brytpa

Oh for sure. And I think BA's J hard product makes the consequences of such things all the more severe. Elite or non-elite, paid or non-paid, you could find yourself going from your private window to an exposed aisle, or aisle access window seat to climb-over window seat, etc.

My neuroses are a double-edged sword, here. They're what made me the type to wanna pay for seat selection in the first place, and made me the type to get bothered by losing out on it

brytpa

Adding to the rant, just got off the phone with BA - no refund!

The CSR said that as long as you have a seat assignment - any seat assignment - you don't get a refund on the fees paid to select a seat. The only way to get a refund is to give up any and all assigned seats entirely and wait for them to put you wherever they want at check-in. So even though they offer up a sliding scale of paid-for seats, if you're moved between the tiers or out of them entirely, you don't get any refund at all because all you're essentially paying for us to know what seat you have - any seat, regardless of seat, whether or not you want it - more than 24hrs in advance. Nice!

VH-RMD

What a scam...

Ldnn1

Might you be able to request the refund and lose your assignment, and then subsequently go and pay for a new seat assignment in MMB?

Not sure if actioning the seat cancellation might prevent this from an IT perspective, but you could try. If not possible then you just get your money back and see what's available at check-in. I'd rather do that than pay hundreds of bucks for selection.

trooper

This..... I am on my way home from a Europe trip.... happily flying AY/QF to get home... BUT on the way over the ONLY available flights...and I booked WAAAY out...were with BA via LHR....
Yes... it still represents decent value... but with the far from World class Club World...AND the seat selection charges...it does leave a poor impression....
AY on the other hand...so far..... very impressed.

KARFA

There is some information on when refunds are due and how to apply here https://www.britishairways.com/en-gb...es-and-refunds

brytpa

Yup. At this point I'm a bit dumbfounded, and I'm not sure how they justify this.

Because, when you pay for a seat assignment, it's not just a flat fee to select seats. Some seats cost $100, some seats $120, some seats $140. If you paid for a $140 seat choice, but are moved to what would otherwise have been a $100 seat choice, no refund of the difference. If you're moved from a $120 seat choice to a seat you wouldn't have paid extra for at all because it's one BA chose to put you in on their own... no refund of anything. So seats apparently have varying degrees of value when being paid for, but are all equal when it comes to refunds.

Tobias-UK

Call back, you are entitled to a refund based on what you have told us. See the link @KARFA provided for details.

Egoldstein

i found a glitch in their new website design where I (as a BA silver) made a reservation last week and it put me into the middle seat into the last row despite virtually all seats being open. I went to MMB to change seats, and a box pops up to the right that said free seat selection for Gold and Silver, yet every seat on the map had a price tag starting at £42 for an aisle and something like £56 for an exit row. I tried various things to get around this to no success, but then remembered something on FT that suggested using the app, so I logged into the BA app on my iphone which let me change seats for free.

The same MMB put me in a middle seat toward the back in June for an HBO flight; even after they changed the policy to allow silvers free seat selection, it was still showing a charge, which still showed at check-in time 24 hours before the flight. I ended up going to Heathrow to check in early and the agent was able to move me toward the front and in an aisle seat.

I'm not sure if this is a (or several) technical glitch(es) or if they are deliberately trying ways to both maximise seat selection revenue and customer frustration.

brytpa

They say they'll do their best to offer you a suitable alternative, but what constitutes a suitable alternative seems to be entirely arbitrary. At the very least, what's suitable for them might not be considered suitable for me or you. In this case, they felt two seats together was all that mattered - A/B are the same as D/E. Bulkhead, aisle access, window, front of cabin, back of cabin - all irrelevant, as two seats together was all they needed to provide. Mind you, when you pay to choose seats, all of those different factors do mean some seats cost more than others. 11 D/E might only cost $100 each to select, while 16 A/B cost $140 each to select. So when they're getting you to pay for them, they're assigning different values. But when it comes to their reassigning you, they're all worth the same. And when it comes to refunds... they're all worth nothing

Ldnn1

I don't think BA have said he can't get a refund - what they've said is to get the refund they'll have to cancel his seat assignment entirely.

I'm guessing it's an IT issue - the system simply isn't set up to process a partial refund for the difference between the original 747 seat fee and the new 777 seat fee.

There is no doubt that OP can get a full refund if he's willing to forego the new assignment.

brytpa

I suppose I could try, but at this point I'm a bit too frightened to haha. ExpertFlyer says most all are actually occupied (vs. simply blocked). Not sure if that means what it says, but part of me suspects the J cabin has filled up pretty quickly considering so many seats have been eliminated (what started out as 747 went down to 773, and now 772). So even if we've not been adding passengers, we've been losing rows and seats.

Tobias-UK

No, it is not. If you do not like the seats you have been given you are entitled to a refund, but you will lose the seat assignment you have been given. The choice is yours- get a refund now and take your chances at online check-in or keep/change the seats you have and do not get a refund.

corporate-wage-slave

The bit I have great sympathy for is the apparent inability of BA to contact you when there is a clear and significant change to your booking. BA can definitely contact you when certain things happen (e.g. credit cards not working, flights brought forward and they're on the hook for 600€) and yet not other things. But what we can't get around is that BA, all airlines, have mutiple aircraft in multiple configurations, and the further ahead you book, the more likely you will have this problem. Most of my booking, even on Avios, are made a few weeks (or less) ahead of travel so I've rarely come across your difficulty.

However one interesting little side effect of this is that it's possible your timings have changed from the original service? Even if it is only a slight change, that allows you a free rebook (under various conditions) so perhaps that is something to investigate if it helps (YVR?). The SEA aircraft switch is quite well known here, don't hesitate to ping this board ahead of booking since this was a pitfall of inevitable making.

As a fairly frequent flyer, I love BA's seating policies, and they can continue to please either you or me on the matter but not both of us. I'd rather it was me!

You will get the seating fee refunded, I would go for that refund if the seat selection options are not looking good for you. You could do that a few days before travel - a lot of people will change their bookings between now and then. If you clearly ask for a refund before flying then that will be OK, but from that point you renounce the ability to select seats except at OLCI. If the seating fee has gone up since first booking, that can be over-ridden by calling in.

Otherwise, it's quite a neat rant, well constructed, with good broadening exposure to unrelated but known gripes, without being too OTT. Seven out of ten I would say?

brytpa

yupyup. And the inventory is scarce no matter how you try and get to it - using miles to book, booking and then using miles to upgrade, booking and then using AA systemwide upgrades to get from economy to business, etc. Even for an AAnytime First Class (a massive chunk of miles), only BA options are shown.
Happy for ya gettin your AY/QF, though! I felt lucky just getting AA for my transatlantic leg and avoiding all those added fees. You can end up using miles for your ticket, yet still paying the equivalent of economy fare just in surcharges and seat fees (which is what I did here).