Originally Posted by
Flexible preferences
One thing overlooked, is that it is nice to get a flat bed and IFE in short haul.
There was no IFE; the crew apologized but they were not permitted to turn on the IFE on the LHR-MAD flight operated by 772.
Originally Posted by
sts603
This is exactly the situation my wife had recently. She was on a completely sold out J0 Y0 MAD-LHR 4-class 777 ticketed in J. I told her that the F cabin had been open and while she had not been moved forward (about 6 passengers appear to have been - presumably all Golds) the remaining seats where X blocked (meaning the airport should have been able to assign them). She was in the IB lounge on a four hour layover. The IB agent tried, failed, and called BA and was told the cabin was fully booked with no open seats. About T-60, the seats went from X blocked to entirely open. I sent her back to the IB agent who gave her lots of attitude, told her it was still full, and then when my wife insisted, called BA and another discussion ensued. Finally, they gave her 1F and said "I guess someone missed their connection." Total lies. And when my wife boarded, everyone in rows 1 and 2 was a BA pilot (there were multiple) or their family members. Absolutely despicable behavior.
So I sorta experienced this myself, except that I have to give the BA gate agents full credit for trying even when I asked them numerous times. Initially, most of the FIRST seats appeared blocked and then about 60 min before the flights some seats became open... a lovely lounge agent tried to grab one of the seats for me but the system kept telling her that the seats couldn't be assigned. At the gate, I asked the staff if they could give me a window seat in row 1 and when they tried, the system kept giving them errors so they had to make a phone call to another department which told them that they wouldn't release any FIRST seats. A few minutes before boarding, ExpertFlyer showed that the entire row 4 was available and when I asked the agents, they showed me that their computers also displayed the same thing I was seeing but whenever they tried to change my seat assignment, the system kept giving them an authorization message (which indeed I could see so I knew they weren't lying at all).
Onboard, there were many broken seats in the Club World cabin (mine included) and I overheard the cabin crew stating that they couldn't understand why there were so many nonrevs in FIRST when they had so many paid passengers with problems in the Club World cabin and nothing they could do since the flight was fully booked.
Originally Posted by
lost_in_translation
This is Intra-Europe J and, frankly, if you’re expecting blankets and pillows you don’t understand the market. Unsure why you think LX is any better (horrible seats, no tray table, food no better than BA).
A QF J ticket between SYD and MEL probably costs a multiple of what you paid for your FRA ticket.
Comments on meal size and cabin cleanliness both fairly fair game, however.
I'm not sure I'm understanding your comments on knowing the market(s)... For example, on CS aircraft, Swiss blocks a seat in Business meaning that if you end up on the AC-side, you actually get two seats to yourself and LX's catering is vastly superior to BA (even on super short flight such as ZRH GVA for well under $225 USD, they serve a small tray of 3 appetizers up front). Moreover, I find LX's cabin crews to be far friendlier, efficient, and more willing to deliver service from the heart than BA's.
Also, on Austrian and even Lufthansa, there are always quality blankets available if you ask the crew. Austrian in particular seems to be a big fan of colorful blankets.