BA disappointment
Aug 16, 2017, 5:03 am
#16
Join Date: May 2005
Location: London, UK
Programs: BA GGL/CCR/Lifetime Gold, Hyatt Lifetime Globalist, Marriott Titanium, Hilton Diamond
Posts: 562
Centre seat in J is my preferred seat when flying J on 787, especially the rows where you don't have to step over anyone else.
Aug 16, 2017, 5:04 am
#17
Original Poster
Join Date: Jan 2013
Programs: MUCCI
Posts: 245
I am sure I will find something else when I get on the aircraft tomorrow morning.
Last edited by Oxon Flyer; Aug 17, 2017 at 8:48 am Reason: Substituted 'shedload', to ensure compliance with FT rules.
Aug 16, 2017, 5:04 am
#18
Moderator, Iberia Airlines, Airport Lounges, and Ambassador, British Airways Executive Club
Join Date: Feb 2010
Programs: BA Lifetime Gold; Flying Blue Life Platinum; LH Sen.; Hilton Diamond; Kemal Kebabs Prized Customer
Posts: 63,804
Yes, I'm not going to add much to the other comments, but by way of an explanation, one of the unstated benefits of seat selection/payment is that you move up the food chain in terms of the risk of downgrading. Luckily your intervention somehow got you checked in, thereby pushing you up that food chain - those who check in late without seat allocation are most at risk. I'm a bit surprised that CAI is in this position now, my last trip was in the spring and CW was only half full, but that's by the by. Clearly seat payment isn't what you want to do, though when you were Gold it would have been an indirect benefit to you at that time and it has never been different. One other problem here is that maybe it would be better if BA's OLCI IT said something like "Oh dear, we haven't got any seats left, try at the airport and best of luck" but I think that would induce a shed load of blood vessel ruptures around the planet.
And also: keep your hand in here in BA FT, it really helps you to avoid nasty surprises! I too find the middle seats on a 787 very good, particulary on day flights.
More importantly, I hope you have a good trip with your wife and that the rest of your trip goes well.
And also: keep your hand in here in BA FT, it really helps you to avoid nasty surprises! I too find the middle seats on a 787 very good, particulary on day flights.
More importantly, I hope you have a good trip with your wife and that the rest of your trip goes well.
Aug 16, 2017, 5:10 am
#20
Original Poster
Join Date: Jan 2013
Programs: MUCCI
Posts: 245
OP, how was the CCR? How was F on your LHR - JFK leg?
You seem to have let a relatively minor matter over a lack of on-line check in cloud what should have been a lovely trip to NYC. At least that is how it comes across.
Seat selection fees for non-Golds at time of booking (speaking as a non-Gold), are a little vexing, but it is clearly stated during the booking process.
Think of your blood pressure.
You seem to have let a relatively minor matter over a lack of on-line check in cloud what should have been a lovely trip to NYC. At least that is how it comes across.
Seat selection fees for non-Golds at time of booking (speaking as a non-Gold), are a little vexing, but it is clearly stated during the booking process.
Think of your blood pressure.
I am realising that perhaps I should use smileys in my posts, far from being apoplectic, I was trying no doubt unsuccessfully to inject a little satire/irony into the tale. Mea Culpa for not reading the terms re seat allocation - but I still think it is a poor practice to charge premium passengers a fee to choose a seat.
Aug 16, 2017, 5:12 am
#21
Original Poster
Join Date: Jan 2013
Programs: MUCCI
Posts: 245
Well I haven't yet had the pleasure of a BA 787. But as a couple I can't really see the virtues of such an arrangement.
Aug 16, 2017, 5:26 am
#22
Join Date: Apr 2005
Location: OOL/DOH
Programs: QF LTS WP, Avis Pres Club, HH Diam.
Posts: 3,192
Aug 16, 2017, 5:27 am
#23
Join Date: Jan 2011
Location: Split between MAN & AKL
Programs: BAEC GGL/CCR, SkyMiles Gold, Mucci deux fois
Posts: 619
Nevertheless, the day approaches and we are flying tomorrow. I wake early in order to be the first in the queue for online check in. Guess what? IT failure, online check in is down. I try several times, and a message simply tells me to check in at the airport - without a seat assignment. I call their city office, who give me a non-working number for their airport office: several times. Finally I get some guy at the airport office who tells me that the reason online check in isn't working is maybe because the flight is full. For one of the rare occasions in my life, I am left speechless. Ask my wife - it hardly ever happens.
Anyhow, the guy manages to squeeze us into 2 of the 3 centre seats. And that is that. And that is when I found out about the 2-3-2 configuration.
