gcuk

The curtain may be a factor in some cases of not being able to book an exit row but definitely not all. The first 4-5 rows of economy where there is a Club Europe cabin have always been greyed out, and if the exit row falls into one of these rows, it isn't possible to book the exit row, as is the case on one of my upcoming Jersey flights.
There are plenty of other examples though where rows in front of the exit are available to book but the exit row isn't and in the case of domestics, as GGL, I have been able to book any row previously but on two bookings I've tried to make, the over wing exit rows remain unavailable.

travelwithross

This is what happens when you outsource to the lowest common bidder, and have monkeys working for peanuts in the far flung corners of the under[slum]world.

GaxxyFlyer

In my previous job, our business was advertising so IT was seen as a liability. Something to cut down on, outsource, ridicule and finally blame when something goes wrong.

My new job is with a tech company who regards IT as a valuable asset. Something to nurture, invest in and covet. The difference is huge and as such my new company retains some truly remarkable people driven and determined to do the best for our customers and the company.

I think we all know which camp BA falls into.

Dicksbits

I looked at an INV service for May: First 5 rows are available to select on the 320, then the next 6-7 inc the exit row are greyed out. Really weird.

Ziz

I'm silver and I selected an exit row a few weeks ago when I booked my reward flight. There were tons of exit row seats left. I've just logged on and found that whilst I haven't been turfed out of my exit seat, all the other exit seats on the plane are greyed out. Considering how many are usually available even at check in, I'd be surprised if they're all taken. What's odd is that they aren't even offering the opportunity to buy one.

HIDDY

Have those who are having kittens actually tried calling BA on the phone to do seat selection?

Kgmm77

Wirelessly posted (iPhone 3G: Mozilla/5.0 (iPhone; CPU iPhone OS 9_2_1 like Mac OS X) AppleWebKit/601.1.46 (KHTML, like Gecko) Version/9.0 Mobile/13D15 Safari/601.1)

I've got c30 upcoming bookings in MMB. You might have the patience and time to spend on the phone (or a higher tolerance for Flower Duet) than I do!

GaxxyFlyer

no, to be fair I haven't but I'm not that bothered (at the moment), all of my SH flights bar one are in an exit row and that one isn't until Easter by which time I'm hoping it's fixed.

I do have to book a return to Porto for 3 weeks time so I may call in at that point but judging by the range of responses others on here have had I have little faith that BA staff themselves actually know what's going on and whether or not it's an enhancement or an error.

I'm hoping error but I have a feeling they were dipping their toes in the water to test the heat. If it's permanent then I'll be using my *A gold card a bit more often for Europe.

HIDDY

30 flights in Euro Traveller...no wonder you're upset. Looks as if you need a PA to do these menial tasks for you.

^

fransknorge

I did and reported the outcome upthread. Agents telling different stories, none of them acknowledging a bug.

gcuk

12 minute wait on the GGL line yesterday and agent was unaware of the problem

cvision

Disclaimer: I haven't dug through the pages 2-17.

My two-times-two cents on this exit row issue.

First:
I booked at MUC-LHR-JFK return in December for departure in January. Oddly, I couldn't select exit row seats and at an early stage also only seats beyond those rows. After some conversation with fellow FTers and calling the Gold line they said that exit row selection opens up about 30 days before departure. Between booking and those 30 days some rows in front of the exit rows opened up and finally at about 1 month out of departure, I could select an exit row.
Between selecting and departure the "availability" of the other exit row seats oscillated, sometimes all were blocked except for mine and sometimes there were just some blocked including the one next to me.
The inbound flight was similar I think.

Second:
I have to fly to London on Monday on short notice, so I booked a return yesterday evening (logged in into BAEC and number present). During the booking process I wanted to select the seats and it showed the exit row seats "taken" or unavailable, so I had to take something like 17 or 20 aisle (on an A320) (which I didn't do at that time) - made me already think of upgrading using 8.25k avios and 10 pounds. However, after the ticket was issued I went to see my seat assignments and they magically ended up being both 12D (exit row, aisle). And I could also change them to other (like middle exit row) ones, too.

Very, very odd.

// Edit: Isn't it also true that bulkheads / exit-rows are blocked for Golds and only opened up for Silvers like 7 or 3-days out of departure? I think that is at least what I experienced as a Silver (on long-haul that is, not sure about sh anymore).

HIDDY

I see you were able to get the seat you wanted. ^

adrianlondon

One data point (it all helps, right?): I'm flying BSL - LHR on Saturday. Until yesterday the exit row was off limits although rows in front and behind were open for seat selection (I'm silver).

Yesterday, all 6 seats were available so I moved into one.

I'd already selected an exit row seat for the return journey when I booked a few weeks ago (I assume the only reason I couldn't do it on the way out was that they hadn't yet worked out where CE ended and Y started).

Misco60

There is little difference between flying in Euro Traveller and flying in Club Europe nowadays, particularly if you have BAEC status.

As soon as I attain Silver, later this month, thereby giving me seat selection, lounge access and priority boarding, I'll be "downgrading" myself to ET for most of my short-haul flights. There's no point paying an additional Ł300 per return flight for an empty seat next to you and a slightly better snack.