redshift27

What a sheltered life you lead ....

BahrainLad

Why can't BA just make a simple modification to the policy that automatically allocates seats to bookings that have more than one passenger on it? I.e. if a booking is made in CW by anyone and it has two passengers, those passengers are allocated a pair of seats. This would retain the better options for elites, but recognise that, in the same way that families with young children should be able to sit together, so should 'couples'.

Swiss Tony

And the ex-EURs

And those on RTWs starting in tin-pot dictatorships

And the wives of directors (who have presumably been bumped out of F because the plane was full).

But other than that, no Londonflyer you're right. Sounds like you should be working at waterworld yourself...

Right or wrong, BA isn't getting any more of my cash for premium leisure travel (which will soon be three tickets and in a couple of years four, for two long haul trips a year) until they sort the situation out.

Jenbel

I'm very sorry - status is not the be-all and end-all some of you think it is, and it's no guarantee of being a large spender with BA/oneworld either. It is important - but it shouldn't necessarily trump full fare tickets. For example, it was possible to get status for an outlay of a few hundred pounds if you booked certain fare glitches and are a Euro-cheat silver - and yet those of you arguing status is more important are saying someone like that is more important in being seated on a Tesco award ticket than someone who may be paying thousands for their restricted J ticket Ok, they may only fly BA once... but the Eurocheat silver may take several years to get up to that level of spend...

There is truth to both sides of the argument - but ultimately, neither side has the whole truth. And that's the real problem with this policy - it has absolutely no flexibility. There is no opportunity for airport staff to go in and correct situations when the inflexibility is causing problems... leaving passengers trying to sort it themselves on the plane. There should be very few occasions when J pax are having to do that - isn't that one of the reasons for flying J, the reduced hassle?

kered

I’m sure even the “Hard Nosed Business Man, Travelling On His Own” has his seating preferences & would be a bit miffed at ending up in a middle “love Seat” with some stranger for an overnight flight.

……………………although in the correct circumstances, with the right stranger……………………mmmmmmm

Swiss Tony

^ & spot on. I can think of one very recent example of someone on this board bagging "euro-cheat silver". That person had done a couple of ex EU's in WT+ to push over the 400 point level.

(Not that there's anything explicitly wrong with what this fellow did - it just makes a mockery of BA's interpretation of "loyalty").

Compare his spend to that of me (plus family) doing 2 long hauls in J (so probably on I class tickets) plus 1 or 2 long hauls for me on business. Between the three of us last year we must have had over 1000 TPs but that's worthless in the current scheme.

Had I paid an extra £700 or so to go to Dubai on BA instead of EK then again I would have qualified, but I'm not playing that game, Willie!

G-BOAC

Personally, I like the idea someone mooted that the "4 qualifying flights" rule should be changed to "4 qualifying flights from the country you're registered in" at the very least...

BAHumbug

I think, though, that this represents a miniscule proportion of Frequent Fliers. Most people don't even realise the benefit of shifting your account to Europe, much less that it can be done.

I agree with much of what has been posted and I think the word that hits the problem squarely on the head is 'inflexibility'. Any company which becomes inflexible in this way is bound to encounter trouble - and deserved trouble in my book.

BAH

Swiss Tony

Even that seems a bit dubious and wouldn't have helped in this situation, as it would mean 2 ex-EURs in WT+ are better for BA than 1 ex EUR in CE & F...

To get round this you're then asking that the wording be changed to the extent that the ticket would have to originate in the resident country.

I honestly cannot see - short of using a dynamic IT system to do as has been suggested and "control" the release of seats to all pax - how BA can dig themselves out of this hole and leave pax relatively happy. Now they've gone down this route, a simple reversal would get them grief from their "most loyal" customers. That's right, the ones who fly BI to Dubai, get a bus to Abu Dhabi then do a couple of returns to Muscat or whatever...

sunrisegirl

I just received a gift of a fortune cookie in a box from Oasis Hong Kong (don't know how they got my name but that's another story!). There was also a flyer attached giving details of the service. One of the first things they show in the features for their Business Oasis class is "Advance Seat Selection". So BA's competitors are starting to wake up to this and use it as a plus point in their advertising.

