Originally Posted by shefgab

Nice report, seems like you had a fairly decent set of flights, and a nice holiday to boot. Make sure you include some holiday destination snaps next time



You perfectly sum up the reasons why BA charge for those seats:
- Most desirable seats
- Flight full of Golds
- Golds want the best seats

BA is one of the few airlines that actually constantly fill their premium cabins with fare paying passengers. Why let the discount holiday passengers get the best seats when BA know full well the plane will fill up relatively last minute with fare paying Gold card holders that want those seats? The charge says far more about BA's excellent revenue management/customer recognition than their penny pinching. BA do NOT want people to pay the fee. They want to keep those seats empty so their best customers can take their pick when they book 2-3 days out. Imagine if you frequently bought full fare last minute tickets and were always only left with the worst seats in the cabin?

Originally Posted by CurbedEnthusiasm

That is a fair perspective, but if that was the case, wouldn't other airlines charge their premium pax for seat assignments to protect availability for top customers? I too have read that BA does a good job filling Club World with revenue pax, but I would venture to guess that other airlines aren't leaps-and-bounds behind them.