T8191

How long is a piece of string?

We have been to Jamaica twice in the last 2 years. The aircraft were: 772(40J) & *772(4-class)(was 40J) ; and *772(40J)(was 48J) & 772(40J). Those marked * were a late equipment change.

My assessment is that anything could happen! Any future bookings on this route we make will involve choosing seats that are, as far as possible, immune to change! but certainly BA did a poor job in re-allocating our seats, especially as the OH now reckons there were 4 solo pax in that forward cabin!

Good luck!

techie

I never select the first row of ET and my seat in the aforementioned circumstances were not in that row either.
As I said above, I am not after the middle seat. I just watch stuff on my iPad, so I don't care if anyone is sitting next to me, so long as their bladder/colon restrains itself for the duration of the flight.
The frustration kicks in because on my flight all those extra rows of CE were completely empty. So BA chose to accommodate those appeared-out-of-nowhere CE passengers on the inbound at the expense of my seat selection. So, instead of going "I'm sorry for this inconvenience Mr techie. We can see that you fly with us a lot. Since your original seat is empty, but is now in CE, we would like to extend to you this complimentary upgrade to CE cabin. We hope you enjoy it. We understand that you have a choice of airlines and we are delighted that you choose to fly with us", it was "Go halfway down the economy cabin Mr techie, suck it up and, while we say we care, we really don't".

CCayley

How so? Your complaint appears to be predicated on the assumption that as you were travelling as a couple you automatically outrank any solo travellers on board, so that when your seats disappeared BA ought to have booted solo pax out of theirs (for which, perhaps, they had paid?) rather than just assigning you to the best seats available. That's not an assumption I would expect BA to make and I fail to see what they did wrong.

SteveF

Look on the bright side; you were lucky CW wasn't full otherwise eight pax (possibly including you) would have been bumped down to WT+.

V10

I think you're making an assumption about what assumptions someone else may be making. I highly doubt that Mr. T8191 thinks he "outranks" any other passenger.

More likely, if you have two passengers travelling on the same booking that have chosen to sit together, it's not an entirely unreasonable expectation that they are actually able to do so.

darkside1957

What seats would you consider these be on the 48J version?

CCayley

Read post no. 560. He was upset BA wouldn't boot solo passengers out of 4A and 4B to accommodate himself and his wife. If that isn't a belief that he outranks those passengers, what would be?

V10

What we don't know, of course, is whether or not there actually were seats that were suitable for a couple being occupied by solo passengers when it came to a head at the airport.

However, there are two separate expectations that were set - by BA or their representatives. Firstly, by offering two seats together at time of booking. Secondly, the suggestion that this would be sorted by the gate agent at the airport. Neither were, in the end, met. To me, a customer would be entirely within their rights to be annoyed about this. I don't see that a perception of couples trumping singles comes into it.

Adopting a position of "slurp it up big boy, brown smelly stuff happens" may be what this ultimately boils down to by default, however in the long run this is unlikely to win you any tasteful glass trophies at the Customer Service Oscars.

IAN-UK

That would establish a fabulous precedent - seat-shifting Beyond the Curtain

HilFly

So you feel that if someone has the audacity to be sitting next to you, they should not expect to use the bathroom for the entire flight???

I have a slightly different take on this. If I don't want to be disturbed, I would take a window seat.

If someone chooses an aisle seat, they should accept that they are going to be disturbed by their neighbors as many times as their neighbors choose to move.

LTN Phobia

Then I recommend you pick the window seat. You do not then need to worry about having to get up for someone.

I suggest you buy a CE seat in that case. It will reduce your frustration. BA is not in the business of upgrading people just because there is an empty seat and someone's seat in a lower cabin had been moved.

You know, GGLs, GCHs and even Premiers suck it up when being seat-shifted in a similar circumstance.

Bluntly put, I think your post could belong to the DYKWIA thread...

Frequentflyer99

This seems as good a place as any to ask this question. I am booked on a Sunday evening back to back to AMS (the front of CE both ways so no seat shifting issues) )and I see there are 6 rows of CE outbound and only 3 on the return. Is that normal, or will CE for the return expand thus giving someone in ET some seat shifting grief ? This is really just out of curiosity as I won't - happily - be affected.

With regard to the previous post, I rather doubt that Prems suffer seat shifting in a manner which is to their disadvantage, or that they would necessarily "suck it up" if they did. These are, after all, people who have got to where they are by not compromising on what they want from life ! The same is probably true of most GGLs ...

LTN Phobia

I've heard an on-board apology to a seat-shifted Prem. He sucked it up and was totally cool about it.

I find the Prems to be pretty chilled. The least chilled people on travels on average seem to be the mid-tier frequent flyers.

I'd be totally OK with being seat-shifted off an ET seat near the front, because it's a known risk I'm taking. I wouldn't like to be seat-shifted to a middle seat but again if that happens, I will have to live with it. Of course, I avoid that risk entirely...

corporate-wage-slave

Three rows is a bit short for AMS but certainly not unprecedented, it actually suggests a very empty aircraft through out. If the service was filling up in ET they would actually consider increasing CE, in order to push up fares. Alternatively, particulary if this is the Gatwick AMS service, they may be keeping an eye on Easyjet and packing in the cheap seats. Anyway it is normal, equally it would be normal for it to go out to 4 or 5 rows in either direction. So yes, this service is rich for grief for someone trying to dodge the curtain-movers. You could always take your glass of Pommery, wander around ET and see if there is someone fuming in a middle seat....

hmados

As a lowly bronze I got seat 1A MUC-LHR 7 days before travel. I just like to keep those 1A boarding passes At airport checkin I was moved to seat 1C, not too bothered but wondered if I would I be sitting next to a VIP/DYKWIA. A very full plane but no one ever sat in 1A.