Frequentflyer99

I am sure that I have had 64K pre-allocated in the past. I will not irk Dakota and CT-UK by referring to my status, but it probably was the ciritical factor.

vSFU

I've also had 62 pre-allocated a number of times in the past. I booked these flights over 4 months ago. I'm suprised that the pre-allocation is fully taken up for a 15th dec departure back in July.

vSFU

Just a thought - what will the seat map on checkmytrip.com show - gold or other availablilty?

SchmeckFlyer

I really do not think Silver will be diminished simply because Goldmembers will get priority to the good seats, considering Silvermember still:

- have lounge access even when deep discount economy,
- have access to no/shorter lines at check-in,
- get bonus miles on actual miles,
- have greater chance of operational upgrades than Bluemembers or even alliance elite members,

...and probably still will get some priority to their favourite seats, considering the airport/station has ultimate control of who sits where. At the airport, if a Silvermember asks for a seat, they have a reasonably better chance of having the request handled/fulfilled as compared to Bluemembers (who will just get a customary "we will do out best" response), despite any rules that may in practice throw Silvers and Blues together.

Additionally, I seriously doubt that every time a Goldmember makes a booking the agent will always remember or even know to offer row 1 or row 62 or whatever, thus making them potentially available at OLCI. As with many policies, less-than-strict implementation will result in loopholes and ways for the undesirables to get the desirable perks...

Frequentflyer99

As mentioned somewhere else I have NEVER been offered these seats when booking.

YVR Cockroach

Had seperated seats in row 61 and 60 for a flight tomorrow. No other seats available last night. Went to OLCI this AM and both seats had been moved to 62A and B automatically. Travellers are EXP and PLT so OLCI status shows EMER and SAPH followed by AA FFP nos.

virtualtroy

A big improvement on long-haul, as far as I'm concerned. Without even asking, I was pre-allocated 60J&K on a 747 and the first or second row of Club where a single decker. ^ ^ ^

uk1

Forgive me if this has been covered - but I haven't found it.

On last nights 705 from vie > lhr it appeared at pretty much exactly 24hr checkin that very few seats were available to choose ie around a dozen or so potmarked around the cabin. On board it seemed that travel groups had been preallocated therefore taking precedence over Exec members. I'm fairly certain they were'nt all members as they were - let's say - fairly elderly and this was clearly the end of a tour.

Does pre-allocation put groups ahead of exec members?

Frequentflyer99

Shows "other" availability only. Just took 1A where both 1A and 1K were available. Checkmytrip.com shows the traditional view of 1A and 1K as both taken.

schofs

Apologies if already covered (Hello - first time poster here )...

I do the comuter run of LGW-MAN every week - they never used to allow you to choose seats until checkin on domestic UK routes - now they do, but only from rows 4/5 backwards... I'm assuming this is because I'm a lowly silver...

However just checked in for tomorrow's flight, and fortunately the front row still had a space for me...

Does anyone else fly domestic UK... and does anyone have access to the front few rows before OLCI? (eg Golds)

flyermanES

schofs firstly let me welcome you to FlyerTalk!

The Best I have ever got on MMB seat-selection is Row 3, but row one is normally available on OCLI. Yesterday, checking in online at the 24 hour mark I had sequence number 34 (loads of transfers pax must have been using OLCI) but Row One was still open! ^ ^

FlyermanES

Prospero

Hi schofs, welcome to Flyertalk.

Like you, most of my travel is on short domestics to and from London. Like flyermanES, using Manage My Bookings on BA.com I can usually park myself as far forward as row 3 or 4 on domestic flights to/from LHR and I think 5 or 6 to/from LGW. The first few rows are held back for Premiers, special needs passengers and families travelling with infants as dnw touched upon earlier in this thread. I would also hazard a guess that on LGW-EDI flights all B and E seats from Row 5 back are reserved for Italian teenagers but thats pure speculation on my part.

As far as I am aware the preallocation options available to us Silvers (on UK Dom) are very similar, if not equal, to those enjoyed by Golds.

schofs

Cheers for the welcome guys.

Makes sense about the front rows - at least there were some available this week in the front row for OLCI - there was nothing infront of row 7 last time!

Also notice they've implemented the ability to cancel/change flights online - a big bonus in my book ^

Swanhunter

Playing around with an award booking for October, I was amused to find that someone had already bagged 1A for a flight on the 27th! I was then less amused to consider that as a last minute traveller I am likely to get a proportionate larger share of crap seats with the new policy, despite paying the higher fare. Rather unfair.

And I do hope 62K is not included in this policy, otherwise there will be real trouble.

grgraham

On the same theme as this above post, I've just done OLCI at -23.59 for BA27 tomorrow to HKG - in Y I'm afraid - had 31 DEFG preallocated. The seat map is available to change seats, but there are very few available seats to change into - and certainly no bulkhead or exit row - I know there were only about a third available for preallocation and I'm pretty sure that not many people could have OLCI'd before me even allowing for a few people connecting from elsewhere.

Does anyone know whether the seat map is likely to open up a bit more, closer to departure, or am I destined to remain forever in 31D.....

Would be interested to hear other peoples experiences - particularly when travelling in Y.