bluemoon68

A couple travelling, one gold & one bronze. Seating is 3+3. LGW - TFS. Currently have 2 aisle seats. Is that better than taking 1 aisle and the adjacent middle, in the hope that TS will block the window seat next to the gold in the middle seat?

EDDLEGLL

The LGW-TFS flights in the coming days all look pretty full so that might not help your chances unfortunately. Otherwise, I think it’s a matter of preference if you would rather be across the aisle from each other or “gamble” for a whole row to yourselves

EDDLEGLL

I’ve had something very strange happen on a seat map about 80 hours prior to a short flight to the near continent on an A319.

Me and my partner (both gold) were happily in 10F and 10D when she was booted out all the way back to 16D. When I looked at Expertflyer, 10D shows as blocked and we cannot select it anymore (we’re now in E+F which is fine).

My question is - could this be a case of a broken seat having been reported and it therefore being blocked? Is that even possible that far out (80 hours), where the precise aircraft operating our flight is unlikely to be known. Also, would they fly an A319 with a broken exit row seat for potentially 15-20 sectors? Why did the computer move her all the way back rather than the empty middle seat (which did not show as blocked on EF)? I’m very curious.

the-doctor

Hi,

Trying to get head around this...BA438 LHR-AMS next tuesday. Selected 9A when i booked it some weeks back..all good. Now BA and EF are now showing all other seats in rows 8 and 9 as blocked. They haven't moved the curtain back else they'd presumably have booted me back with it, and they're not available to select as a GCH on ba.com. So why the block?

Makes no difference as it's a short flight yadda yadda, just intreagued as to the thinking/processes behind it?

Thanks

KARFA

if the curtain is between rows 7 and 8, it is standard that rows behind will be blocked - so in this case 8 and 9. perhaps the curtain was further forward before and has now moved to include row 7.

BertieBadger

Potential curtain move.

It's not theoretical seating, as that won't be active yet for a flight on Tuesday.

Given that the curtain could potentially move, they block out a couple of rows to prevent more people from selecting there at the moment, but they don't actively evict people from those seats until it actually moves. Likely the curtain moved back a bit and rows 8 and 9 are now that "safety zone" in case it needs to move back further.

EDIT: KARFA beat me to it.

EDDLEGLL

How intriguing - your seat map also shows 10D as blocked when there is no obvious reason for it (see my story above).
Same sector (LHR-AMS), same plane (A319) but a different day.

the-doctor

Thanks for the explenations...appreciated.

Oh yeah...weird. Looked on BA.com and it's 'Unavailable' for selection there too FYI.

scottishpoet

very likely a broken seat, if its an aircraft with at seat power someone has probably reported the seat power not working so the seat is flagged as broken.

having been sat in a seat that was flagged as no in seat power and not having been moved, then I can assure you if this is the case then you should be thankful you were moved. Every time my boarding pass got scanned at LHR it come up with a red light as there was a message for me. I got denied access to security so they could give me the message, then again on entry to both lounges I used it flagged up red and I was given the message, then again at boarding.


An intended aircraft for this flight will be loaded in the BA systems
I imagine they figured a gold did not want a middle seat. What may be curious is why they did not keep you together. If you were Aisle and Window (hence the middle seat being free) then maybe the computer that worked out the move considered you were not sitting together anyway so only moved on of you.

marble35

Interesting experience on BA1403 today. I asked to sit in 1D and the checkin staff were very amenable and wrote on my boarding pass 1D as the system wouldn’t let them select it. It was blocked but did not have anyone in it. They didn’t understand why they couldn’t put me in it but said on boarding, I could sit there.

When I got on board, the sole Group 0 passenger was in 1F. Does GGL have the ability to hard block adjacent seats if the cabin isn’t full elsewhere? I am currently a lowly Silver.

scottishpoet

this is exactly what I would expect of theoretical seating.

On a lightly loaded flight, with 1F occupied by a Gold or higher, another gold or higher would have access to the 1D, a silver or below would not.

TabTraveller

In short, check in staff shouldn’t have move you. It is blocked for a reason.

marble35

I thought as much and sat in my BP seat and letThatT1Feeling enjoy his benefit!

She

This is my first time flying BA. I have no status and I did not pay for seat selection. OLCI is later today, what are the chances of all the blocked seats becoming available at check in? J3 C2 D1 R0 I0 W0 E0 T0 Y9 B9 H9 K8 M5 L2 V0 S0 N0 Q0 O0 G8

there are 3 of us and I’d love to keep a middle seat empty and sit the 3rd person in another row if possible.

scottishpoet

the way theoretical seating works the seats will not all become available at the same time. The seat map will be very dynamic

some seats will open up, once as they get occupied more seats will be released. if the flight is not full some seats will remain blocked (with Y9 B9 H9 that is a possibility). as an example 30 C and 30 E and F are probably status passengers and the blocks next to them (30B and 30D) will be removed late in the process, if ever.

Assuming you are all on one booking. I suspect theoretical seating has your party lined up to be offered one of the blocks of 3 on rows 25 and 26