DocH

Came on thread to moan on topic and discovered this post. Thanks , it worked for me! I have been trying for six months to get my amex platinum entitlement to HH gold without success, but now have it in minutes thanks to you!

Back on topic:

Seat shifters moved my 1AK seats for tomorrow as Mrs DocH is a lowly silver, but was told OLCI at -24 hours and you can get them back. Tried to OLCI today, but can't as my itinerary (Aone4) has more than the maximum 14 sectors that OLCI can cope with. Ugh . BAEC put me through to web support who couldn't fix it, but they phoned the airport desk, who they say now have allocated 1AK to us. They then said not to check in too late in case someone else moves them again.

Raffles

Here we go again ...

The Gold rows for my CDG-LHR flight on Tuesday night have now opened up, despite being blocked last night. 1C snagged.

It does seem that Gold seats open up to all (well, Silvers and / or full J ticket holders at any rate - since I am on a full J ticket here I can't say which is the trigger) at T-72 hours. No need to wait for OLCI to open.

This is not a fluke since the same thing happened on the outbound.

Full Score

I had the identical scenario PHX-LHR in First. I had 2A, moved at T-24 to 5A, unable to use OLCI as more than 16 segments, BUT BA ExecClub told me they couldn't phone the airport. Instead they made a duplicate booking to get 2A back. Unfortunately PHX then deleted my original booking from the system which meant my subsequent flights were removed. Luckily, I noticed and was able to get them reinstated in time. However, the miles, tier points and OB points haven't posted, presumably because the original reservation was messed with.

All subsequent messages to BA have met with silence, but what's new! BA Nick has tried to help, but, as I'm a US Silver (rather than UK), all he can do is act as a conduit to outer space.

flyclub

Another warning to everyone with EuroChav bookings to keep an eye on the seating two days before departure - which seems a spinoff of what Raffles observed above.

To my horror, I just checked one of my flights on Thursday morning on GBAirways ex-LGW and the whole of EuroChav has opened up right up to the curtain. Alas someone else has chosen the seats on the A and C immediately behind. Grrr.

I really thought this would only happen at OLCI.

At least I'm coming back in Club and have 2A and 2C pre-assigned.

BAAZ

I've seen this as well. I think the curtain becomes much less mobile at T-3 days when families etc are allocated. I've often been able to choose the front C seat at T-3, although I have been moved (not from there) between T-3 and T-1 probably due to a last minute curtain adjustment.

Smirnoff

Do you really need to be over 16 to sit in 62AK.

Surely not 63BJ ?

And surely surely not row 1 in CE?

Can anyone confirm?

frankvb

Don't worry - if you would have choosen the seats directly behind the curtain they would have moved the curtain after you OLCI'd as I had last week

prh

About a month ago, I heard that BA was looking into the seat assignment policy and considering some changes or at least tweaks. With the non-strike dominating the forum, it seems that the seat policy has dropped from view. So as a lowly blue, who would like to get advanced seat assignments in Club World, I bring the issue up again with the following question: has anyone heard whether BA is truly re-examining the issue?

sam

I know that they have been making tweaks. Issues that I have reported (e.g. lack of access to exit row seats) have been resolved.

Why is seat allocation for Club World an issue? Surely if you fly Club World you will not be blue for long.

G-BOAC

What about all those poor unfortunates who only fly Club World on Tesco Miles More seriously, there are also people in the 'premium leisure' category (which BA has been going after quite markedly in the last year or so, as noted in their last Investor Day slides) who don't fly enough to hit Silver, but are 'affluent' enough to fly Club on their annual holiday/leisure trips. One CW return and a couple of CEs returns for example would not see anyone but EU members (just) hit Silver. I think the point is, such leisure travellers on I class fares will be rather perturbed to be paying what they see as a lot of money for a premium cabin and being denied a seat assignment.

prh - somewhere, on one of the threads, a BA lurker/insider confirmed any "tweaks" would be just that, i.e. minor mods to the existing policy (maybe to do with seat blocking/bringing back more seats for Golds only?). The basic premise that only Gold/Silver/Full Fare get to pre-assign is apparently here to stay.

Fabricio

I have noticed this one recent ET flights: the blocked rows behind CE open up not exactly at T -3 days - you just have to keep on checking from approx T -3.5

My 1850 to Prague opened up 5A/C at 10am three days before the trip. On the return, I selected 5A/C (being the club layout seat) but by the time I reached the airport the curtain had been shifted back. Still, we were put in 6A/C - can't complain!

Raffles

More importantly, these leisure travellers are the people who WANT to sit together. Who in their right mind would spend £1,500 to fly Club on holiday when told that they cannot be guaranteed a seat next to their partner? Wouldn't this fact be enough to put you off choosing to upgrade in the first place, or send you off to another carrier? Leisure travellers are also more likely to want a window seat, I would guess.

Most business travellers, on the other hand, couldn't care less if they are not seated next to their boss and, most of the time, actively try to avoid it!

harryhv

Moreover how does BA expect to get *A premium pax to switch to BA without offering seat-allocation?

G-BOAC

Agree – I actively try to plan my work travel to avoid traveling with others Though to be fair, the new policy doesn't mean you won't be able to sit together. I would say that is quite unlikely (especially in Club given its 'paired' layout). Families will be pre-seated at T-3 together and by OLCI time for ‘adults only’ bookings, the chances of not getting seats together would be very slim I think. However, what it does pretty much guarantee is such people will never get the best seats together (EF pairs here they come), and what it definitely guarantees is a lack of peace of mind.

sam

To harryhv's point, the issue of attracting premium passengers to switch allegiance is always going to be difficult. That is why FF clubs were invented.

To Raffles' point. To most infrequent travellers (users of this forum excepted) is selection of a seat prior to check in really a consideration? Yes they want to sit together but will they sort this out in advance?

In the end of the day is not the reason that BA have done this to streamline their checkin process and encourage more people to use OLCI? I think the fact that they have managed to create an added differentiation for their loyal frequent travellers in the process is a bonus.