Look at what BA are up to....
 

....Has anyone booked a BA flight lately? I did today and am absolutely disgusted at what I saw.......

After booking a longhaul flight I went to choose our seats. They are charging £20 per person per sector to CHOOSE WHERE TO SIT!! So thats £80 for two people on a return flight to....CHOOSE WHERE TO SIT!!

I kid you not!

How long has this been going on for?! Its simply daylight robbery. I'd expect this on a loco and almost understand it. But the UK flag carrier-BA, charging to choose seats, thats just plain awful.

Why is this any different to the dirty/cheap tactics that Easy or Ryanair use? Why is it that Easy and especially Ryanair are slagged off so much about ruining the airline industry, when this is just as bad if not worse...as the last time I looked-BA was not a locost carrier.

So next time anyone wants to start bitching about the usual suspects ruining our profession and industry, please include BA in your rants.

Before you get too excited D7 this is just because you are trying to book your seats more than 24 hrs before departure!!!

If you wait until 24 hrs to go you can pick your seat for free!

Don't Panic!!!

There was a lengthy thread about this, roughly September last year I think. Most people felt the the same about the matter as you do, myself included, but then I've boycotted BA for years anyway because of their high-handed and arrogant attitude of which this is just one more indication.

D 7

You do realise that it is free to choose your seat?

When online check in opens 24hrs before departure you can select your seat at no cost. If you want to reserve a seat before that there is a charge.....just like other operators.

.... by which time all the decent ones have been taken. And this is not just an opinion, I can prove it.

Actually, Ryanair do not do this. Specific seats can not be booked in any way, shape or form. Even 'Priority Boarding' doesn't book a seat, it simply allows earlier boarding, thus a greater choice of seats on the day.

As the majority of pax don't want to pay an extra charge to reserve a seat you will have plenty of choice if you check in for free 24 hours before take off.

I also agree that this thread should be moved.

This is old news - the new seating policy was introduced last October.

The full policy is here - British Airways - Seating guide

As previously mentioned, it's still free to choose a seat. Simply do it at check in. If you want greater choice and flexibility with regard to where you sit, then there is now a small charge for the privilege.

To be honest, whilst it may seem like a total outrage, it's not. Particularly in comparison to, say, the restrictive baggage allowances to USA now. And BA need to get some pennies in the bank at the moment. Which would you prefer - a small charge to choose exactly where you sit, or that convenient flight you want to book not available because it's been taken off the schedule?

If you don't like it, then don't pay and wait till check in!

Not a RYR fan at all, but just for the record they don't charge for the loo (yet)!

Sorry to be harsh D7, especially as you've only just learnt this old news but - you can always choose not to book BA again.

what a prima donna
 

all this upset about being charged to book your seats online etc.

Until several years ago you just turned up at the airport and those at the front of checkin got a better choice, so it's not like something has been taken away, just gone back a few steps!

And whereas it is annoying to see all these little charges, being a rose tinted person I do think the base fare hopefully came down without all the little charges, and hopefully enough fools pay for all the extras so that people like me don't have to bother and the bean counters are happy and keep base fares down etc..

G

The company is seriously broke and seems incapable/unwilling to cut costs so what else can it do except try to increase revenue? I'd be annoyed if I was a silver/gold card holder as it's going to devalue their alleged benefits. Far cheaper to spend £20 to choose your seat >24hrs out than spend the money to be silver and choose your seat >24 hrs out.

It’s called unbundling and almost all airlines are doing it, to a greater or lesser extent. Or you could call it flying a la carte, the airline provides you with a basic service at a basic price and you choose the add-ons.

Clearly, the ability to reserve a seat has a certain value for you (or you wouldn’t be bitching about it). It costs the airline *something* to supply this service. Should the passenger who couldn’t care less where he sits be expected to cross-subsidise the one who does care?

The trick is choosing which products to unbundled, and what to charge for them. While not advocating the Ryanair approach, there’s nothing intrinsically wrong about charging to go to the loo. It costs the airline money to install toilets, both actually and in terms of foregone revenue; some passengers use them for free while others don’t but still pay a share of the cost of providing them.

By the time another generation has come in, they will be amazed to learn of 'full service'. It will be ancient history, just like a boat taking six week to reach Australia and the crew falling sick due to poor food preservation. No, it's not nice to see things change from how they have been - but that's how humans have come to dominate the planet.

Don't fret too much about BA, it's into the 'home straight' now ... (and to repeat, I say that with no joy, as it will be horrible for a lot of people when it crosses the line.)

Hang on.... Unless you were on a more expensive booking code or silver / gold card holder, you couldn't always pick your seats in advance anyway. I flew to BKK just before this new thing was introduced and couldn't pick seats until check in. For me, the introduction of this paying to pick your seats is really just something added for those who did want to pick their exact seats. If you wanna pay for it then do, if you don't then don't, it's nos as bad as everyone keeps making out.

In the past, I've had to make two mercy flights from FRA-SYD. When I checked in, I asked for somewhere quiet. BA gave me a whole row to myself. By doing that, they bought my custom for many years. Those days are gone.

If I can bung them £50 for an exit seat on a 744, I'll happily hand it over. If they want £750 for an upgrade from PE to J at check-in, that's great - even better if they'll haggle.

As other posters have said, hark back to the days when you checked in as soon as you could in order to secure your seat. How much is an hour of your life worth?

The OP might reflect for a moment on the 'green' taxes he's paying when he flies. The seat selection stuff, as The SSK points out, is compartmentalisation of costs. It's transparent and it opens things up to the market.

SO

IIRC, BA Gold members can check in on-line and pick their seats 3 days before departure. The rest of BA Club members, and indeed the Rest of the World, have to wait until the magical 24-hour moment, when they fight for what's left.

Do BA Gold pax deserve better treatment? I believe they do, because they shovel money into BA big-time. The rest of us, the "Less Frequent Shovellers", or "LFS" [anag] ;) inevitably take second place.

HOWEVER, if Seat 62K is something that means a lot to you, feel free to spend the extra ££ and bounce a Gold member.

Does that seat make that much difference? Probably not.
Will the concept make money for BA? Probably not.
But it might upset some of those Gold members who keep BA afloat - which IMO makes it a rather strange PR/marketing exercise.

TTB
 

62 K won't be made available for pre purchase on most routes. In my experience the Upper Deck is reserved for full fare payers & Gold card carriers.

I tried before well before our Christmas flight to CPT & although there were empty seats upstairs they wouldn't allocate one. When the strike was called & I brought our flight forward by a couple of days in order to avoid the IA I was suddenly allowed access to a couple of Upper Deck seats, even thought J was full.

Basically it's a very complex situation.

Gold members can choose a seat when booking exept the seats with the fold down baby thing. These are held back for passengers with babies.
As someone said earlier you haven't been able to choose a seat till check in as a normal punter.
Seats are allocated on booking so you are only ever changing them anyway. So if you book together then you sould be allocated seats together.

@ fincastle84 ... complex is absolutely right.

The last time we paid full fare in J on a 744, we got 63A/B which is as good as you get for a couple.

On a BA Club Miles upgrade from PE on a 744, we get 'given' 20 E/F ... which is fine. Not as 'cute' as being upstairs, but WTF. The seats are reasonable, and so is the food and service and IFE.

Frankly, the whole thing is 7-8 hours out of my life. As long as I'm comfortable, I can cope. I spent far too much of my life commuting 3 hours a DAY to MoD on the Underground to get over-excited ... although The Queen did pay my train fare. Spending a few £k to get to the USA ... I guess it would be nice if it was perfect, but I get what I pay for [some of the time].