^

Hopefully this is just a tech glitch (perhaps evidenced by the fact that the web site won't allow you to select any seat, even the ones with the "fees").

I would point out that though BA does charge for advanced seat allocation (for non-elites), even in J, no other US airline has "premium" seating fees for J or F, so this would be a first.

And secondly, AA doesn't charge elites for the premium seats in Y, so I would find it hard to believe that they would start doing so for J.

What date/flight number? I want to do a test booking and see if they try to charge me.

Yes, but I think the reasoning is that some people don't care where they sit at all and a nominal charge frees up the seat assignment for those who do. Also, elites don't get charged the fee, so it's more or less a win win for the airline. Of course I always thought the logic behind what AA calls it's preferred seats was a little off but that's probably OT for the thread.

I don't pay the fees for advanced seat assignments on BA - even for the preferred seats.

I just got my flight from GRU to JFK upgraded with an SWU. I selected my seat over the phone (EXP Desk) and they didn't mention any fee for choosing an aisle seat.

$64 o/w LHR-ATL in J

I bet this is a glitch on the website- fourteen dollars seems like a strange amount for them to be charging for this. If they were to sink so low as to charge a fee for seat selection in J, I would expect it to be a round number and significantly more than fourteen dollars.

I highly doubt AA would be stupid enough to annoy high paying premium passengers with such a trivial nuisance fee.

Why would you expect it to be a round number? I have seen quite a few that weren't. Not for J, but for economy

Okay, that seems like enough to make it worth doing for BA and is still only a modest increment on top of the cost to buy into J. Many people won't care enough to bother and it makes more of the better seats available for those who do care, especially elites who won't be paying the fees. I don't know if BA does it this way, but it would make sense to apply the charge only to discounted or buy-up J, though.

Frankly I had been trained for so long to not expect advance seat assignments on foreign carriers at all that I might have been willing to pay when it mattered to me. It was actually quite a pleasant surprise to discover that not only will BA allow me (free) advance seat assignments, but even the best exit row seats are open to me. That goes a long way to replacing the (mostly-theoretical in my case) ability to upgrade LH flights with UA instruments.

I've seen it as high as $120, each way, for an upper deck seat on the 747. I usually see this price when booking non-elite passengers LHR-DXB. This is one of the reasons I usually connect to EK at LHR instead for the same price (better service,food, lounges, and FREE advanced seating plus better seat IMHO anyway). BA's fees are N/A to me, however, it starts to add up when you have 5-10 co-workers travelling with you. I find it ridiculous that they charge a fee to select a seat on tickets that often cost $5K+.

Agree. BA does this to non-elites, and I know of an European colleague that has stopped traveling BA after discovering it the hard way (and he's the decision maker for his company, so they lost multiple business-class flyers).

I'm with HNL on this. What next, charging for drinks in J?

Maybe aisle seat assignments are free, they are just charging extra for isle seats.

The only island seats are 2D and 3D on a three class 767.

I don't mind paying the $14. It just seems like a weird new feature.

I'd go elsewhere if I were ponying up thousands of dollars for paid J and then they did something as foolish as this especially when they could have just added another $14 to the fare and I wouldn't have noticed

a resort fee within the J cabin I guess