U-Turn on seating policy!!

Old May 21, 2007, 3:51 am
  #46  
 
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Originally Posted by jhm
I was just wondering whether since the new seating policy, any couple travelling together in J has actually not been able to sit together ? Or is it just peoples' perception that this may not be the case ?
Well not scientific and for short haul, but coming back from NCE last month there were at least three couples separated at check-in (and of course hogging the agents time trying to get seats together). They then were horse trading and playing musical chairs on board. This lead to someone who had swapped seats snarffing someone's veggie meal. Fortunately there was a veggie past choice on the menu anyway, so the chap who's wife didn't get her veggie meal had an acceptable alternative. Oh and she was sat in the middle of row one on the three side, whilst he was in 1C.

Bet they felt glad they coughed up 300 for an hour and a half flight.
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Old May 21, 2007, 4:07 am
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Originally Posted by jhm
I was just wondering whether since the new seating policy, any couple travelling together in J has actually not been able to sit together ? Or is it just peoples' perception that this may not be the case ?
In my case it's a perception, but I have done enough travel in BA J that I reckon it's grounded in some fact.

End of the day, 2,500/ea LHR-SYD. Was going to do this on an ex-EU fare, which in itself has some hassle (ARN, January, weather..?), but will probably go for EK or EY.

Mrs PG isn't the greatest traveller and she would rather sit next to the grumpy bas**rd she decided to marry all those years ago. Rather than be trapped in a window seat, as happened to her on a solo trip, with in her words, "The Global, Long Haul, Far**ng Champion.. and runner up in the International Bog*y Mining Finals".
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Old May 21, 2007, 4:10 am
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Originally Posted by Smirnoff
Well I for one fail to see why a BD Gold, who occasionally books on BA but has no status with BA and no loyalty to BA, should get access to the best seats when he books last minute.

On the contrary, a BA Gold who does extensive travel on BA, and chooses BA over other airlines whenever possible - whether he books last minute or 11 months in advance, whether he pays full J fare of cheapo ex-Eur I class cheateroo fare - should be the one that always get access to the best seats.
I fly far more often on BA than BD - just my OW programme affiliation is with Qantas, where I am OW Emerald .... And the policy already does what you are suggesting - BA Golds do have access to the best seats at all times.

I am definitely of the opinion though that if someone pays £4000 for a ticket, they should have a better right to the best seats than someone who has paid £1800 for the same seat, regardless of status.
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Old May 21, 2007, 4:12 am
  #49  
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Originally Posted by Raffles
Your (presumably non-frequent flying) wife would be happy being separated from you and sitting next to a stranger for a 24 hour flight to Oz?
Not my wife but yes of course. It's not as if we've just met or that either of us is dependent on the other! But as I said and appreciate, YMMV.
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Old May 21, 2007, 4:15 am
  #50  
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Originally Posted by ozzie
I fly far more often on BA than BD - just my OW programme affiliation is with Qantas, where I am OW Emerald .... And the policy already does what you are suggesting - BA Golds do have access to the best seats at all times.
Mine was a general status.

As for you personally, then I agree that you should have access to the best seats, but by virtue of our OW Emerald status, not because you have booked in full fare J.
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Old May 21, 2007, 4:19 am
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Originally Posted by ozzie

I am definitely of the opinion though that if someone pays 4000 for a ticket, they should have a better right to the best seats than someone who has paid 1800 for the same seat, regardless of status.
To me this doesn't make sense.

Sure, 4k is a lot of money to spend with an airline, and I'm sure BA would be grateful of the custom. However, it could be a one off business trip for someone who rarely flies / preferred carrier full up. However a Gold card holder who does a 2k trip every other month will bring in x 3 the revenue.

Therefore IMO it is irrelevant how much you have spent on a ticket.
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Old May 21, 2007, 4:20 am
  #52  
 
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Originally Posted by ozzie
I disagree with most people on this board. If I am booking a last minute full-fare ticket, I think I should have a right to the best seats on the plane.

The main reason for this policy to to encourage people to OLCI which saves BA money.
Why should the entire aircraft have to wait to reserve their own seats just for people who book at the last minute? There are costs, beyond just monetary, to booking at the last minute; a less than favorable seating selection has always been one of them. C'est la vie. Elite members and full-fare passengers are going to get the best seats either way, with either policy.

Permitting non-elites and non-full fare passengers access to certain seats that are not likely to be selected by elites has the added benefit, beyond just providing a perk (although one can hardly describe as such, considering almost every airline allows it), is that it manages expectations. If I cannot select a seat, there will always be the glimmer of hope of receiving a really good seat. If I know I am doomed to a middle seat, at least my expectations will be lower. OLCI might then pleasantly surprise me.

There could also be some sort of "rolling" system where as more and more elites reserve seats, more and more seats become blocked for selection by non-elites. This in addition to blocking all the good seats in advance anyway.
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Old May 21, 2007, 4:22 am
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Originally Posted by ozzie
if someone pays £4000 for a ticket, they should have a better right to the best seats than someone who has paid £1800 for the same seat, regardless of status.
Should they, though ?

Look at someone who purchases 1 x J class ticket at (say) GBP3000 and has no status - so as far as BA can tell he is not a regular flyer.

Then look at someone who purchases 10 x I / D class tickets at (say) GBP1800 pounds. Together with a few shorthauls thrown in for good measure. This person will have a Gold Card and I bet their net contribution to BA's bottom line is greater than the one-off purchaser example. So in my book the Gold Card holder SHOULD have better seat access.

For the record, though, I do agree it is ridiculous that someone purchasing any seat in a premium cabin (ie not Economy) is not able to pre-allocate a seat. I just think it is perfectly reasonable that the 'best seats' are kept back for status pax.

