First of all, I'm new to this forum and pretty much hooked. I hope, though, that I'm not going over old ground with my question...

I've got a flight booked to Bahrain 23 April - I'm going to visit family (I haven't been back for almost 10 years! and go to the F1 Grand Prix. And I'm very excited, partly because I decided to use miles to upgrade to CW.

After reading lots of posts/threads on here, and visiting the usual seat guide sites, it's clear that some of the best 744 CW seats are on the Upper Deck and the general advice is to check-in early. So, I thought I'd get in early when OLCI opens 24 hours before (I'm nowhere near Silver or Gold) and bag one of them.

Hwever...I've been on to Expert Flyer and see from their seat maps that already all but 1 of the seats on the UD have been assigned, leaving just 62A which happens to be one of my top choices.

I'm assuming that anyone who has a booking gets "assigned" a seat. If so, could it be that one of the seats on the UD has already been assigned to me, or does the EF seat map only show assignments for those lucky enough to have already chosen their seat?

Apologies for the long-windedness! Basically, do I stand a chance?

Welcome to Flyertalk!

The map shows only those seats that have been pre-assigned (Golds, Silvers, ticketed in J et al). So, your chances aren't that great (note that 64A also becomes free at T-24 if not needed for a child). However seat availability can and does fluctuate and you might find seats become free before then as people cancel bookings, change flights etc.

If it is a 70J plane (Club in rows 12-14) there are some choice seats there too - 12J, 14AK.

Welcome to FT!

I see four seats available on the UD - 60B, 62A and 64B&J. Where did you see the map with only one available seat?

64A is actually taken, so it would seem that there is an infant on the UD! You might not want to be in 64B!

Many of the pre-allocated seats may well end up changing their plans...

There really is no way of knowing if you are going to be lucky until T-24.

No, it becomes available at T-3d when they allocate seats to non-status baby-holders. However, since a phone call is required to book it and many Golds/Silvers don't know about this, there is normally a good chance of nabbing it if you're quick of the mark at T-24. In this particular case, however, as BA Loyal pointed out (and I have checked) it seems to actually be occupied.

If the OP remembers to chose the correct BP option (collect at airport) and keeps re-checking at least every hour (while awake) after T-24, then as a lone traveller I think he has an extremely good chance of nabbing an UD seat. People's plans do change on the day of travel.

It is.

You are quite right, however in the OP's case it will only be available to him (or not in this specific flight) at T-24.

As the Grand Prix is from the 24th-26th, I would suggest that peoples travel plans probably won't alter much in this scenario (yes I know I'm making assumptions)

Thanks to all for taking a look and getting back to me. BA Loyal, you're right, there are 4 seats. I should have said originally that I really want a window seat.

Does this mean that, until you print your BP, you can change seats as often as you like?

yes^

Yes, so never print your BP - unless you have hand luggage only, you never need to print it. And it is such a pain to have an A4 boarding pass too!

There are some dotted lines that print on the BP! If you practice some origami, you might find that it reduces the A4 sheet to something approaching a "normal" BP!

Yes but ensure that you choose the option to collect your BP at the airport. If you download it, it is the same as printing it.

Oh dear. Sounds like just the sort of flight full of leisure travellers on inflexible tickets where there's a much greater than usual chance of a bump downwards. At least in my experience, BA doesn't really seem to take account of this when it comes to overselling and it seems to be on those kind of flights that CW pax get nasty surprises. I felt very sorry for the elderly couple in the lounge at GIG (returning from Carnival) being told that they were being moved to Chaveller Plus. They were getting some modest compensation (�300) but not being properly informed of their rights under the EU Directive.

Brilliant - thanks for the downer! Only 40 or so more days to worry about it then...

You could do a lot worse than 64K, but it might take some wrangling and charm w/the EC.