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Seat assignment for injured passengers - won’t clear seats?

Seat assignment for injured passengers - won’t clear seats?

Old May 2, 2019, 2:18 am
  #1  
sxc
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Seat assignment for injured passengers - won’t clear seats?

I’ve just had a frustrating conversation regarding seat assignment for passenger recovering with a hip injury.

It would be ideal if he could sit at the front of the upper deck for the larger washroom. However I was told that BA will never unassign passengers who already have a seat allocated even for medical reasons. Only the airport will reseat passengers.

After reading the threads here of people people always losing seat allocations, I was very surprised to hear this?

The lady on the gold gold line was somewhat rude and said “that’s not how it works”. Is this true?
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Old May 2, 2019, 2:22 am
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I suspect there's a danger that if it was done by phone, certain passengers might invent medical reasons to acquire their preferred seats if already reserved by another passenger...
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Old May 2, 2019, 2:40 am
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It is true. When folks have been moved it is usually because of a automated changes due to config or aircraft change, or because of a broken seat. What doesn’t seem to happen (quite rightly) is when none of those things apply people are not seat shifted.

are all the aisle seats in that front CW upper deck cabin taken already?
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Old May 2, 2019, 2:42 am
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Well now that the booking is showing in MMB, a seat they told me was not available is actually available. They told me it was assigned, not blocked.

So the agents don’t get to see seats that Golds have access to?
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Old May 2, 2019, 2:44 am
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There aren’t any seats blocked only for golds on the A380 UD in CW.
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Old May 2, 2019, 2:46 am
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Originally Posted by sxc
Well now that the booking is showing in MMB, a seat they told me was not available is actually available. They told me it was assigned, not blocked.
The passenger may well have shifted flights or seats.

The rate I sometimes shift flights (and thus suddenly making certain seats available) probably make people think that the phone agent is talking rubbish...
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Old May 2, 2019, 2:49 am
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Originally Posted by sxc
Well now that the booking is showing in MMB, a seat they told me was not available is actually available. They told me it was assigned, not blocked.

So the agents don’t get to see seats that Golds have access to?
That might not be the case... that seat may have been assigned but that passenger has now cancelled his flight or re-assigned his seat. I do it all the time in the build up to T-72. As other seats fill or become vacant I move myself to what I consider my preferred seat. and I will do this everyday up to check in... and even after if I don't get my boarding card.

So you can't be sure it wasn't assigned when you/the agent looked
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Old May 3, 2019, 8:05 am
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Originally Posted by KARFA
There aren’t any seats blocked only for golds on the A380 UD in CW.
Although strictly true, I think theoretical seating means seats get blocked for non golds.

For myself when I was trying to select a seat, before my booking recognised my status, there were a lot of seats unavailable. Once my status was recognised, many more seats became available to me.
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Old May 3, 2019, 8:17 am
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Originally Posted by sxc

Although strictly true, I think theoretical seating means seats get blocked for non golds.

For myself when I was trying to select a seat, before my booking recognised my status, there were a lot of seats unavailable. Once my status was recognised, many more seats became available to me.
I think several different things are being confused here. Are you within 72 hours of travel?
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Old May 3, 2019, 8:17 am
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And theoretical seating only kicks in 72h before.
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Old May 3, 2019, 9:05 am
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Yes within 72hrs of travel.
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Old May 3, 2019, 9:11 am
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If you are between 72 and 24 hours then you as a Gold will indeed see a wider selection of seats than a Blue. This will consist of seats blocked because of a status passenger, also a Blue would typically only see a few options on a filling up aircraft. TS shows to them the other end of the telescope if you like.

For someone declared an assistance passenger then the rules are what they are, unless they have status. There is't supposed to be a dialogue about this.

If you are within 24 hours of travel then usually you can't do anything for another reason which is due to the fact that the seat is under FMU control. GGLs and Prems can sometimes get the agent to contact FMU but that's the exception rather than the rule.

So what you could do is use your TS block creatively - if the flight is not going to be full. However if the passenger is in the second cabin of CW upper deck then I wouldn't worry too much, the distance isn't great. If they are on main deck then you best see what you can do at the airport.

There are a lot of "if" statements here, as ever specific information gets specific advice.
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Old May 3, 2019, 9:25 am
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There is a picture of the stairs up to the upper deck in this thread.

Mobility Issues Upper Deck BA 747

Will your companion be able to manage the stairs ?

There is also a comment in that thread that BA won't allow someone who needs airport assistance to sit in the upper deck. I appreciate this thread is from 2013 so it may not be the current policy but wanted to flag it up.
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Old May 3, 2019, 9:31 am
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Given the reference to larger washrooms I took it that OP is on a 380 so no stairs involved.
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Old May 3, 2019, 9:40 am
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Originally Posted by corporate-wage-slave
If you are between 72 and 24 hours then you as a Gold will indeed see a wider selection of seats than a Blue. This will consist of seats blocked because of a status passenger, also a Blue would typically only see a few options on a filling up aircraft. TS shows to them the other end of the telescope if you like.

For someone declared an assistance passenger then the rules are what they are, unless they have status. There is't supposed to be a dialogue about this.

If you are within 24 hours of travel then usually you can't do anything for another reason which is due to the fact that the seat is under FMU control. GGLs and Prems can sometimes get the agent to contact FMU but that's the exception rather than the rule.

So what you could do is use your TS block creatively - if the flight is not going to be full. However if the passenger is in the second cabin of CW upper deck then I wouldn't worry too much, the distance isn't great. If they are on main deck then you best see what you can do at the airport.

There are a lot of "if" statements here, as ever specific information gets specific advice.
Within 24 hours managers in the contact centre have access to allocate seats from those available, for example if online check in doesnt work. Also we can call FMU/close out for any passenger not just golds etc although they dont move other passengers out of seats they also just allocate from available seats.
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