28 Notes to select a seat ! !
 

Flying to NYC on 20th on BA0175.

Looked at selecting seats (One must have a window!), but at £28 x 3 outbound and return I don't think i'll bother!

Whats the chances of all the decent ones being taken by the time the 24hr before departure online check-in opens??

Anybody know which actual aircraft is on this route next fri? (And return 23rd BA0112) Its a 744. Just hoping its not one of the vintage specimens :ooh:

I wouldn't think too many Y pax would splash out that kind of money for a seat, so if you check in online early enough I would think you may have a reasonable chance of finding what you want.

Leftofcentre2009,

Better work your way up the ladder on the loyalty programme then because paid seat selection for mere plebs is becoming the norm amongst many airlines.

I usually only fly on package tours Thomsons Thomas Cook etc, recently they have tried to make people pay a surcharge to sit together I never pay good excuse to get away from the wife for a few hours, still end up next to her
though :(

I am afraid that I am one of those that do pay the outrageous £28 [in fact £56 as for some reason Mrs W wants to sit next to me], but only on the flight into the US [TPA to be precise] By being near the front of the cabin we are fairly sure to be at the front of the queue at immigration, and will only have a 20 minute wait rather than 60/70 minutes.
Personally, after an 8 hour flight, I am prepared to pay the extra, in order to get out of the airport as quickly as possible. Others will save their money and 'pay' with their time.
Inbound to the UK I will check in on-line and take my chances, as I will have to queue at LGW regardless of where I sit.

I've just booked a four leg journey with Cathay. I have been able to select my seats in V class but not in Q - I think that one is discount and one deep discount. (At least the seats are on on request, hopefully that is the same thing.) The difference in price is not much, indeed I paid an extra £2.80 to secure the flight at the time I wanted between HKG & LHR although the normal difference is more than this.

Still £2.80 to reserve a seat isn't bad.

Yes, BA began doing this a number of years ago. Not new.

A number of years ago BA clearly went to a system of rewarding their frequent flyers who achieve Silver, Gold and beyond, and have removed the free advance seat selection perk of flying Club World or First (unless you are a fullfare pax in these two classes).

Imagine my surprise a few years ago upon booking my trans-atlantic Club World ticket to be asked for $90 to reserve a seat before the 24-hour online checkin!

And if you want to sit on the upper deck, it's something like $120 per seat.

I was shocked when it happened, but that's when the dime dropped (no pun intended). BA reward frequent travel with free seat selection, not a class of travel. If you aren't a silver or gold and are traveling business or First, seat selection is an additional cost. Same as economy.

They have other ways to get this message across, as well. Like guesting in a fellow traveller into the Club World or First lounges. As a boarding card carrying Club World traveller I cannot guest anybody in.

However, if you hold the cheapest damned ticket BA sell domestically and are a silver, you can guest somebody in.

Traveling class means nothing on the extras at BA now: Only frequency of travels rates with them.

This is their current business model and they must be happy with it. And one some level I understand it, because they've cheapened their product so much in the last few years in terms of access to premium cabins through Tesco card shopping, that they had to reform their perks and use another guage.

Peter47 -
£2.80 is more than reasonable - more like remarkable. When I was rebooked (when ANZ dumped the route) on the CX HKG - LHR flight last year, with only 80 minutes to connect from the ANZ service from AKL I was told that I couldn't book a seat at all, for any price. The thought of getting to HKG after 11 hours and then having to scrum with ?00 locals for seats didn't appeal so I had to go AKL - LHR via LAX.

Even that route has got silly now with ANZ. On NZ001 and 002 only about half the economy class is "free" seating; the remainder - and of course all the exit row and 2seat blocks at the rear attract a charge of £100 each way.

Thus LHR - AKL return economy via LAX with a decent economy seat costs £1527!! This compares with £945 in EK A380 all the way!

After 30 years using ANZ I'm gone!