Doesn't always work though. I requested this for a Cairo flight when I was Gold. When I checked in, I had my seat on the upper deck and my daughter had been placed on the main deck!

If there are WT+ seats available for sale, then in theory the answer is yes. But the devil is always in the price.

The starting point is that you'd have to pay the change fee (usually £100) plus the fare difference to the current cheapest WT+ fare.

However, if you do this when you get to the airport to check in (or do it via the website before you OLCI), then you're likely to find that you have to pay the fare difference to change to the full W class fare as the other WT+ fares typically have advance purchase requirements even if there are seats available in lower WT+ booking classes.

Alternatively, if loads and yield management allow, you may be offered a special offer POUG via the website to upgrade to WT+, or you may be able to buy a special offer upgrade at the airport for a similar price. These are not guaranteed, though, even if there is space in the higher cabin, so you can't rely on being able to do this at a special offer rate. Try this thread for ideas about how much a special offer upgrade might cost (but be warned that many of the prices quoted in that thread are not for special offers as many posters are unable to distinguish between them and normal fare difference upgrade prices): http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/briti...ng-thread.html

I don't know what you mean by "cheaper to do it this way". Cheaper than what? This is how much upgrading to WT+ costs, but the special offers are usually cheaper than fare difference upgrades. But you can't know in advance whether or not you will get a special offer, whether at the time of online check-in or airport check-in.

Is there a way to view the assigned seats (exit rows) before buying a ticket on the BA site? When checking the seat map on Expert Flyer site, the exit rows are always blocked, except 14 days in advance. Then one can see which seats are now occupied. Since BA gold members and OW emerald members can book the exit row more than 14 days in advance, will that be depicted on Expert Flyer site? Lastly, do OW sapphire members pay for exit row seats once seats open for assignment 14 days before the flight?

Yes ExpertFlyer will show the seats as allocated rather than blocked if someone has assigned the seat.

I recently booked seats LHR-MAD. Outbound is operated by IB inbound is on BA. I was surprised to see that seats were assigned immediately on booking. On My Booking I'm told the seats can't be changed unless I pay extra. Normally I get no allocation of seat at time of booking unless paying extra and subsequent bookings to other destinations have, as usual, not given me an assigned seat. Anyone know why the MAD seats have been assigned in advance? Just curious.

Some airlines do this. Air Berlin assigned us seats as soon as we booked. we could see the seat map but seat changes were chargeable. As I was BA Silver/Oneworld sapphire I called CS and has the seats changed for free.

Grrrrr,

I just upgraded on a POUG WT - WT+ as expert flyer was showing exit row seats 22 JK on a 77W as available....
Can't book them ( departure this Sunday 16th) so am stuck in the middle bulk head seats as no window/ aisle seats are available.....
Aisle/cot seats show as bookable until I click to change, they then disappear.

MrD is doing his pieces as I have now spent £x on 'worse' seats, we had twin row 50 seats before.

Yes but this was a BA booking and they never usually allocate seats immediately - except with a extra payment. Is it because the outbound flight was operated by IB?

Can anyone confirm the position on this please? i.e. can BA Silvers/OW Sapphires book exit seats for free from T-14, or do they still have to pay? The seating policy isn't very clear on this. Thanks.

They still have to pay. Silvers and Bronzes are no different from every other non-Gold/Emerald in this respect.

Silver was "polished" in a high profile campaign. Removing the exit row benefit tarnished Silver much more than the polishing improved it.

NB - This is only for long-haul, in case there's any confusion.

BA introduced a slight change to the seating tariff last week which affects passengers travelling in World Traveller and World Traveller Plus on wide body, twin aisle aircraft. The seat charges have been adjusted so that the seats at the window side of the aisle now cost a little more than before whereas those in the central block between the aisles now cost a little less.

Example of the new charges on 777 and 747 aircraft

World Traveller
Outer seats [ABC] and [HJK] £30
Central seats [DEFG] £26

World Traveller Plus
Outer seats [AB] and [JK] £37
Central seats [DEFG] £33

There is no change to WT twin seats (still charged at £35) or exit seats (at £55) in WT and WT+

On single aisle aircraft, all WT seats (with the exception of exit seats) are priced at £15.

I've just noticed this:

https://farm8.staticflickr.com/7144/...fcbcbbbdae.jpg

I've just made a dummy booking in CW JKF-LHR with no status and it's letting me pick seats on the upper deck for free. Is this new ?

Not if the dummy booking is in J or C class. Some booking classes include free seat pre-allocation.

Exit row in WT is £50.