bnw2005

Recently had to rebook a flight that is scheduled for August 2016. Original booking was with AVIOS and on IB. IB cancelled flight and back in December 2015 rebooked a day later as that worked best. Booked in Business ( Club on BA). When checking the booking today I could not locate it on IB nor BA. After calls to IB was referred to BA. BA told me it was never ticketed. Interesting as the email I had from December 2015 had ticket numbers. Never the less the agent said he would rebook. Ended up agreeing to change routing LAX to LHR then on to FCO. Change was acceptable. Agent said needed to wait until ticketed to reserve seats. Got the email that it is ticketed. When went to web site in order to reserve seats BA wanted over $100.00 per seat for me and companion.
The new booking is Club. Is this normal policy for BA. I thought Business ( Club) allowed for seat assignments upon booking.

Any thoughts , guidance would be appreciated.

darthlemsip

Yes, BA charge for reserving seats in Club - unless you have OW status or are on a fully flexible J ticket

BugAlugs

Yes this normal .

We have a link on the forum dashboard with all the details you need here

http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/briti...icy-guide.html

I've copied the first part for you here , sadly it's lost all formatting.

For passengers travelling on BA flights (including BA operated flights codeshared by partner carriers) the policy is structured into four main categories.
Those who can choose their seat free of charge at check-in;
Those who will be allocated a seat free of charge before check-in opens,
Those who can choose their seat free of charge up to 7 days before departure, and finally
Those who can choose their seat free of charge when they make their booking

Note, if you are travelling on a BA codeshare flight operated by another carrier this policy does not apply, and you need to defer to the operating carrier's seating policy instead. Different rules apply to passengers travelling on Hand Baggage Only fares - see HBO fares - Have to pay to select seat in advance [even for GCH/SCH/BCHs] which has an excellent summary in its wikipost.
Who can choose their seat free of charge when online check-in opens 24 hours before departure?
All customers

Who can choose their seat free of charge from 48 hours before departure?
Customers travelling on a short haul flight with a semi-flexible ticket

Who will be assigned seats at approximately 72 hours before departure and can change their seat when online check-in opens?
Customers travelling with children
Customers travelling on a group booking

Who can choose their seat free of charge up to 7 days before departure?
Bronze Executive Club card holders and oneworld Ruby equivalents

Who can choose their seat at the time of booking and change their seat at anytime up to 24 hours before departure?
Customers who have booked in F, A, J, C, W, Y
All customers who travel in First
Customers travelling on a corporate dealt ticket (using a BACCI code)
Premier, Gold and Silver Executive Club members and oneworld equivalents
Customers travelling with infants
Additional needs customers
It is important that you enter the Executive Club or any of the oneworld equivalent numbers into your booking so that you can access the seat map via Manage My Booking on ba.com

henkybaby

That's how it works with BA. Many threads can be found complaining about it. You'll get used to it.

It's the way that BA ensures their most valued customers (and those who find seat assignments important enough to pay for) have the biggest chance to get the seat they want.

In reality there is no difference in seat availability to airlines that allow seat assignments for all at time of booking.

Oaxaca

If the OP is AA life PLT as per their profile, that's OW Sapphire and should allow free advance seat selections on BA (except for certain seats reserved for advance booking by BA Gold/OW Emerald, and HBO fares, though the latter should not apply here). Maybe the status is not being recognised correctly in the booking?

highpeaklad

It's an Avios booking so the BA or IB ff number will be in the booking.
Call BA give them your AAdvantage number and they will be able to book seats for you.

weegraeme

I'm booked onto BA6 but as the JAL codeshare. How does seat allocation work there? I have the JAL and BA PNRs. I'm not a JAL frequent flyer though. I can't see an equivalent of MMB on the JAL website.

LAX/HKG

For me this is a very frustrating part of flying with BA. I am hoping there will be a window seat or 2 left in upper deck by the time our family of four OLCI on our LAX-LHR flight.

Oaxaca

I've never flown the route under a JAL codeshare, but as the flight is operated by BA, if you can access the booking on BA MMB using the BA PNR, you should be able to select seats. Whether you have to pay for them or not will depend on your OW status (or the flexibility of your ticket, flexible business class tickets get included seat selection regardless of status, as do all tickets in F). If gaining seat selection by status, you need to have OW Sapphire status or higher on the FF programme number in the booking to get free selection from time of booking, doesn't have to be JAL or BA. Not all seats are open to Sapphires from time of booking.

weegraeme

I don't have status anywhere. MMB says I only have seat selectin at check in. I'll be airborne from BNE to NRT for the first 5 hours that check in is open. (We're staying overnight in NRT). I just hope that there will be seats for us to sit together as I'll be travelling with my mother who's nearly 80.

Tiger_lily

Does your mother need any kind of special assistance?

weegraeme

Probably not, this time. She did last year, but she had knee replacement surgery late last year.

bnw2005

Want to thank all for the responses. Did end up using my AA status to get seat assignments. Took a bit of time but finally convinced the agent to use my AA number in the record and he got me the seats I wanted.

Air flights are a constant learning experience. After lots of flights still learning.