I am travelling on an A319 in ET on Friday. The exit row (number 10) has just opened up on the seat map, together with rows 8 and 9, and as a Bronze BAEC member I have moved myself from 11A to 10A to try and take advantage of additional legroom.
Seat Guru suggests that the exit row window seat has a missing armrest which may be uncomfortable.
Have I made a good choice?
As an update it turned out that moving to 10A wasn't a great choice after all.
Unfortunately the aircraft was changed from an A319 to an A320 close to departure. As BA encourage you to, I checked at the first opportunity (24 hours before departure). I checked the seat map at this time and I was still booked on the exit row so I confirmed the seat. I visited the website again in the evening to check all was OK with the seat but I was unable to view the seat map.
However when boarding it was clear that the aircraft had been changed. At boarding, cabin crew implied that this would be better as it was a bigger plane, however it quickly became clear that row 10 was in fact the row in front of the exit! I was not informed of the aircraft change, and was not advised that I would no longer be getting an exit until I got to my seat; it would have been helpful if BA staff had offered an alternative at bag drop or the gate (you can see from the history stated in my previous post that I was previously booked into 11A, which would have been an exit row seat after all!) In addition when changing to 10A I had to agree that I was suitable to sit in an exit row; it should have been clear that my preference was for a exit row, rather than to be seated in the 10th row (wherever that may end up).
I was not the only unhappy customer. The gentleman in 10C advised that he was a BA gold member, and was similarly disappointed. The passengers in 10D-F were equally unhappy and appeared to be moved by cabin crew to an exit row prior to take-off. Myself and the gentleman in 10C were not offered this move, despite expressing similar disappointment to the crew member during boarding. Indeed I recall the lady in 11A saying that she actually preferred not to have an exit row, and specifically selected a seat that wasn't one during check-in (but then ended up in one)!
I was especially disappointed as selecting the exit row 7 days before departure should have been one of the main perks having achieved bronze status. This was further compounded by the fact that I would personally have had row 10 quite far down the list of preferred seats as it did not recline; indeed the gentleman in row 9 did recline his, and this made the flight rather uncomfortable for me.
I did speak to BA about this on my return but the advice given was that the seat assignment was not guaranteed. As I did not pay for the seat then they were unable to refund or provide any compensation for the matter.
I do understand that no refund would be due, but I find it frustrating that:
1) I was not advised of the aircraft change and given an opportunity to review my seat selection whilst at the airport (I think KLM might allow you to do this at kiosks within the terminals?);
2) The system didn't realise that all those booking row 10 really wanted just wanted an exit row, and rearrange accordingly. [Also had the person in row 11 ticked the box to accept the exit row requirements? At check-in the system would have thought it was a "normal" row].
3) I did not feel valued as a bronze member; the "perk" for preselecting a seat 7 days out had actually ended up with me being in a row which was arguably one of the worst on the plane.
This issue makes me question the value of checking-in 24 hours prior to departure. For example, if I had checked in at the airport, seat 10A would have still been reserved for me, but I would have (almost certainly) known that the plane had changed; I could have then swapped to a seat in row 11 (it was not full on boarding), or selected some other alternative. If you have preselected a seat I now see little advantage to the passenger in checking-in so early.
On the return I was able to book seat 1A, and this was a great seat (at least this must always be the front row!). I quite enjoyed the afternoon tea offering, although an alternative jam should be available IMHO - but that's for another thread!
Sorry for the long post; I wasn't angry about this as it was a fairly trivial matter - I had a seat and BA got me to my destination on time, but it was certainly disappointing and frustrating. This was echoed by fellow passengers, and I doubt it's the first time it has happened on a BA flight!