Gold seat selection for other travellers - process change?
 

I travel most weeks between London and Glasgow and a lot of the time I travel with a colleague (or several).

When we do this I always call up the gold line to get us seated together.

Because our company bookings go through a travel agent I have to first get the travel agent to TCP link the bookings, then phone the gold line and ask them to put the seating request in - which would then take 2-3 days while it was processed by the seating department.

Only today when I did this, the agent told me I would need to put the other traveller on the line to confirm this, and that once the other traveller was on the line he could make the change immediately.

Did I just get a dodgy agent, or is this new process? If so, it's a bit annoying. I've TCP linked the bookings so I don't see why they need permission from the other traveller. If he's right and he can do the allocation over the phone though, that's definitely a step in the right direction.

Anyone else come across this?

Wasn't the case yesterday when I asked for seat selection for a friend on the same flight later this year. All the gold line wanted was my friend's name and PNR.

Just phoned back again to rule out possibility of dodgy agent, but was again asked for authorisation from fellow traveller!

Ended up conferencing him in and all went through ok (though it's still gone to seating department for processing in 2-3 days rather than instantaneously as the first agent suggested).

Very odd, will see what happens next time.

I had this last year when requesting that a female friend to be seated next to me.

The agent asked me: How do I know that she wants to be seated next to you? :p

I think it's good that BA protects pax privacy. I was successful though convincing the agent as I could provide details about my friend (address, passport number).

You should have replied...

"She can't come to the phone at the moment as she's tied up in the cellar".

:D

Makes you wonder why it's in BA's interest to do this considering the amount of faffing about it takes.

See the explanations previously provided in this thread:
http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/briti...g-dilemma.html

Yes I've had this about 1 in 3 tries, it's technically the official process but isn't always followed.

I suppose it's logical as you could force someone to sit next to you when they don't want to, but still a bit of a hassle and probably better to keep trying until you get away without it.

It could easily be automated, a button when you're logged on called "Request seating for another passenger".

Fill in flight number and PNR. E-mail is sent to the pax with a link to confirm that this is ok.

Development time, maybe 80h-120h.

It'd be easier and more cost effective just putting an end to it altogether. :eek:

This is purely from a data protection point of view. The agent did the right thing. You have to be either the credit card holder or third party nominee for the other passenger/booking to have a TCP request processed. If someone has processed this for you in the past then they are probably new and haven't realised they need to clear data protection on the other booking before linking them.

I usually prefer not to sit next to colleagues; it's nice not to have to talk shop all the time!

I am a SCH and my partner is a GCH. Made a booking yesterday LCY-GLA travelling in the summer. BA.com automatically allocated us row 3. Tried to change to front row on the E190 - seats 2C/D - showing available in green both ways. MMB came back with an error advising cannot do and to contact local BA office. Tried moving just my partner as the GCH and that worked fine on MMB!

Gave BA a call - very helpful agent who tried lots of things but eventually after speaking to the duty manager, I was advised that as I was a SCH, despite being in the same booking as a GCH, the policy states that I cannot pre-select the exit row! This was a policy change about a year ago. So the benefits of being a GCH only apply to you if you are travelling on your own it would appear!

Welcome to Flyertalk and to the BA forum TravelBoys. It's good to see you here, and I very much hope that you will continue to be active in this online community.

I suspect - and certainly my own bookings work this way - that if the GCH had made the booking and then allocated you a seat, there would have been no problem. It's long been the case that on the Embraer 190 that row 2C/D is a Gold perk, but if they head the booking they can put their travel companion with them. GCH can also ring up to TCP unrelated bookings as shown upthread.

The slight problem with this is that if the service is being adjusted for trim at T-72 hours, then the SCH is regarded as fair game for a seat shift, whereas the Gold will probably not be shifted. On the other hand if there are no trim issues then at that point you - as a Silver - can selected 2C/D if available.

Thanks for the welcome and advice!

I get what you are saying regarding the Gold being the lead, but we are both in the same booking - no TCP required, so effectively BA are discriminating against the Gold getting his benefit, just because they are travelling with a Silver. I understand we could book seats apart if he really wanted the exist row - but obviously we are travelling together! Just seemed strange that we are treated differently when it states that Gold card seating extends to all in the same booking.

Anyway, such a short flight it's not a huge issue and I'm sure we will survive the 1 hour 15 mins in row 3! :D