FamilyOf6

Thanks, you are right - BA just shows it as unavailable, but when looking at the seatmap, it's easy to assume a whole chunk is blocked for business overflow.
What puzzled me was how those specific seats in Row 6 were "booked" or occupied, but 6A and B are still blocked.

It's BA948 LHR/MUC next Thursday 25/1.

Sparth3103

Do economy GCH get blocks too? I have booked into a LHR to DXB in WT and the seat next to me is still open (I'm in an aisle seat). The plane is pretty empty on expert flyer but I don't know what that means in terms of bookings though.

scottishpoet

yes, at t-72 blocks will kick in for gold and silvers in the world traveller cabin
depending how busy the cabin is they may or may not hold
owing most passengers having to pay for seat selection the cabin usually looks empty at T-72

Worth a look around the time check in closes to see if you still have a block beside you

KARFA

this is just the normal seat blocks behind CE to allow for the CE cabin to expand

i suspect those in row 6 got in before those blocks appeared - perhaps the CE cabin was previously up to row 2 and only 3-5 were blocked before

AK892

I've recently made a booking for a flight to Palermo that my sister is also going to be travelling on (separate bookings). I've got BA gold and she's just blue. I thought this would be a great opportunity to test out if the adjacent seat is blocked as a BA Gold. It appear, in my case, it doesn't.

Initially I thought it could be due to my seat pick being an exit row seat. However, even when I moved to a non-exit row seat, blocking of the adjacent seat was not applied.

Other factors which may need to be considered include:

- It could be that it's not being applied because the flights has a high load - the flight is during the bank holiday weekend - and maybe most of those flying are people like my sister, without status, so no seats has yet been visibly "reserved".
-I was still only BA Sliver at the time of the booking

This is not me kicking up a fuss but just thought I would bring attention to this in case anyone was curious around if BA gold really does block the adjacent seat.


My seat booking if choosing exit row

11F booking blocked on sister's seat map but next seat still available

My seat booking if moved to non-exit row

13F booking blocked on sister's seat map but next seat still available

revorgap

Theoretical seating inc. gold blocks comes in at T-72

1Aturnleft

Even then it's likely to not happen if it's a particularly busy flight.

AK892

Ah - I was under the impression the adjacent seat's gets blocked as soon as the gold member chooses their seat.

So I guess, assuming no one pays to sit next to me between now, at 72hrs before departure, it should be blocked?

Swanhunter

It should be, but there are zero guarantees. On a popular leisure route, on a BH weekend, there is a good chance the exit row will fill up with cardholders - especially if its 2 seats available

corporate-wage-slave

Your options are to get the best you can now and hope no-one else is willing to pay (mostly they are not on BA). Or to choose seats which are unpopular with status flyers and overpriced for everyone else (i.e. down the back). Then check/adjust at 3 days to departure.

RichieMc

I would just pick the seat you want now. And in most cases this would be an exit row window or aisle. On a bank holiday weekend, plane likely to be full.

nigelw

I think it can come in before T-72, I've had it many a time before then. EF is a good way to check, if you see a blue X next to you without another explanation then you can be fairly certain it is gold blocking. Bear in mind it can be switched on and off at will by BA, and golds or above can override it, so just because you see it at one particular time prior to a flight it don't count on it.

Foofighter69

The other thing is that this is not a published benefit - which as many have said has no guarantees - so have zero expectations and if BA can block the seat adjacent (provided load-related and operational need-related criteria are met) they will block it for you.

If it’s not blocked I’d be happy with being able to select and enjoy the exit row legroom when most others can’t for free.

orbitmic

No, that;s not the case. There may be exceptions with seats blocked for some specific reasons but the default is most definitely that no seats are blocked until TS kicks in. What happens before that time is that depending on the flight, not everybody will see every seat - so for instance, silvers might not see some seats, people who pay might not see some seats, etc but for instance, a GCH/OWE would see every seat that was available to you except the one you actually booked and can decide to sit next to you. There is no pro-active block.

Yes or no but more likely no: if the flight is pretty full it is likely many people may be offered the seat next to you. If it is not that busy but not quite empty, chances are again that GCH/OWE will be offered the seat next to you even if others are not and they may again pick it, especially if it is a "good" seat (e.g. exit row).

So as others summarise, choose a seat you think is good but chances of having a neighbour will be high, or choose a seat which is not that desirable (e.g. non-exit towards the back of the cabin) with a stronger chance that the seat next to you will be empty as, unless the flight is really full, your row will become only available to GCH/OWE but they will likely pick other seats in exit rows or closer to the front.

scottishpoet

I recommend the op reads post 1 of the theoretical seating guide

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

As well as the 72 hours mark, TS does not only block seats for Gold, seat blocking would also have been happening for the OP when they were Silver.