Originally Posted by
lowfareair
Correct me if I'm wrong, but I believe Swiss only restricts certain seats (e.g. The Thrones) from anyone selecting them; all other seats in the cabin are able to be selected by anybody with a business class ticket. Similarly, I believe QR/EK/AY all allow free seat selection on a wider range of fares compared to BA - the former only restrict it on their very lowest tier (Basic/Light/etc) and even award tickets can select seats for free whereas BA charges for advance seat selection on any business class fare except the most expensive.
So yes, other airlines do not have free advance seat selection on some J fares, but I don't know of any 'full-service' airline that is as restrictive with it as BA is. On the flip side, BA offers other benefits on all tickets that you can't get on the Basic Business tickets of AY/EK/etc, such as lounge access.
Which really just highlights how important is is to do your homework before pulling the trigger on something. Not all Business Class is equal these days. Assumption or presumptions can result in costly mistakes.
I'd wholeheartedly agree that from a consumer perspective, you need to have a degree of in-depth product knowledge these days to pick out key benefits and form comparisons. This is pretty much why FT works so well because it draws upon these intricacies to fill in the gaps and sets reasonable expectation..... ideally before it's too late.