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Old May 21, 2007, 4:24 am
  #54  
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Originally Posted by jhm
I was just wondering whether since the new seating policy, any couple travelling together in J has actually not been able to sit together ? Or is it just peoples' perception that this may not be the case ?
Lots and lots in CE ex-LGW. Can't say about LHR
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Old May 21, 2007, 4:26 am
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Originally Posted by SchmeckFlyer
There are costs, beyond just monetary, to booking at the last minute; a less than favorable seating selection has always been one of them. C'est la vie. Elite members and full-fare passengers are going to get the best seats either way, with either policy.
'tis a very good point. I think the marked difference now is that the whole cabin can be pre-assigned, (almost) nothing is held for OLCI which is what saved late, full fare pax before. Since BA wants to treat such pax well (i.e. let them pre-assign at all now, alongside status pax), this new setup seems to be having the (unforeseen?) effect of making them worse off? So I do wonder if this is one area they will look at tweaking somehow.

Whatever they do, some people in some group/setup won't be happy, that much BA can be certain of
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Old May 21, 2007, 4:53 am
  #56  
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Originally Posted by LHR Tim
Well not scientific and for short haul, but coming back from NCE last month there were at least three couples separated at check-in (and of course hogging the agents time trying to get seats together). They then were horse trading and playing musical chairs on board. This lead to someone who had swapped seats snarffing someone's veggie meal. Fortunately there was a veggie past choice on the menu anyway, so the chap who's wife didn't get her veggie meal had an acceptable alternative. Oh and she was sat in the middle of row one on the three side, whilst he was in 1C. Bet they felt glad they coughed up £300 for an hour and a half flight.
I've just taken 3D and 3F for us on a CE flight on Saturday, since all the A-C's have gone. This is a no-lose gamble on my part that we will get an empty seat between us for my Weekend FT and Economist (the 'no-lose' part being that if someone is put in the E seat, we will let them swap to either the window or the aisle, whichever they prefer). However, if someone has to OLCI into that middle seat whilst their partner has to go elsewhere, they won't be happy.

It is this sort of selfish behaviour that is causing seating problems, with solo travellers (for example) picking a CW seat in an empty block of 2 rather than taking a seat next to an occupied one, and removing another potential pair of seats for a couple.

Interestingly, I do not feel in the slightest bit angry that I haven't been able to get an A-C pair, even though at least one of the pairs was probably nabbed by a lowly Silver member rather than a Euro-Gold .....

Last edited by Raffles; May 21, 2007 at 5:12 am
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Old May 21, 2007, 5:04 am
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Originally Posted by BAHumbug
Should they, though ?

Look at someone who purchases 1 x J class ticket at (say) GBP3000 and has no status - so as far as BA can tell he is not a regular flyer.
BA doesn't know that this person buying full fare last minute J won't become a regular flyer on the basis of this trip.

Also as status holders you want the airline to pander to you. However, at 4k I would want to be pandered to at the same level if I'm paying x2 the cost.
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Old May 21, 2007, 5:29 am
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BA Silvers and especially Golds posting in this thread clearly want seating policies which are very favourable for them, which is understandable. But I would like to ask them what is the best seating policy that they have come across on a carrier other than BA? Most carriers block off a certain number of seats for premium passengers only, but presumably once they have all gone, tough luck. Or is that not the case? Is there a good example of a seating policy on another carrier that you can point to?

Are there other carriers where high-status passengers can indeed waltz up at the last minute, buy a full-fare ticket and expect premium seating? And if so, is this only achieved by that carrier by doing a last minute seat shuffle?
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Old May 21, 2007, 5:38 am
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Originally Posted by ozzie
.................The main reason for this policy to to encourage people to OLCI which saves BA money.
Unfortunately OLCI doesn’t work for everybody.

In my case I originate my journeys in either ORK or DUB with EI under a BA codeshare, but can’t OLCI for the EI portion of the trip, so need to wait until I check in with EI to get my BPs.

So having paid over two grand for my ticket, all I expected is to have a pre-assigned seat waiting for me, given that pretty much every other airline allows this.

Then on my way home, I don’t want to have spend the last day of my holiday faffing about looking for a PC somewhere just so I can OLCI at -23 hours. That’s stress I just don’t need & don’t have to endure if travelling with another airline.

Give the Golds & the Silvers, those who have earned the status, the choice of all the best seats by blocking them off, possibly give Blues (who also have pledged loyalty to BA) some of the better, but not the best seats.

But for godsakes allow someone who has stumped up thousands of their hard earned money to travel in CW or WTP the ability to pre-assign seats.

We’ve been very loyal to BA over the past few years & I’ve managed to achieve Silver status by flying CW on our holidays, but I have no intention of taking trips just to maintain Silver, all so I can pre-assign our seats.

We’re just going to move to another airline & BA will lose our (not insignificant) revenue.

This seating policy is a very emotive subject & there’s no one policy that will keep everyone happy. But before these changes were put in place it all seemed to work pretty well. So as has often been said on this board……..

BA, please put it back the way it was before !




I can just see the press releases……......


”Choose your seats before you fly !!!”

BA has listened to you, it’s valued customers, we are going to offer pre-assigned seats to our passengers for a nominal fee of £25.00 each way. Terms & conditions apply, the seat shifters reserve the right to change your seats for operational reasons”



Or some other such twadle
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Old May 21, 2007, 5:41 am
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Originally Posted by USA_flyer
BA doesn't know that this person buying full fare last minute J won't become a regular flyer on the basis of this trip.
No they don't. They also don't know if they will.

What they DO know is that their Gold/Silver card holders are regular flyers.

Surely that's the point of the seating policy currently in place.

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