Tripophile

Agree entirely with this comment.

Motors

I wonder if this means I'll get to knock my ExpertFlyer subscription on the head. The main reason I have this is to see the loads of a cabin and if my favourite seats are available on a particular flight.

If during the booking process you were able to see what seats were available then that'll save me £10 a month!

Cap'n Benj

May I be the first to post the question

How will seat selection affect chances of being op-up'd!!??

Will having forked out an extra 50 nicker on BA put you in pole? Will someone who has booked a seat for £10 be in pole to move to your Emergency exit seat?!

Who knows?

Answer- no one (on here anyway)

flyclub

I would be very, very surprised if they introduced a pay for Terraces/Galleries lounge access. This would be a bad move.

BA have had all sorts of seating policy changes over the years however never messed about with their lounges, which IMHO are amongst the best in the world.

rediscover

All I will say is we have to wait and see how this all pans out.

I imagine we will get "Due to recent feedback from our most valued customers....we have reviewed the policy....and put it back to the way it was...."

I certainly hope the brainstormers who came up with this idea for extra revenue do not gain approval for the other crazy ideas that are doing the internal rounds at the moment......like an admin fee for servicing of GCH/SCH from the executive club.

Can just imagine it now "Dear Customer, in the current economic climate we have decided to charge you £60 per annum as a service charge for you to maintain your membership of the executive club....."

G-BOAC

Perhaps you missed it but, errm, prepare to be very, very surprised, my good man Coming to a JFK lounge near you very soon...

PEK Duck

Pay-for lounge access is something that people have been clamouring for in the context of extra guest access for ages. As long as the price is high enough that the lounges don't get completely full, and there's some restriction if the lounge is getting busy...

Rambuster

What happens if you are re-assigned a new seat due to whatever reason ?
Instant refund at the gate or writing letters to customer services only to be fobbed off ?

Man_Utd_Fan

Round Trip WT+ seats LAX-LHR-LAX: $1718

Paying Extra 20 to keep a gf happy on a ten and a half hour flight: PRICELESS

wiluk

To be honest IME the lounges at T5 are usually full anyway - difficult to get a semi decent seat. I've noticed even the quiet end is starting to fill up a bit recently. If they introduce pay for lounge access I shudder to think what it'll be like. Maybe a second, more limited pay-to-use lounge is what's needed.

I haven't had chance to read the whole thread but don't like the idea of being able to pay for seat allocation. I often buy tickets at 24-48 hours before the flight and the idea of it being full or having to sit right at the back (domestic) fills me with dread.

wobbly wings

If that applies to anything other than WT only one world is required: Madness.

bafan

Unless the fee is sky-high this will be a bad move for BA:

many people won't see the point of paying for CE for short journeys if they can get a cheap ET ticket and pay £10/20 for lounge access

and, if the price is too low, the lounges will become too full, which will rather annoy the premium passengers

pluss any saving from the cutbacks in on-board catering will be dwarfed by the additional consumption of food and drink in the lounges.....

Valueseeker

FWIW - observations from an infrequent flyer. Mainly 2 flights a year LON-LAS, direct or via LAX/SFO.

I like to research prices, best seats, FF schemes, lounges and the rest of it. I am prepared to pay £700-£800 for a degree of comfort and usually fly PE. I have no idea what sort of grouping I fall into but probably not one that the airlines target heavily.

So my question is why would I fly with BA? I can pay £800 in a sale for WT+ and get a product that would not rank at the top of a list of TATL carriers. I can collect some miles and get an upgrade (MFU) to CW. That's interesting. But it's going to cost me the £800 sale price WT+ ticket, £25-30 in additional taxes/fees and 25,000 miles. Not great but better than a sale price CW ticket.

But I can get a Diamond Club redemption with NZ in C for £210 + £140 taxes/fees and 37,500 miles. That will also get me connections in F LAX-LAS-LAX. I can choose my seats when I book and get 1A/1K in the nose if not already booked.

Even with all that, I was still considering BA. After all, Diamond Club may bite the dust at some point and NZ availability is not great. Other TATL redemptions in C are not great and I need to head off to FRA/ZRH to pick up a quality F product. I do not like the idea that I cannot pre-select my seats with BA but surely there would be good CW seats available at OLCI.

And then this. £120 to select seats in advance or wait until OLCI to find that even more seats than previously have been allocated. I don't think so. It reminds me of Pulp Fiction -

VINCENT
Did you just order a five-dollar
shake?

MIA
Sure did.

VINCENT
A shake? Milk and ice cream?

MIA
Uh-huh.

VINCENT
It costs five dollars?

BUDDY
Yep.

VINCENT
You don't put bourbon in it or
anything?

BUDDY
Nope.

VINCENT
Just checking.

edi-traveller

On the WT and WT+ issue are we confusing "Exit Row" which is what it says in the OP or "Bulkhead".

I take Exit Row to mean you would have to pay £50 to reserve 29B on a 747 because it is an exit row and has more room - but you wouldn't have to pay to be in the front row of WT+ on a 777 because that is a cabin divider and has less legroom..

Cap'n Benj

I think its safe to say that they wont get many takers if they do