Unable to select a seat in First (and puzzled)
Apr 4, 2019, 1:15 pm
#1
Original Poster
Join Date: Apr 2019
Location: Boston
Programs: BA executive club
Posts: 5
Unable to select a seat in First (and puzzled)
Hi All! First time posting here but a long time lurker. I'm travelling a fair bit between BOS and LHR - just booked BA215 in May in First, and I'm unable to select a seat (despite getting a "choose your seat" on the BA website, they are all grayed out an undetectable). It's a 787 so a smaller cabin than usual. A call to the Gold line was unhelpful - I was told it's a very busy flight and wait until check in or I'm at the airport! Since I'm paying myself for the ticket I'll be a bit miffed if I'm downgraded! Is this common? Anyone else experienced this?
Apr 4, 2019, 3:19 pm
#6
Join Date: Jan 2016
Location: Scotland
Programs: BA Gold
Posts: 443
I had exactly the same problem with flights to Mexico. Says 3 seats available, asks me to choose seats but only 1 available to choose. Row 1 greyed out despite being available, and we are gold and were logged in.
Apr 4, 2019, 3:27 pm
#7
Ambassador, British Airways Executive Club, easyJet and Ryanair
Join Date: Sep 2011
Location: UK/Las Vegas
Programs: BA Gold (GGL/CCR)
Posts: 15,926
ExpertFlyer shows all seats taken for that flight, so it appears overbooked at this point. It is not unusual for First and Club passengers to change their IAD reservations at the last minute, there is every chance a seat will open up.
Apr 4, 2019, 3:27 pm
#8
Moderator, Iberia Airlines, Airport Lounges, and Ambassador, British Airways Executive Club
Join Date: Feb 2010
Programs: BA Lifetime Gold; Flying Blue Life Platinum; LH Sen.; Hilton Diamond; Kemal Kebabs Prized Customer
Posts: 63,809
Greetings and welcome to Flyertalk (and indeed greetings from Bay Village in my case). Welcome to the BA forum theflyingscientist
That flight has all seats taken at the moment, though that may change over time. The selling fare classes are:
F0 Z0 J9 C9 D8 R7 I3 U0 W8 E0 T0 Y9 B9 H9 K9 M9 L9 V9 N9 O9 G9
I am presuming it is just one seat on your reservation but at the moment you're probably waiting for someone to shift to another service or to cancel. If this persists for much longer I would perhaps ring up YouFirst and see if they will move you to one of the 3 others services (one of which is the A380) since they currently have seats.
That flight has all seats taken at the moment, though that may change over time. The selling fare classes are:
F0 Z0 J9 C9 D8 R7 I3 U0 W8 E0 T0 Y9 B9 H9 K9 M9 L9 V9 N9 O9 G9
I am presuming it is just one seat on your reservation but at the moment you're probably waiting for someone to shift to another service or to cancel. If this persists for much longer I would perhaps ring up YouFirst and see if they will move you to one of the 3 others services (one of which is the A380) since they currently have seats.
Apr 4, 2019, 4:08 pm
#9
FlyerTalk Evangelist
Join Date: Oct 2001
Location: Falkirk, Scotland,VS Red, BA Gold, HH Diamond,UK Amex Plat
Programs: Master of the Privy Purse des Muccis
Posts: 17,914
Hi,
Back in 2017 I had a similar issue on the 787 F to Toronto
No F seats available to choose from ( BA93 LHR-Toronto) 24th August
and had to wait to get to the airport for a seat assignment ( and even then it involved a call from the check in agent) ( Got 1 E )
Not sure if this is a similar case but sounds potentially like it could be.
Regards
TBS
Back in 2017 I had a similar issue on the 787 F to Toronto
No F seats available to choose from ( BA93 LHR-Toronto) 24th August
and had to wait to get to the airport for a seat assignment ( and even then it involved a call from the check in agent) ( Got 1 E )
Not sure if this is a similar case but sounds potentially like it could be.
Regards
TBS
Apr 4, 2019, 4:47 pm
#10
Original Poster
Join Date: Apr 2019
Location: Boston
Programs: BA executive club
Posts: 5
Many thanks to you both!
T_B_S it does indeed sound similar. It feels a little annoying to me that the F cabin is effectively oversold. I'd rather have been told it was full at the point of booking and made a different choice of cabin or flight.... I kind of assumed that booking in F would make things less stressful rather than more :-)
It's not terribly convenient for me to take an earlier flight and the last flight out gets in to Boston very late. So I guess that I'll have to play a game of chicken (or see if I can shift my meetings around in London)
Thanks for your time - flyingscientist
T_B_S it does indeed sound similar. It feels a little annoying to me that the F cabin is effectively oversold. I'd rather have been told it was full at the point of booking and made a different choice of cabin or flight.... I kind of assumed that booking in F would make things less stressful rather than more :-)
It's not terribly convenient for me to take an earlier flight and the last flight out gets in to Boston very late. So I guess that I'll have to play a game of chicken (or see if I can shift my meetings around in London)
Thanks for your time - flyingscientist
Apr 5, 2019, 4:49 am
#13
FlyerTalk Evangelist
Join Date: Oct 2001
Location: Falkirk, Scotland,VS Red, BA Gold, HH Diamond,UK Amex Plat
Programs: Master of the Privy Purse des Muccis
Posts: 17,914
Hi.
I think a couple on my flight were paged in the ccr and were talking to a ba staff member as I popped to the reception desk as I thought my name had been paged.
I think there might have been a downgrade offer involved
Regards
Tbs
I think a couple on my flight were paged in the ccr and were talking to a ba staff member as I popped to the reception desk as I thought my name had been paged.
I think there might have been a downgrade offer involved
Regards
Tbs
Apr 5, 2019, 5:23 am
#14
Join Date: Oct 2005
Programs: BA GGL & GfL, AA LTP, Marriott (sigh) Ambassador, Hilton Diamond
Posts: 3,237
This happened frequently last year when I was back and forth to DXB for a few months for work.
I was only downgraded once, however at least two instances the agent when I checked in would say "wow you weren't downgraded...must be because you checked in online and maybe your status (GGL)" so while weird, it seemed to me, plus what others note on this board, that checking in 24hrs in advance may help you as well.
I was only downgraded once, however at least two instances the agent when I checked in would say "wow you weren't downgraded...must be because you checked in online and maybe your status (GGL)" so while weird, it seemed to me, plus what others note on this board, that checking in 24hrs in advance may help you as well.
Apr 5, 2019, 5:54 am
#15
Join Date: Oct 2006
Posts: 861
This happened frequently last year when I was back and forth to DXB for a few months for work.
I was only downgraded once, however at least two instances the agent when I checked in would say "wow you weren't downgraded...must be because you checked in online and maybe your status (GGL)" so while weird, it seemed to me, plus what others note on this board, that checking in 24hrs in advance may help you as well.
I was only downgraded once, however at least two instances the agent when I checked in would say "wow you weren't downgraded...must be because you checked in online and maybe your status (GGL)" so while weird, it seemed to me, plus what others note on this board, that checking in 24hrs in advance may help you as well.
Last edited by Mickidon; Apr 5, 2019 at 5:55 am Reason: Type