brytpa

I'm aware of that, and acknowledged it. Nonetheless, BA's charging non-elites for seat selection in a premium cabin is still not standard practice. They stand out from other airlines in doing this. But hey, that's how BA does things and so be it.

Also, status or none, there's something to be said on delivering what's been paid for. In other words, while I don't have status I did pay for seat selection - and then had what was paid for taken away.

Again, I accept aircraft changes happen. But my point is potential frustration over aircraft changes could be tempered by a) not charging for seats b) having a better J hard product c) communicating changes to customers. In other words, I didn't find any individual inconvenience or policy to be all that frustrating or unacceptable or even unexpected - but BA just happens to operate in a manner that allows for their policies to combine to make changes and inconveniences more frustrating than they need to be.

Case in point would be my return, where I'm on AA metal LHR-MIA. My seats changed when the plane was changed from a 773 to 772. However, there was no charge for seat selection (even sans status); still a similar enough hard product even (all aisle-access, all reverse-herringbone, no surcharges for the award redemption) so ultimately no big deal.