corporate-wage-slave

Having said that, I would say that if travelling in World Traveller you may well be better of on the 747. It's down as a SuperJ version:
14F86J30W145Y | The BA Source

and what you could look at are the pair of seats at the back. This is due to the curvature of the aircraft and if you are in, for example, 52A there is quite a bit of leg room along the port side of the fuselage. The seats are also wider than the 787. Much more information in the Seating Queries thread for 747s in the BA Forum Dashboard.

spgaston

Thanks for the advice. I have been researching seating on the SuperJ 747 for hours. The back pairs 52/53 do have the extra room on the side, but it seems as if I would need to sit sideways for 12 hours, horrifically angling my legs between my metal window-side arm rest and the torture of the metal seat frame in front. I saw some picture of a short person doing that and it looked potentially doable for someone under 6'0", but not 6'8". I am physically unable to sit knees forward in any non-exit/bulkhead seat in economy. Also there are three of us traveling together.

Do you think I could convince BA to unblock bulkhead seats in row 39/40 given the circumstances? I know the foot room is bad but I need the knee room and it is a day flight and I can sit in the aisle seat and let my shorter companions sit in the window/middle.

Or - would they let me split my ticket from itinerary and pay to upgrade to WTP and waive $275 change fee?

orbitmic

I don't think that they will unblock the bulkhead at this stage but you can try again at t-24. Unless there is a special offer, while they would certainly let you split your ticket and upgrade to PE, the change fee would apply and fare would be recalculated I'm afraid.

Like many large airlines, BA is a large bureaucratic machine and as such what is "fixed" and what is "flexible" is set by the airline. BA's position is that no flight guarantees a specific equipment and therefore an equipment change affords no right. I know it may sound harsh but that is simply the way they define a change, and they have no special provision for people based on size or other characteristics.

All I can say for future reference is that given your height and the specific needs that it entails in terms of seating, you may be better off booking future transatlantic flights with AA rather than BA even if it means a change as AA defines an equipment change as a major change that can entitle you to a rebooking on a different service. Note that this is not "costless", for instance on flights from the US, if you fly on BA metal you are covered by EC261 which offers generous protection in case of IRROPS, delays, cancellations, etc whilst AA flights will not (from Europe, it is the same either way), but it your case, the equipment insurance may arguably be more important.

corporate-wage-slave

A POUG to WTP may be your best bet, but sometimes trying to split a ticket so that only person gets the POUG can be tricky - the POUG tends to vanish after the split. So if you get the offer, you best call and see if an agent can work it through for you. There isn't a change fee on that

The other option, also without a change fee, and which also gets around the splitting issue, is if you have enough Avios to upgrade to WTP. Looking at the moment, there is excellent availability in WTP (which should also trigger POUGs) in June, and the cost is 16k Avios, plus some extra cash. Now there are multiple conditions around this, the two biggest being you need to be on a BA ticket (125) and not in the cheapest fare buckets (Q, O, G). But it may be a way out of this. As you say, being a day flight will probably help, with an aisle seat you can wander down to the rear galley from time to time, the crew will be happy to chat to you.

spgaston

Unfortunately I credit to AS so cannot book on AA.

Unfortunately I have no Avios (as stated above I credit to AS) and there is no POUG being offered that I can see. I looked up on expertflyer and there is no P class available (though there is U and Z available). My fare class is S, booked directly with BA. In fact if I try to modify the reservation either online or in app I get a message stating that my reservation cannot be changed online and that I must contact customer service. Could this be related to the outstanding seat disruption that has not yet been resolved (I have not re-selected seats nor requested a refund yet)?
If I were to rebook today with return in WTP the additional fare is about $600 so add the change fee and we are up to about +$875 from my original ~$950 fare.

corporate-wage-slave

Personally I'd be wanting to see a figure closer to USD400 rather than USD875, which would be an expensive way to go WTP. So keep an eye out for a POUG nearer that price. You may not be offered a POUG if your ticket is complicated or chopped up already, it works best for untouched BA.com single or return bookings for A to B.

However the UuA isn't completely out of the question for you. You can buy 15,000 Avios for GBP255, and hopefully you can shake your hotel / car hire / Amex card to get a few thousand elsewhere. There may be a deal on to get Avios cheaper in the USA. There is also a difference in fees/taxes of about USD127 to add on here (caveat, I've only had one coffee this morning.....). You can still credit the original ticket to AS and use UuA with Avios, you will need a good agent to help you with this.

RB211

I think for anyone in the North Bay and many in the East Bay, SFO is easier to get to than SJC. It certainly is for me. I agree that SJC is probably "catching on" for Silicon Valley types. Not sure when we'll see a second daily flight though - that would be the real signal that SJC is approaching the popularity of SFO.

rb211.

rontse

Didn’t realised BA swapped it to B747, I hope they keep the B747 till summer 2021 when we plan to go to CA. I really want my children to fly on a B747 before they are all retired! Especially if it means there will be a lot of Avios seats available!

LondonTechTraveller

Planned to run at least to July 2020 - I've some redemptions as a result!

CTV

It looks like it's currently planned to revert back to a 787-9 for Winter 2020/21.
Last week I booked a redemption in CW for September and it was wide open on most days for business and a good number of days for First.

rontse

Good job, guys!!

We need four CW seats, so it would be great if the same happen next year, it’s a bit tricky to get to west coast in August school holiday and we need four Avios seats on the same flight.

PoincianaKings

correct will revert back to a 789 for winter and there will be the usual week Christmas break for the service. Loads in the winter tend to be light if there isn’t a conference on in the Bay Area. Having said that the flight is becoming popular with all us ex-pats who live in the Bay Area.

TBF SJC has always had good Avios availability even despite BA.com including San Francisco in the title on the search engine. I managed to snag three J seats with 6 weeks until flying last month and family members have even managed to get 2 J seats on three days notice.

I love this service I can be at my front door within 55minutes of landing- that includes baggage collection and a 20min drive home beats the hole that is SFO arrivals.

ScouseAndy

Does anyone know why BA279 (LHR-SJC) and return has been cancelled every day for the last week? Other than the weather on the past two days. I have quite a few flights on this route coming including one on Wednesday. So obviously curious for some thoughts from those with more knowledge than me (which is most people!).

bhdcommuter

All of the cancellations have been pre-planned, more than likely due to the ongoing 787 engine issues and that it is low season. Not to worry, the flight resumes as normal tomorrow (at least that what is says on my roster ). This month there have been some nice 5/6 days trips to SJC due to these cancellations for the crews