But then I find that my annoyance keeps growing. I try to calm down, but I keep remembering that this is the kind of crap that made me walk away from BA in the first place. So I decide to call Customer Relations to register a complaint. I trawl through the Executive Club website and find that the number to call is a UK, rather than a Cairo, number. I am not exaggerating when I tell you that I made three attempts to call them and each attempt lasted 20 minutes, listening to their marketing blurb and not getting connected. Finally I do get through, and find myself speaking to a very sympathetic lady who listens to my outpourings. When finally I pause for breath, she interjects that I am not through to Customer Relations, but that she will transfer me.....
Which she does. To another recorded message that states: "Due to the very heavy backlog of calls resulting from the recent IT problems, we are restricting calls to 13:00 and 18:00 each day. And please expect long waiting times."
Aug 16, 2017, 5:31 am
#24
Join Date: Sep 2013
Location: London
Programs: BA Gold; FB Silver; SPG; IHG Gold
Posts: 2,985
Par for the course with BA- if the OP is getting wound up by these things then this might be quite a difficult journey 
However I hope he follows up with a report from his First trip. Hopefully, he will enjoy the flight and service.
However I hope he follows up with a report from his First trip. Hopefully, he will enjoy the flight and service.
Aug 16, 2017, 5:47 am
#25
Join Date: May 2012
Location: Munich, Algarve, Sussex or S.F Bay Area
Programs: Mucci, BA Gold, A3*Gold, AA Plat, HH Gold, IHG Plat Amb, Marriott Plat
Posts: 4,163
No it's not.
We all get the ying-yang thing and that the seat has (almost) as much space but the whole cabin feels crowded and claustrophobic. On top of that, air flow feels hindered by the high seat-sides and raised seat-dividers which I blame for such warm temperatures on board in the CW cabins. Especially the 772's.
The seat is ok, but that's all, and I'm sure we'd all agree that because of this the CW cabins feel tired and in urgent need of updating. BA knows this too and has announced that a new seat is coming really, really soon. Erm, not.
We all get the ying-yang thing and that the seat has (almost) as much space but the whole cabin feels crowded and claustrophobic. On top of that, air flow feels hindered by the high seat-sides and raised seat-dividers which I blame for such warm temperatures on board in the CW cabins. Especially the 772's.
The seat is ok, but that's all, and I'm sure we'd all agree that because of this the CW cabins feel tired and in urgent need of updating. BA knows this too and has announced that a new seat is coming really, really soon. Erm, not.
Aug 16, 2017, 5:51 am
#26
Join Date: May 2010
Location: UK
Posts: 5,380
Yes, it isn't a fair comparison. BA has no foot-coffins, for example, and the seats are not angled across the cabin. The square footage of the seat imprint is probably less on BA, but nowhere near as much as is implied by a lazy 121 vs 232 comparison.
Aug 16, 2017, 6:11 am
#27
Join Date: Dec 2004
Location: Manila, Philippines (MNL)
Programs: BAEC Gold [>20k Lifetime TPs] | Hilton Honors Lifetime Diamond [as is Mrs PtF] | Various Others
Posts: 6,156
If mtdd has experienced QR's 788 J seats he's in for a severe disappointment on his BA CAI-LHR flight tomorrow by comparison. It's not just about square footage: amongst other things I have never particularly liked the need to have a movable screen between passengers to afford a degree of privacy. Until I flew business with other airlines (F is a different matter) I didn't know better; now I do, and BA's CW seat belongs in the last century.
Aug 16, 2017, 6:15 am
#28
Moderator, Iberia Airlines, Airport Lounges, and Ambassador, British Airways Executive Club
Join Date: Feb 2010
Programs: BA Lifetime Gold; Flying Blue Life Platinum; LH Sen.; Hilton Diamond; Kemal Kebabs Prized Customer
Posts: 63,804
Aug 16, 2017, 6:22 am
#29
Join Date: Dec 2015
Location: LON
Programs: BA Silver
Posts: 128
Assuming you're crediting this trip to BAEC, it will net you 700TPs (140+210)*2 each, so will take you direct to BA Silver with the 4 BA legs**. And Silver gets free seat assignments for all your future BA flights as you burn through that pile of avios.
**unless I'm missing something here?
**unless I'm missing something here?
Aug 16, 2017, 6:28 am
#30
Join Date: Jan 2011
Location: BG
Programs: BAEC Silver, TK Elite, Hilton Diamond
Posts: 827
Assuming you're crediting this trip to BAEC, it will net you 700TPs (140+210)*2 each, so will take you direct to BA Silver with the 4 BA legs**. And Silver gets free seat assignments for all your future BA flights as you burn through that pile of avios.
**unless I'm missing something here?
**unless I'm missing something here?