collector1

Before anyone yells at me. I have tried to find a thread on this using search this forum as well as the thread on award tickets. My situation is I have given two family members business class RT tickets to Paris using my AA miles. The trip is not until Oct. 2014, but the selection was very limited and of course had to fly BA at a cost of $1086.00 RT per ticket in taxes etc. I decided that since the flights to CDG or Orly in economy were currently priced at $1300.00 it made sense to use my miles and go business class all the way. Now that the miles have been deducted from my account and the taxes --fees have been paid, using the BA record locator, I have been trying to get the seat assignments on the BA segments. On the trip over, they are on AA flights, then change to BA from LHR to CDG and the return is ORLY to Newark then AA segments on home. All segments in business class. The BA web site says for the segment from LHR to CDG the fee is $60 per person to select a seat in business class and the Orly to Newark the fee is $90 per person to select a seat in business class. The EXP desk says that they cannot help as they cannot even see the seat map. Is this usual for BA? What should I do? Thanks in advance.

HNL

BA charges non-elites $$ for seat assignments even in first and business. No way around it. If the 2 family members have oneworld status then you should enter their frequent flyer accounts into the BA record.

Dave Noble

This is perfectly normal

BA charges for seat assignments ( except in 1st class ) unless the passenger either is travelling in a high fare basis or holds OW Status

Assuming the passengers do not have OW status, then the charging is correct

What to do ( assuming that they do not have status ) is to either pay for the assigmnents if feel it is worth it or wait until online check in opens and then will be able to select seats for free. I would personally go with the latter

See http://www.britishairways.com/en-us/...sing-your-seat for details on BA's policies

mmjaysee

Wow, I had no idea. That's pretty poor service for people who actually pay full-fare business or first on BA.

norf9

I believe full-fare tickets are allowed to choose their seat at booking time for free.

zrs70

While it's part and parcel of premium travel on BA, I wouldn't call it normal!

Dave Noble

The OP asked " Is this usual for BA?" and it is normal for BA

Dave Noble

1st class passengers and those booked in J or C in business, W in premium economy and YB (and iirc) H in economy can all select seats for no charge

VSLover

yes the first time this happened i was surprised.

i booked a ticket for my cousin who has no status--so since she has no status i had to pay for her J award ticket despite it coming form my EXP account. alas.

one thing i still do not get either is when i book online via ba for paid ticekts, the site seems unable to notice my OW status and still charges me for seat assignments even though in certain instances i'm allowed.

armus

In my experience you won't be given a seat option for LHR-CDG at the time of checkin (BA forces checkin on AA's website, which can't handle seats but does seem to respect the configured seat/isle preference [dunno what it does for 2 pax, eg, always window & isle or can also do isle & isle). In any case it's a short flight with just enough time for them to serve typically inedible british food.

hillrider

AFIK, BA is the only airline in the world that charges premium cabin passengers for pre-reserved seating.

I have acquaintances in continental Europe who won't fly them because of the fee. I can't blame them, especially since such a fee is not a corporate-reimbursable item. $180 out of their pocket for something that it's free on another airline makes the choice a no-brainer.

Prospero

My small project team bounces between London and Hong Kong and San Francisco every week, most often with travel arrangements finalised at the eleventh hour so we’re talking of a weekly travel budget of between US $40-50,000 covering 4-5 employees. BA’s seating policy serves us very well. So long as our corporate travel agent creates the PNRs more than 24 hours ahead of travel we are in good position to select either an aisle or window seat.

reeg2

Serves you well... seems strong. Because you book crazy late, you don't notice the inconvenience that others are noting. That hardly seems like a feature or benefit.

Dave Noble

It is a benefit for those that do so; with the fewer people selecting seats in advance, those booking late are generally likely to have a better choice of seats available to them

That seems like a benefit to me; it may not be a benefit for those booking in advance but def a benefit for those that don't

mre5765

I am 4 for 4 getting 64A upper deck. I doubt that seat would be available without the fee. While I think the fee is ludicrous, on the long haul route I take, AA/BA is over a thousand USD cheaper than the rest both times I've booked.