HIDDY

True but there really is no need to pay it.

GadgetGal

One exception is that if you are disabled, you can call customer services to book assistance at the airport and reserve a seat while you're doing it. You might have to give some details to substantiate your request and, of course, exit rows will be off limits.

jerrys

Under this reasoning, why wont BA charge $950 for advanced seat reservation in business ?

According to the threads mentioned above, most of the cabin is occupied anyways by passengers with BA status who are exempt, and according to the same threads, there are numerous passengers without status who are really annoyed by the additional fee - so if BA charges more, those with status will feel a lot better for the money the benefit saved them, and those without status who wouldn't spend $200 to purchase the option, will anyways not spend $950 - so Its a win win

GadgetGal

Well, with that logic your $98 seat fee just got a lot cheaper. Reserve that seat!

jerrys

Funny But speaking of cheaper, i just found an even better solution.
Cancelled BA and booked on United - saved over $3,000 and got a great perk: free advanced seat reservation!!

Good night!

J.

will2288

Can't argue with saving $3,000, but the UA option comes with a few hours in a domestic F seat, a connection and (if pmUA) arguably the worst fully-flat seat in the sky.

FlyingB1975

I wonder how much business BA loose because of passengers, like the OP, who get upset by these extra charges and either cancel or never return for a second booking. It is one of the things I would not expect when booking J.

JHIN

I agree shocking! Last year I had the same surprise ex SEA-LHR.

hillrider

You forgot charging for food:
Charge $7000 - all have to pay it
Charge $6800 without food, then can save $200.

And so on.

Yes, I have business associates that will avoid BA after their first shock at flying BA--upon my recommendation . Their flight was fine, but the lingering anger around the fee (which the business did not reimburse) prevented them from enjoying it and ended up never booking BA again (they look at me weird when I visit them and ask whom I flew--BA; have to proceed to remind them that as an elite I am not subject to the silly fee).

In many markets you will find the following:
Charge $7000 on BA - and have to pay $200, often not reimbursable, for seat assignment or risk being next to galley
Charge $7000 on another airline - and get seat assignment

1010101

I have often wondered if the BA accountants just see extra $$$ every time someone reserves a seat and don't really consider the lost revenue from such a petty fee. It's $100 to reserve a seat, at ~$5k a pop HKG-LHR all it takes is 1 in 50 passengers to avoid them in future. I think currently the fleet is so stretched they know if a passenger takes their business elsewhere it wont be long before someone else replaces them.

Almost no-one I know uses BA back to the UK and the seat fee is always one of the things mentioned when asked why.

Dave Noble

I expect that they have analysed it over time . I expect that most people do not have ocd over seating really don't overly care about selecting seats in advance. Those that do can get a better selection of seats

A P Yu

Yeah I'm with DaveNoble on this. Its been like this for long enough now for those BA Accountants to have effectively performed their cost benefit analysis on the approach and confirmed it to be the right approach for BA.

21H21J

Which is exactly the argument the LCCs use - only pay for what you use. Does BA really want to be seen in the same camp as Ryanair? It's one thing to pay a seat assignment fee on a €10 fare, quite another on a business class fare.

KenJohn

Any OW Sapphire status (like AA Platinum) will get you free seat selection; not just BA's. Also certain travel agents working on corporate accounts can access free seat selection.

In its own way, BA is trying to show it rewards loyalty. It either makes its profits through customer loyalty or seat selection fees.

This policy has been in place for several years now BA has reported an increase in its premium traffic over the past two years so something must be working.

Dave Noble

And conversely one could argue that why should those on J fares or on corporate deals with BA (who do get free seat selection) buying a week before departure not be able to get their preferred choice of seat due to those on cheap I fares having taken them

I really think that overall it is a minor thing and that most people just don't care and those with status a full fare or ocd can get assignments if desired