but he did actually mention that their systems were not recognising my Silver status. Therefore, I imagine that it is an IT issue. I hope that there isn't any truth in this rumor that this 'perk' will be enhanced away for Silver members.
My gut feeling is that it is indeed an IT problem.
Hi this sounds unrelated to the issue that silvers are having and down to the fact that its a codeshare. If its sold as an IB flight number is BA it does sometimes mean neither BA or IB can assign seats. My experience is thats its unreliable at the best of times when someone calls up to try and book seats on a flt booked that way.
*******all opinions expressed are my own and do not represent those of BA or IAG******
Sep 23, 2014, 7:29 am
#47
Join Date: Jan 2007
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We have previously seen things 'put live' often very early in the morning only to disappear again later and then re-appear again a few days later.
Some aspects of the rules code probably got promoted to live accidentally for a short time.
And also note that announcements often come after the enhancement at ba and not before.
Sep 23, 2014, 8:27 am
#48
Join Date: Jul 2014
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Thanks Anonba
I must say, that seems insane to me that when you have a codeshare flight none of the airlines involved are able to allocate seats. Why is that?
Hi this sounds unrelated to the issue that silvers are having and down to the fact that its a codeshare. If its sold as an IB flight number is BA it does sometimes mean neither BA or IB can assign seats. My experience is thats its unreliable at the best of times when someone calls up to try and book seats on a flt booked that way.
Sep 23, 2014, 6:38 pm
#50
Join Date: Dec 2006
Posts: 48
lets not forget on the IT front that they are/have just been, tinkering with it to add the forward cabin to those flight selling OF as J.
Agree though is silver seat selection goes away, so do i. I made a lot of bluster when free selection for all in J was "enhanced" but in reality it increased our "loyalty" in order to maintain the silver, and cut down our redemption choices to one MFU and two cash LH CW trips per year in order to maintain that status, if that goes away then we will certainly be testing out some of the seats that have been introduced on other airlines since we became BA "loyal"
Agree though is silver seat selection goes away, so do i. I made a lot of bluster when free selection for all in J was "enhanced" but in reality it increased our "loyalty" in order to maintain the silver, and cut down our redemption choices to one MFU and two cash LH CW trips per year in order to maintain that status, if that goes away then we will certainly be testing out some of the seats that have been introduced on other airlines since we became BA "loyal"
Sep 24, 2014, 2:02 am
#54
Moderator, Iberia Airlines, Airport Lounges, and Ambassador, British Airways Executive Club
Join Date: Feb 2010
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Just in case you've not picked this up from the other posts here, there is a new bug that is showing charging for ALL status (including Prems) during the booking process Book My Flight. If you leave out the seat selection stage - which I always do anyway due to the risk of time-out - then in MMB afterwards you can select seats for free. BAEC agents here, via PM and in face to face discussions have made it clear that BA regards this as a bug, not a feature.
Sep 24, 2014, 2:14 am
#55
Join Date: Aug 2014
Posts: 2,662
Hi i actually took a call earlier today where a silver card holder was trying to book and noticed he was being charged for seats when they tried to select them during the booking process. I spoke to web support who advised that this was a known fault with BA.com and had been reported to IT. Unfortunately had no idea of even estimated time for this to be fixed and if im honest IT seem to be notoriously slow to resolve such issues!
******* all opinions expressed are my own and do not represent those of ba or iag*********
******* all opinions expressed are my own and do not represent those of ba or iag*********
As i said previously.........
Sep 24, 2014, 2:23 am
#57
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Sep 24, 2014, 3:05 am
#58
Join Date: Mar 2014
Location: Hampshire/Phoenix
Programs: BAEC Silver
Posts: 346
Just in case you've not picked this up from the other posts here, there is a new bug that is showing charging for ALL status (including Prems) during the booking process Book My Flight. If you leave out the seat selection stage - which I always do anyway due to the risk of time-out - then in MMB afterwards you can select seats for free. BAEC agents here, via PM and in face to face discussions have made it clear that BA regards this as a bug, not a feature.
Sep 24, 2014, 3:25 am
#60
Ambassador, British Airways Executive Club, easyJet and Ryanair
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