You may be also be interested to know that row 1 aisle seats are initinally reserved for Premier card holders and Amex Centurion card holders. I have recently been given a Premier card via my father's work (an oil company with a BA preferred policy) and having usually flown BMI/VA, I have several bookings with BA to visit my mother and father around the globe. On each occassion (5 trips so far involving full fare domestic and connecting international first), a few days before travel, I have been contacted by the Premier team and asked if I would like to be seated in row 1. Thus, I suspect this may have something to do with your problems?? (I'm only very new to BA so I don't know much about them!) Further, when booking using my Amex Centurion card, I have also always been asked if I would like to be seated in row 1.