Originally Posted by
xPositor
Out of interest, do either gate staff or cabin crew have any indication as to whether you've paid for seat selection or not? For gate staff, will they know if you are a status passenger? Or do they simply move passengers on the basis that "we need that seat"?
It is all visible in FLY, though some aspects are hidden down from the main screens. However bear in mind the time pressures on gate staff, which is the downside to BA's (correct) focus on timekeeping. Also that you often get 50% of Club Europe, or a third of the entire aircraft, with status of some sort. There isn't really time or capacity to work this through in great detail, so an element of rough justice may happen. And not all passengers get terribly worked up about this, in fact I suspect it's a minority concern overall, particularly on relatively short flights.