It would seem they have their own form of Club Kitchen too as it advertises "Snacks if you'd like a nibble"

frankvb

That's exactly what I was thinking. If they just do this at T-3, the advantages of all now entitled to seat allocation will be kept, and it will (virtually) ensure that couples and families sit together.

sunrisegirl

Maybe, but then it's not fair on single people travelling who'll end up with the cr@p middle seats. Those people should have their considerations taken into account too.

I'd prefer to see it back to how it was before with favoured seats held back for Gold & Silvers. Perhaps they could allow a limited amount of pre-assignment for WT+ and WT, and anyone travelling in J allowed to assign at time of booking.

If a valued full fare paying customer books at the last minute then the seat shifters will be able to make any adjustments they consider appropriate.

jhm

Somebody has to sit in the middle seats! If they haven't been allocated to non-status non-full fare paying couples by BA automatically (as per BahrainLad's suggestion), then if there aren't enough window/aisle seats to go round at the time of OLCI, then yes, single people travelling alone with no status and not on a full fare should go in them. It's all very well saying BA should be fair to everyone and take everyone's considerations into account but it's just not possible sometimes.

kered

Ah it’ll all turn out well in the end……………

Mark my words Ladies & Gentlemen, Boys ‘n’ Girls, take note of this post & mark down the date & time, I can see in my crystal ball that BA will give us all back our seat pre-assignments………………..all for a nominal fee.

I’ve seen it done with Aer Fungus when a certain Wonka Person was in charge, they took away things that were taken for granted & expected. Then after all the hoo-hah had died down & we were left to suffer for a while, then they announced with great fanfare the new & improved service they were offering.

I can see the headlines……..

Following customer feed back, we’re going to offer you the simply amazing chance to choose your seats before you fly all for the amazing low price of £?? Full fare passengers & those with Silver or Gold status will be exempt from the charges, you lucky buggers.

Calling all couples & those travelling together on separate PNR’s, imagine you’ll actually be able to ensure that you sit together, just like on a charter flight !!

Roll up Roll up & experience this wonderful opportunity

bernardd

I think I've said it several times in previous threads, but there really isn't a perfect solution - it seems like a policy that works for one group is guaranteed to irritate several others. It's more complex as well because the way I choose seats if traveling on my own for work is actually different than if I'm traveling in a group for leisure. It's also different depending on the time of day!

It looks to me like CO is running the kind of policy you're talking about, at least in domestic coach / economy. So far as I can see you can only pre-assign seats at the front of the cabin if you're an "elite" or paying for a flexible ticket. I believe you can pre-assign in the back of the cabin or take pot-luck later on any kind of fare.

AA and UA have also tried to block all aisle seats near the front of the plane from pre-assignment except by "elites", and at one time they would try to keep the seat next to an "elite" open. These policies seem to have been discontinued for different reasons.

AA's current approach treats passengers who pay for last minute flexible tickets very poorly. It's very easy to find yourself paying 10 times more than other people who booked a year in advance, yet find yourself condemned to a middle seat next to the toilet in the back with the last choice in everything.

If you leave it to seat shifters to fix this there will be howls of anguish from people who have been displaced "for no reason".

If the whole seat assignment process is done based on grouping and preferences by a computer immediately prior to OLCI opening you'll upset a whole lot of people who feel it's their right to select the perfect seat, even if BAngalore can develop an algorithm that works most of the time for most of the people.

All-in-all I'm VERY, VERY gratefull it's not my problem to find a better solution because I'm darned sure there would be a huge bunch of people pi$$ed at me based on criteria I'd never even imagined could be important to anyone!