sdmr

Curious if anyone has experienced anything like the situation we experienced today or if indeed it’s BA policy?

My partner and I are booked on the same flight back to LHR tomorrow in Euro Traveller but on separate bookings. I am a GCH and she is Blue. I am in on a redemption booking and she is on a full but not flexible economy fare.

At online check-in I can see that the rest of my row is empty. When she tries to choose a seat, she sees only very limited seat availability, all at the very back of the aircraft.

I called BAEC and they saw the same thing, when looking at each of our bookings, respectively. However, with some help from a supervisor or another department, the agent was able to move my partner into the empty seat next to me,

Is this normal? Really sneaky, if so. If I pay full fare economy, I expect access to all the seats in economy at check-in, even if I don’t want to pay to choose a seat in advance! No?

UKtravelbear

Yes it's normal - look for threads on Theoretical Seating in the dashboard. Its a systen designed to give the best seats to status holders and to try and keep a seat empty next to them

In future if your partner is travelling with you on separate bookings but inthe samecabin you should call and ask for BA 'To Complete Party' and they will seat you together - this is what the agent did for you when you called.

sdmr

Huh. Now I know. Thanks!

corporate-wage-slave

The trick with Theoretical Seating is for the Blue to find a decent seating area first and then the Gold to move in afterwards. But there is a risk that all available seats for Blue will be nearer the back. As the main thread will show, this does change over time, so had you not called in, with a bit patience and delaying printing / Apping the boarding passes, you could probably achieve something acceptable.

If she was not on a Basic fare then she can select her seat for free at T-48 hours, so 24 hours before OLCI, something that comes as a surprise to some. This often opens up seats nearer the front. That's for Plus fares, which is what she appears to be on. Plus Flex fares can choose seats at any time after booking.

sdmr

Didn’t know that Blue could select seat at T-48! Learning lots of new things tonight!

Also... Theoretical Seating... mind blown!!! All those times I thought I was just lucky to have the only empty seat on the aircraft next to me

Thank you all, as always!

corporate-wage-slave

I think you raise an interesting point indirectly. I have a feeling that this forum's thread on TS is one of the most detailed explanations about it available anywhere. It's not unique to BA by any means, Lufthansa has a more complex set of factors in their version. And yet very few people know about it, even those who work for BA. Now giving good seats to Gold is only one part of what TS does, but the fact you were unaware of this benefit of Gold, and even railed at it when it did its best to maintain your private space, is instructive.