Delboy65

On the return of our next reward booking shortly, to AMS this time, booked seats A and C in an exit row

Back of the plane 'appears' empty from BA Seat Map (yes, I appreciate not all pax have status to pre assign seats).. but just popped onto MMB to make sure the curtain hadn't moved and noted the X between us. Does that mean it has been booked by someone?



BA0435, 14:55 Sat 10 Jun 2023

mikeyfly

Give us the flight no and date and we can check. But I suspect another gold has, quite rightly, taken the last exit seat. Should’ve sat together




Just seen your flight details below! Here you go

GumshoeW12

Row 11 should unblock at T-72 so you should be able to grab that if needs be.

mikeyfly

For some reason 12EF are blocked, and I can’t select them either as a gold. Odd

bd95

When I was Gold travelling with a non-status partner, I found it was best to put me in B/E and them in A/F. That way, if the seat block on the aisle seat held we could spread out. Otherwise, no harm done.

Delboy65

It is only a short flight after all

Now to decide if stick to allocated seats or one of us swap to middle seat ...?

Delboy65

partner is Silver, almost on Gold (1480 pts)

GumshoeW12

At a guess the curtain’s moved back recently so row 12 is now in the front three rows of Y and thus blocked until T-72, along with 10 & 11. Existing seat reservations remain intact though (unless the curtain moves back again!).

Delboy65

corporate-wage-slave

The curtain could move back. But equally row 12 could become CE and therefore anyone from ET in those seats will be placed elsewhere.

For exit row seats you cannot rely on Theoretical Seating these days to keep a middle seat empty, certainly not from AMS. TS doesn't kick in until 3 days to departure anyway.

orbitmic

Sorry to break the news to you, but errr.... you don't have an "golden empty seat". The BA system means that only BAEC G and above/OWE can book seats in that row, not that BA will block a seat when a gold sits in A and a silver in C or the other way round.

By and large, the rule of thumb on "3 seats for 2" and "preferred seats" (exit row, front rows) is choose either/or: if you want an empty middle seat, you are best off booking window and aisle towards the rear of the cabin as, unless the plane is close to full, people able to select middle seats in rows with Gold members will be unlikely to do so towards the back. By contrast, if you want an emergency exit or front row, assume that all seats in the row will probably be taken and choose your seats accordingly as many people will prefer a middle seat who can choose in an exit row to a window or aisle at the back of the plane, especially now that NEO planes typically have bad seats behind the exit row.

SkyLich

Why make two suffer the indignity of rubbing against a stranger? Offer the middle flyer the choice of aisle or window and let the chips fall where they may.

1Aturnleft

But then middle flyer may get the golden welcome the OP was entitled to..... that just doesn't bare thinking about

nancypants

And if the cargo is unloaded before the exit row!!!

edit for the avoidance of doubt:

stewaran

alternative title "my selfish behaviour has backfired" ;-)