Man_Utd_Fan

I know but my Plat status will expire soon so for future reference I was curious, but thanks for the help though

kered

Yes, but the question is, will there be enough of Joe Publics out there willing to pay the fee for those exit row seats. In practice, this may not be the problem it is currently perceived to be.

Only time will tell.

hammythehammer

But having to wait till T-24 caused you not to fly with BA?
As it stands a SCH can see exactly what they are losing .
Since 2006 you don't actually know if you would have suffered from the policy. It's in the detail , I think the odds on you not being able to sit in CW together were remarkably slim , but on that point alone you wouldn't fly with BA.
You probably were at greater risk of being bumped from your journeys in FIRST than not getting seats together elsewhere.

hammythehammer

So if that's the case why 'nickel and dime' the SCH's ? Even if they win the T-10 day race they still have to pay.

In your previous stance there's no evidence that the seating policy would cause you a problem but you've beat the drum for how long now?

kered

But a SCH can still get the exit row seats (for a charge granted) but they are not excluded from them. Plus they have the choice of the rest of the seats on the plane, in advance for free. It’s a compromise yes, but the end of the world………..

The stress of the situation, the raised blood pressure & being on countdown from the moment I got up the day of check-in, until the +24hr deadline. The constant refreshing of the web page, waiting for check-in to open.

Not something I wished to willingly put myself through, when I didn’t have to, by simply flying another carrier.

But I’ve long spoken out in the past on how I disliked the policy as it stands today & that is not really the subject of the debate in this thread. It’s the new policy as it is set to come into force that is the subject of this thread & I for one welcome it with open arms & think it is a positive move on BA’s part.

(Asides from the PR disaster, that is )

NickB

umm. Is there not some degree of over-egging the pudding there? to put it in your words, "a compromise yes, but the end of the world……….. ". It is not like not being the very first to check-in right on the dot of -24 meant that all pairs of seats were taken, did it?

bafan

That's tongue in cheek, presumably....?

hammythehammer

kered

Well I don't know Nick. I can only speak about how I felt about the situation.

Well I know that my brother-in-law & his now wife, flew BA to Mauritius & South Africa on their honeymoon, deciding to stump up for CW. On both sectors, LHR-MRU & CPT-LHR, they were not able to get seats together at OLCI.

For the return leg, they rented a laptop from the hotel, along with paying the hotel internet rates, in order that they might get seats together. He was on the button at +24hrs, but they could still not get seats together.

Nothing could be done for them at the airport & once on board they asked the crew, if they could do anything for the,. The response was along the lines of, “well just this time, seeing as it’s your honeymoon, we’ll see what we can do”

As it turned out they got seats across the aisle from each other, not bad, but far from ideal.

kered

No it's most certainly not !

While I enjoy our trips I find airports & air travel more stressful as the years pass. So I’m not willingly going to add another layer of stress to the mix.

NickB

Fair enough. I usually check the seat maps when I check in (usually around the 24 hrs mark) even though, as a GCH, I normally have my fav seat already sorted and always seem to see a substantial number of seats unallocated but, then, as it is hardly crucial for me, my recollection may be over-optimistic.

Jenbel

I'm guessing you weren't on the board then when we used to have long thread after long thread full of examples of people who weren't able to book their seats in advance in which the rights and wrongs of the policy would be debated hotly (much like this one actually ).

In the end, we kind of gave up on those threads out of sheer tedium.

Just because you've failed to notice, doesn't mean they don't exist

BTW - I'm blue. Saying that I only fly BA once every five years is kind of patronising don't you think?

Or an alternative way to put it could be to put a weekly domestic flier up against a Eurocheat BAH-DOH silver, who has only ever flown BA on a couple of occasions....

My belief was that SCH could still assign seats at any point unless they want the emergency exit rows. Am I wrong on this or are you over dramatising?

hammythehammer

so they got seats together ?
If a flight is full aren't people still going to be in the same situation?

Assuming that the UD is up for grabs in the future by paying a fee (and you don't have a SCH) . Will you and Mrs Kered risk travelling on BA if you can pay to select a nice UD pair and be moved for 'operational reasons' to 19E&F and not receive a refund of the seating fee?

kered

If you're happy to call accross the aisle from each other as together !

Well no, now they will have the option to pay to assign their seats at booking.

We're not that fussed about the UD at all TBH. All I’m after is a window seat if travelling solo & a window/aisle pair if “Mrs Kered” is travelling too.

…….& yes I will pay the fee to assign our seats & take the risk being moved “for operational reasons” just like we have done for some years now when flying with EI.

cosmos57

My partner and I booked in September two air miles redemption seats in CW for a post October 7 flight .This is one of the few remaining rewards for years of using BA despite losing SC status. We naively thought that we could also pre-book the seats before CIOL because the booking fell between the old and new policy. We received an email response saying that this particular kind of ticket didn't even entitle us to pre-book seats under the new policy even if we paid for it -which we wouldn't. The response did not even mention a cursory 'thank you' for all the years of loyalty. I empathise with those who mention feeling grubby. I'm sure that BA will regret this move. People will remember how shabbily they have been treated despite continued loyalty to and pride in the airline.

We will vote with our feet.

The end of an era- how sad!