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DISGUSTED- four pax in CW-pay for seat assignments???

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DISGUSTED- four pax in CW-pay for seat assignments???

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Old Aug 12, 2017, 11:38 pm
  #31  
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Originally Posted by UKtravelbear
Person dosen't like the long term BA policy. Should have looked before booking.

<insert usual comments pro and anti>


And many airlines - indeed Regulators like the CAA - regard 12+ as adults with no need to be sat next to a parent.
Sorry, did I read that correct? 12 year old's are now considered adults?
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Old Aug 12, 2017, 11:39 pm
  #32  
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Wow, high drama on a Sunday morning!
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Old Aug 12, 2017, 11:40 pm
  #33  
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Originally Posted by wolf72
Sorry, did I read that correct? 12 year old's are now considered adults?
From an aviation perspective yes. It's not unusual to see 12 year olds travelling alone and independently on BA, some do it every week or fortnight as part of schooling or custody arrangements. BA no longer offers a Skyflyers service for Unaccompanied Minors (UM).
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Old Aug 12, 2017, 11:42 pm
  #34  
 
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Originally Posted by LondonElite
Wow, high drama on a Sunday morning!
Seating is a very emotional issue! That, and food, of course...
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Old Aug 12, 2017, 11:44 pm
  #35  
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Originally Posted by corporate-wage-slave
From an aviation perspective yes. It's not unusual to see 12 year olds travelling alone and independently on BA, some do it every week or fortnight as part of schooling or custody arrangements. BA no longer offers a Skyflyers service for Unaccompanied Minors (UM).
Two of my children are off on their own today, connecting in FRA. The 15-year old is looking after the 11-year old.
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Old Aug 12, 2017, 11:46 pm
  #36  
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Originally Posted by corporate-wage-slave
From an aviation perspective yes. It's not unusual to see 12 year olds travelling alone and independently on BA, some do it every week or fortnight as part of schooling or custody arrangements. BA no longer offers a Skyflyers service for Unaccompanied Minors (UM).
Thank god it only applies to Europe.

I would never send my 11 or 12 year olds on their own travelling. In this crazy world where kids get kidnapped and so many crazy things are happening, parents need to be responsible.

I guess Airlines have become lazy now and that 12 year olds are qualified as adults.

Crazy.
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Old Aug 12, 2017, 11:52 pm
  #37  
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It's been like that for a long time. How does this have anything to do with lazy airlines. I see 12-year olds taking busses and trains by themselves all the time. I don't think more are being raped or kidnapped than 30 years ago.
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Old Aug 12, 2017, 11:53 pm
  #38  
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Originally Posted by wolf72
Thank god it only applies to Europe.

I would never send my 11 or 12 year olds on their own travelling. In this crazy world where kids get kidnapped and so many crazy things are happening, parents need to be responsible.
Oh that's total rubbish. And it's not just in Europe. Given all the checks youngster are safer in an airport/aircraft than anywhere else on the planet. I'm biased, since from the age of 11 I've been going independently from NCL to HKK (South Island New Zealand) twice a year, and from a purely evidence based approach, life was far more dangerous in the 1970s and 1980s than now, even if few will intuitively believe that. Don't believe it? Consider road safety.
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Old Aug 12, 2017, 11:58 pm
  #39  
 
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Originally Posted by Pickles
I didn't say it's the only low rent airline, but unlike the other low rent airlines, which have been low rent for a long time, it's a recent development.
Wow, which agency has this power to rent control both in the UK and the US?
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Old Aug 13, 2017, 12:00 am
  #40  
 
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Originally Posted by dlen111
I just booked a US-EU-US flight for my family of four (wife and two young daughters) in CW. Miles plus 5k USD. The Executive Club agent assured me I would be able to choose seats once I had my itinerary in my email.

I did as instructed, only to find that BA wanted an additional 1,500 USD to assign seats together. nearly a 30% premium of my fees, simply to assign seats in three wide open cabins. I was reassured that "I had the freedom to choose seats 24 hours prior to check-in."

Yes. very reassuring that my teenage daughters may be sitting alone, face to face with some strange man, also traveling alone, on an eight hour journey from Florida to London. simply unacceptable.

Problem is, if I choose not to pay and cancel, I am stuck with the Avios miles as I used the 40% Amex to Avios transfer bonus. I have never in my 20 years of premium travel had to pay to choose a seat.

any advice would be greatly appreciated.

Cheers.
I agree that charging for seat selection in business is pretty crap but your post is pretty hyperbolic. I am certain that seat selection for 4 does not cost $1500, maybe $150? You CAN choose seats for free at T-24. And finally, I am sure it is preferable for you all to sit together but I don't think your teenage daughters having to sit beside someone they don't know will be the traumatic life changing experience you describe - especially given that after takeoff they will be completely separated from their neighbour. You make BA Club World sound like it is swarming with dangerous pedophiles.

I imagine if you wait until online checkin opens, you will most likely be able to get at the minimum 2 lots of 2 seats together free of charge.
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Old Aug 13, 2017, 12:01 am
  #41  
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Originally Posted by s0ssos
Wow, which agency has this power to rent control both in the UK and the US?
https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/low-rent

In common use since 1957. But somehow I think you knew that already.
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Old Aug 13, 2017, 12:03 am
  #42  
 
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Originally Posted by DangerM55
Clearly it's undesirable for you not to be able to select seats at the time of booking without paying a (quite hefty) fee... But to imply that the cabin will be full of pervy men who would spend their flight eyeing up your kids is quite ridiculous.
Wait, can someone British explain why "low-rent" doesn't entail "pervy men"? In America it would seem to.
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Old Aug 13, 2017, 12:10 am
  #43  
 
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Originally Posted by Enigma368
I agree that charging for seat selection in business is pretty crap but your post is pretty hyperbolic. I am certain that seat selection for 4 does not cost $1500, maybe $150?
I just priced up four seats SAN-LHR-JNB and it's $105 per person, per leg, which does work out at $1,680. However, if that's 30% of the overall cost for four then the OP got a hell of a deal regardless.
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Old Aug 13, 2017, 12:10 am
  #44  
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I suspect the $1500 comes from (4 x 2 longhaul flights) + (4 x 2 shorthaul flights). Perhaps Upper Deck at that.
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Old Aug 13, 2017, 12:12 am
  #45  
 
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Originally Posted by wolf72
Thank god it only applies to Europe.

I would never send my 11 or 12 year olds on their own travelling. In this crazy world where kids get kidnapped and so many crazy things are happening, parents need to be responsible.

Crazy.
You remind me of the story Liam Neeson tells on talk shows about parents who go up to him and tell him "because of your film Taken, I stopped my college student son/daughter going to Europe for the Summer".

I hate to break it to you but I don't think teenage kidnappings are common place in Western Europe on flights or at airports. Do you know of a single real world examples where a teenager has been kidnapped in a western country while flying alone?

That said I do agree that 11 or 12 is quite young to be flying long haul on their own and there are real concerns but if they are dropped off at the airport by a relative and picked up on arrival by a relative and the child is mature for his/her age, then it doesn't sound like the most dangerous thing in the world.
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Last edited by Enigma368; Aug 13, 2017 at 12:17 am
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