View Full Version : BMI Seat Selelction
I see that BMIBaby have announced free online seat selection
http://www.bmibaby.com/bmibaby/en-gb/sectiondetails.aspx?p=4&Rid=241
I wonder if BMI are going to offer this?
Jerricho
17th Feb 2004, 16:07
I'm going to jump on my old high horse here reference able bodied passengers and emergency exits (sorry, it's the fatalist in me!). IMHO these seats need to be sensibly allocated for obvious reasons.
MerchantVenturer
17th Feb 2004, 18:28
Jerricho,
This bit from baby's online announcement might answer your query:
"Around three quarters of all seats on all flights will be available to reserve, certain seat availability is held back for reasons such as aircraft changes, disabled passengers, priority seating and infants."
Jerricho:
Regarding reserved seats in the emergency row, why not NO preallocation, except to FF scheme members (who always seem to want these anyway) who have already registered they are OK and maybe even done a little test on the procedures to follow, which could be done in the lounge sometime.
I too get hacked off when the "Frequent Flyer" seated by the emergency exit reads their newspaper right through the security briefing.
From what i have heard about the bmibaby online seat reservation system is that eventually it will eventually charge people who want to reserve a particular seat. At the moment bmibaby is just testing to see how it all works out (e.g. causing seating problems at check-in, and also that passengers may leave it to the last minute to check-in, thinking that they can check-in later as they have reserved their seat). I think that an online seat reservation is a great idea and adds "quality" to the airline, it will be particularly helpful for families as they can guarantee that they will be sat together. Bmibaby have seen that charter airlines/tour operators regularly charge for guaranteed seats together and it could be another revenue stream if it proves successful.
Airbus215
18th Feb 2004, 23:36
Baby only has to look to bmi's own in house charter operation to see how lucrative the chargeable pre book seat market has become.
A valuable revenue stream indeed !
lowfaresbuster
23rd Feb 2004, 22:46
you pay GBP£15 extra fro sitting next to the emergancy exit, talk about preying on the minds of the unflightful....
I dont know if the bmibaby pre bookable seats option would be able to be transferred to bmi mainline, because I'm sure that bmi's Airbus fleet, excluding the A330, have a changable seating configuration dependant upon the number of passengers wishing to travel in bmi business or bmi economy on the particular flight.
With the cabin divider changing positions, surely it would be impossible to pre-allocate seats on these aircraft?
Young Paul
24th Feb 2004, 17:26
As somebody who has tried online checkin with a family on BA (no, it doesn't work! Only individual tickets ....) because:
. Queueing for hours with a family isn't fun [it would have been longer hadn't a CSA taken pity on us - thankyou!]
. Getting seats together for 5 allocated when you are joining half-way through a multi-stage flight (in Sao Paolo when the flight had come in from Buenos Aires) would be a nightmare!
Fortunately, even though online checkin wasn't available, seats had been pre-allocated [thankyou again!].
Since pre-allocation would seem to be a "frill", the ability for families to get seats together at an early stage - even if they aren't overwing seats for the legroom - is valuable. Remember choice of seats may be a means of securing relative "luxury" for some people - for families, choice of seats means being together!