This is a bit after the event, however... Back in February I booked LHR/JNB rtn for about a month later for myself, my wife and young daughter. Used my AA platimun number (OW sapphire) in the booking, and paid for my exit row seat (80J), as I was expecting. I was not expecting my wife and daughter's regular seats right behind (81J/K) to be chargeble, assuming BA recognised the AA number as sapphire. But since I wanted to ensure we were a group travelling together, I ponied up, fuly expecting BA to refund me.

When I called BA, one agent said all seats on the A380 upper deck were counted as exit row (?!) and were therefore chargeable. The next agent said she could arrange for a refund, but my wife and daughter's carefully selected seats would be released back into the system. Next step was American Express dispute desk, who managed to get several pages of paperwork from BA that they forwarded to me which is all but indecipherable. It does contain the phrase "The EMD is used in conjunction with the following ticket which has not been used" - which is strange because my daughter was very much present. Bascially BA are refuting the chargeback and Amex, unusually, aren't being too helpful. It's only £268 (4 x £67), but I don't see why I should be penalised for BA's dodgy IT not recognising my AA sapphire number and giving me free standard seat selection.

Any thoughts?