Jed

SHT88T

gliderpilot

SpotTheDog

ReadystEDIgo

As another data point - my flight (BA461) in September is also showing the same seat map with rows 2 & 4 all forward facing.

corporate-wage-slave

Overall, they will not operate the First cabin if they don't need to do so, it ties down an extra crew member. So regardless of seat maps and seat selection, if you are in Flub and there is a seat in CW then you will end up in CW. There may not be many seats left, but it's a short flight so maybe it is worth the gamble.

However the consensus that has emerged is that the best thing to do is
- select the best CW seat and stay there in Manage My Booking, only changing CW seats if a better one becomes available (e.g. due to someone else Flubbing!).
- OLCI in CW, but don't download, app, email or fax your boarding pass. This then allows you to move to another seat.
- Then monitor the seat map a few hours before departure. If CW is full - and Expertflyer or a ping to this forum can clarify that - then move to Flub via the App. Golds should see all seats regardless of blocks.
- If you can't move via the App or self service machines where available, then go to the check-in desk, see what they can do. You can't go to the check-in desk before the day of travel.
- At that point, when you can see that CW is definitely full, then selecting a Flub seat may well work, but though the risk is thereby lower, it isn't totally certain - few things with commercial aviation are.

gcuk

Thanks for all that info c-w-s.
Does the same apply with Steerage class and the WT+ cabin?
I have a EuroTraveller ticket and MMB only shows the Economy class cabin but Expertflyer shows the WT+ cabin as well, with some seats unblocked.
As all the exit legroom seats are gone in ET, I called the GGL line and they moved me into the WT+ cabin but now on Expertflyer, only my seat in WT+ is shown as occupied.
Just wondering if I'm likely to get shifted back.

corporate-wage-slave

I believe the chances of WTP being used are quite high on the MAD route. So in your shoes I'd move back to WT if WTP remains empty. At T-72 hours you can use your experience and guess work to take a pitch at whether WTP would be needed or now.

gcuk

Thanks c-w-s. I only moved into WT+ within the t-72 period so as I'm still the only one seated in WTP according to EF, and there's still no WTP showing on MMB, a wise man would probably move back but then the adventurer in me figures that its only a 2 hour flight, I'm halfway through a good book, so even a middle seat for that time will be ok, so I'll stick in WTP and report what happens - take one for the team as it were!

gcuk

16 of us seated in WTP for tomorrow according to Expertflyer but the WTP seat plan doesn't appear in MMB so the only way I could have selected to sit in the WTP cabin was to call GGL. Is that the same for CW into F in case I'm ever in that position? F cabin for tomorrow still blocked though per EF.

corporate-wage-slave

What you are seeing upthread is people being able to select First directly in MMB, which seemingly now happens at several junctures. Also, and I don't know whether you checked seating some time back, but it is possible that WTP is available for selection from way back if sat in WT. Those now in WTP may well be pushed there from WT seating, I can't believe they all rang up for it. And that is would happen on Flub too. The key is whether WT looks full or not.

gcuk

Hi c-w-s. I've never been able to see the WTP cabin and still can't on MMB but saw on Expertflyer a couple of days ago that some seats in WTP were unblocked (all were previously blocked per Expertflyer) so I called GGL and they moved me into the WTP cabin. At that point mine was the only seat taken in WTP per Expertflyer. 18 seats now occupied in WTP per Expertflyer with 2 seats open in economy and a further 36 blocked.

corporate-wage-slave

That looks to me to end up full in WT then. If there are only one or two seats going (the blocks at this stage will be mostly preallocations), by the time staff standby gets chucked in then you would probably have a full WTP and some people being moved forward. Then you have to keep rolling people into First if necessary. Which, incidentally, is why Flub is more complex than it looks, it starts from the back, not the front.

gcuk

I'll report back tomorrow!

gcuk