Pack

I was offered a drink from club. I choose a coffee. It never arrived. 😃

KARFA

Coffee's for closers

Foofighter69

Had an enjoyable flight as GGL - served champagne and wine from first throughout by the IFM who serviced my section of the J cabin, which I thought was a nice touch. I assumed that JFK would be GGL-heavy let alone Gold, so was nice to be pampered!

acearchie

Lhr -> Ewr

Cabin manager came to congratulate me on turning gold all the way back in WT and offered a hand shake.

Nice gesture but would have loved the offer of some bubbles!

TheWiseOne

Not sure if this is entirely OT. However, I have a question about gold seating policies on SH flights. A couple of days ago, by OH was on a flight with her friend in an exit row seat which she believed entitled her to a spare seat in the row (middle.) Shortly after the flight went up in the air, another passenger demanded that he be given the spare seat in thr row, at which point her friend went down to the cabin crew to explain the situation. However, they told him no such policy existed and that they had to allow the passenger to sit with them.

in the end, they ended up moving to another row.

Just asking, but is this correct? That Gold's don't have a blocked seat and that passengers can move anywhere once up in the air if seats are available in economy?

CKBA

I think 'entitled' is too strong a word here. Others will be along to no doubt correct me, but the 'theoretical seating' will block a seat next to Gold pax where space permits. However, depending on load/other factors it may not be possible to keep that seat free. With a LH 3/3/3 seat arrangement it is not overly prudent to book 1x1 since the 'x' will get filled at some stage. However, I've been on a flight where I was sat in the last row of a 787 (the one with only 2 seats) with the one next to be 'free' - a pax did ask the crew if they could sit there but the crew replied 'no, he's paid for the extra seat'... .

golfmad

CKBA is correct.

Theoretical seating may block seats next to high value customers including BA Gold and Silver and oneworld Emerald and Sapphire. There is definitely not a rule that blocks seats next to Gold card holders in economy.

Passengers in Club Europe will normally find that the middle seat is kept free but that's for all CE passengers.

Here is a link to the thread describing Theoretical Seating and what it does.

https://www.flyertalk.com/forum/brit...ts-status.html

TheWiseOne

Thanks for the reply. This is where I am confused, as you say it is where space permits. However, in this instance the flight was only half full with a number of rows completely empty. However, the other customer was insistent they wanted to sit in the exit row and didn't want a row to themselves.

Thus, my question is, in such a situation shouldn't the cabin crew refuse the other customer and direct them to another seat as the gold block would have allocated the middle seat between the two to the Gold member due to the low numbers on board?

Fatdickie

Friday morning BA2712 LGW to Malaga
Exit row economy

First flight since turning gold
Had first visit to the LGW first lounge rather than business
Loved ordering from the extra breakfast menu
Also had Johnnie Walker Blue on self pour

Boarded and just prior to take off the in-flight lead came over with his i-pad and introduced himself, thanked me for choosing to fly BA and Would I like him to bring me a drink once we were airborne. Opted for a glass of Champagne and he brought one of the mini bottles.

The combination of the lounge and the greeting really made my first flight as a Gold an enjoyable experience
​​​​​​

Radiation Station

I am so pleased you had such a good time on your first flight as Gold

Shout out to that kindle too, I used to have one just like it. A great piece of kit.

bisonrav

Re the blocking (or not) I think the irritation here is that the block had survived the check-in process but the seat was then offered to someone on-board? The thing is that exit rows are always going to be at a premium, and I think fair game, particularly for really tall people or losing players in curtain roulette.

I've had a very good run of economy blocks when travelling with Master BR recently, when I usually take the middle seat to his window, though I do tend to be checking Expert Flyer at T-55 and if the block has been preserved move myself to the aisle on boarding. This seems to work better than booking a 1X1 hit and hope. These can't be exit rows of course, as Master BR isn't allowed in them.

Just to steer back onto topic, a very nice greeting for both of us today (he's Gold). The Cabin manager came back to give him his logbook back, apologizing for the captain who had intended to deliver it but was too busy, and, sotto voce, said that she'd seen we were GGL and Gold and what did we want from the front? The answer was Diet Coke and a cup of tea, which was duly delivered, and very welcome it was too.

We were on a day trip, and on the way out, Master BR had visited the flight deck on boarding and been allowed to press the button to turn the auxiliary power unit on, then the captain came back personally with the logbook. This wasn't a long walk as he was in 1A, but he was very pleased with the attention.

I did wonder where I'd be on EC261 had he wrongly pressed the button and put the APU out of service.

drwook

I'm a big fan of the LGW lounge. Not huge, just nice and usually relaxed.

If someone can arrange for a bottle of that JW Blue to make it to Heathrow for about 1230/1300 today that'd be good... I think it's still missing in action from the Heathrow F lounge since covid times.

gw3

3 flights in the last couple of weeks.
LGW-NCE in CE, A319. Flight fairly empty, 5 pax in CE. No welcome at all from IFM. I think the only interaction was "Do you want breakfast?" and "all finished?". He then disappeared into galley for rest of the flight along with the 2 crew from ET. No offer of any other drinks or a even a walk through the cabin until securing for landing.
LGW-SZG in CE. Welcomed by name by IFM, 5 rows of CE served by 2 crew. Many offers of extra drinks.
MUC-LHR in ET, exit row. Full flight with 8 rows of Club. IFM came through after Club service and gave the personal greeting and offered a drink, brought back with nuts and biscuits.

Bluekjp

The blocked seat is not an advertised benefit of being a Gold card holder, like, say, fastrak security or First Wing usage etc. It is just an unofficial benefit that I suspect most Golds/Silvers are unaware of if they're not reading FT. Likewise, I doubt that most BA crew are even aware of this. As the crew have the ability to move people around the cabin on request you were just unlucky on this occasion that someone was insistent on moving. Therefore, to answer your question no official hard benefit was lost by your OH I'm afraid.

IJN Harekaze

.....