Not pre-selecting seats - Risk of being bumped?
 

I have a J award ticket for a few weeks from now (on a Sunday) from now NCE-LHR, onward to JFK. I refuse to pay to pre-select a business class seat out of principle.

However, I noticed that the business class cabin on this flight is almost completely full. At this point all the standard business class seats (which had a 26 GBP fee) have been reserved, and all that's left are 7 of the 8 exit row seats (which had a 43 GBP fee). I imagine this route is popular on Sundays in the summer.

I am OW Ruby, so I can select seats a week prior to the flight for free. Are exit row seats eligible for that benefit? If I don't have an assigned seat, does that make me the most likely to get bumped in the event of overbooking?

I assume this is about the NCE-LHR leg so if so as you have an onward connection then you are much less likely to be bumped as it would cause other issues for rebooking you to JFK.

Not 100% sure but I read it as Ruby do get exit rows for free in advance on short hauls

see footnote 2 here

https://www.britishairways.com/en-gb...pare-the-tiers

Don't worry much about denied boarding - it's very rare (1/10,000 or so in the US, where they publish these figures).

Even as OW ruby you'll be ahead of others with no status at all, plus people can cancel on the day - and they often do as point-to-point tickets are flexible on the day of travel (though your award ticket will be completely inflexible. As has been said above, the fact you are connecting should also help.

I'm sure that if there were higher status cardholders fighting for seats in the cabin, they'd have booked the exit row by now - so I wouldn't give it a second thought until a week in advance.

Why would you not select a seat a week ahead to avoid that risk :confused:?

Isn't it just that you cannot change your seat without a fee and you get whatever BA assigns you?

What I mean is, at the time of booking you have the option of paying a seat selection fee and if you don't, you can wait until a week before or at check-in (depending on fare or status) to select or change a seat that has been assigned by BA.

Thus, OP will have a seat whether or not he selects one anyway?

Yes, if there is one available to select at that point.

What the OP is worried about (with some justification) is that, if the plane is full, not having selected a seat will make him (?) more likely to be bumped. If no one is bumped, he gets the seat of BA's choice and everyone is happy. If anyone is bumped, it might be him - particularly as only exit row seats are now available. (My view is that, as OW Ruby, he's in a better position than many others on the flight regardless, and even if he's not, there's nothing he can now do until a week before the flight).

Ah yes, Thanks.

Could some seats be blocked for elites, so more are actually available than showing? Like front rows on E190, etc. Not sure if that will help though...

Care to share date and flight OP so someone can look on Expert Flyer, unless you have access of course.

I don't have Expert Flyer, and if somebody could do a search, it would be a tremendous favor. My flight is BA 343 on July 8th (departing at 11:40).

And yes, I am only concerned about the NCE-LHR leg. The TA flight afterwards has plenty of open seats.

Rows 5-10 fully occupied.
8 of 16 seats in 1-4 occupied.
1 of 8 occupied on exit rows 11 & 12.
No blocks.

So MMB won't let you pay for a seat near the front? Given the current occupancy pattern I assume they are blocked to you (and others) :confused:?

The other point to make is that if CE gets near to full they push back the curtain (so those in row 13 ET are very much at risk I would say). BA are only selling higher priced buckets in both ET and CE at the moment, so I suspect it will be more static than usual - there are cheaper flights before and after - but it's still a way off, but I would perhaps check again in a week. This may be a flight that ends up as A321 rather than A320.
J8 C0 D0 R0 I0 Y9 B9 H1 K0 M0 L0 V0 N0 O0 Q0 S0 G0