First booking ever on BA - and I find out that, having purchased three Business Class ("Club World," I believe they call it) tickets, at a not-inconsiderable price, I must pay an additional $108-$155/seat to select seats in advance.

Well, I admit to being impressed. But the impression is not a favorable one.

(By the way, I *was* able to select seats on the LHR-DFW return, because it's operated by AA).

sccutler wrote:

First booking ever on BA - and I find out that, having purchased three Business Class ("Club World," I believe they call it) tickets, at a not-inconsiderable price, I must pay an additional $108-$155/seat to select seats in advance.

Well, I admit to being impressed. But the impression is not a favorable one.

(By the way, I *was* able to select seats on the LHR-DFW return, because it's operated by AA).

Yes indeed. BA charge all except some frequent flyer tiers for international Business seat selection. They are one of the only airlines that do on a full fare International J ticket.

george77300 wrote:

They are one of the only airlines that do on a full fare International J ticket.

That is incorrect. A J Class (and C class) ticket comes with free seat pre-assignment.

It's not just oneworld Sapphires and above that get free seat assignments. I can't copy the URL for some reason but it's ok BA's website.

BA also aren't the only airline to charge for seat assignments in business class.

fbgdavidson wrote:

george77300 wrote:

They are one of the only airlines that do on a full fare International J ticket.

That is incorrect. A J Class (and C class) ticket comes with free seat pre-assignment.

It's not just oneworld Sapphires and above that get free seat assignments. I can't copy the URL for some reason but it's ok BA's website.

BA also aren't the only airline to charge for seat assignments in business class.

Firstly I didn’t say ONLY. I said “one of the only”. There are others it’s just a very small selection.

Secondly I did say oneworld sapphire anywhere. I said “some frequent flyer tiers”. I didn’t specify anywhere which ones that were or not included and certainly didn’t say only Sapphire.

Maybe try reading a bit better next time.

george77300 wrote:

Firstly I didn’t say ONLY. I said “one of the only”. There are others it’s just a very small selection.

Secondly I did say oneworld sapphire anywhere. I said “some frequent flyer tiers”. I didn’t specify anywhere which ones that were or not included and certainly didn’t say only Sapphire.

Maybe try reading a bit better next time.

Actually maybe you need to read harder into what I said. You are incorrect, BA do NOT charge for seat assignment on a full fare J ticket!

I am aware you didn't say oneworld Sapphire, I was just clarifying the point.

Yes. I too was hit by the same charge and what I find unacceptable is that it doesn't tell you as part of the booming process. From Vancouver to Rome they wanted an additional $800 for two seats return. They ended up cancelling my flight from Rome to Heathrow and so I had the right to get a full refund. I called and asked them if they would comp me two seat selections one way and I would pay the return while on the call. They refused. When I spoke to a manager I asked him if he would really prefer my cancellation of $7000 tickets for something that really wasn't an additional cost to the airline...he politely told me iit couldn't be done. I cancelled the tickets and booked Air Canada (787 to YUL and A330 to FCO and vv) with excellent seats for us both.
My takeaway is that they put their frequent fliers above occasional passengers and therefore it's unlikely that they will truly ayttavt the occasional premium passenger. Nuts in my view.

steveinbc wrote:

Yes. I too was hit by the same charge and what I find unacceptable is that it doesn't tell you as part of the booming process

.

Then you didn't look very hard or didn't do it on BA's website. Last time I booked when I got the section for seat assignments it said, "Cost for seat assignements $0.00" or something like that (I'm BA Gold so there is no charge) which to me assumes that if you do select seats it shows you are required to pay then it shows.

steveinbc wrote:

My takeaway is that they put their frequent fliers above occasional passengers and therefore it's unlikely that they will truly ayttavt the occasional premium passenger. Nuts in my view.

Absolutely how it is supposed to be. You want to please those that are spending tens of thousands of dollars a year on tickets more than those who are one time shoppers. You reward loyalty. That seems completely logical to me. Besides getting enough BA status for free seat assignments isn't exactly challenging. Two troundtrips from Canada to continental Europe in business class and you've earned it.

It also protects the high revenue, last minute booking passenger by not giving them the leftovers from the seat assignments when they've paid the highest fares. A couple of months back I booked a JFK-LHR-JFK roundtrip just a couple of weeks before travel and was still able to pre-assign the best seats in the cabin. I am flying other airlines in First and Business Class in the coming months and even though I booked a few months out I've got drips and drabs in terms of the seat assignments because for all but a couple of seats in the cabin it's a free for all.

Then you didn't look very hard or didn't do it on BA's website. Last time I booked when I got the section for seat assignments it said, "Cost for seat assignements $0.00" or something like that (I'm BA Gold so there is no charge) which to me assumes that if you do select seats it shows you are required

Absolutely how it is supposed to be. You want to please those that are spending tens of thousands of dollars a year on tickets more than those who are one time ....

This forum is supposed to be for people to express their views and discuss the subject of aviation I a friendly and courteous manner. It's a shame when posters personalize comments and make the forum an unpleasant space.

Just another example of how BA is fast winning the race to the bottom...even in business class!

sk736 wrote:

Just another example of how BA is fast winning the race to the bottom...even in business class!

BA is doing this for years.

Ya, it's a pretty unacceptable practice. It may not be "full fare," but when you're paying $6k or more for a ticket - any ticket - and you don't get seat selection, then you'll lose customers pretty quickly imo. I'm a pretty frequent international J-class flyer and I stay away from BA as much as possible. This practice plus their eight-across configuration (eight!!) make their offering completely uncompetitive.

hinckley wrote:

Ya, it's a pretty unacceptable practice. It may not be "full fare," but when you're paying $6k or more for a ticket - any ticket - and you don't get seat selection, then you'll lose customers pretty quickly imo. I'm a pretty frequent international J-class flyer and I stay away from BA as much as possible. This practice plus their eight-across configuration (eight!!) make their offering completely uncompetitive.

I fly BA very regularly (over 60 flights this year) and they manage to fill their J cabins with surprising regularity. I imagine the London business market is different to most other markets and that a very large proportion of their profit is made up of high status passengers and last minute expensive fares. Don't you think it makes sense to look after the people that regularly pay the bills, rather than that one off tourist?

gabrielchew wrote:

Don't you think it makes sense to look after the people that regularly pay the bills, rather than that one off tourist?

Discounted BOS-LHR RT J-class tickets are $5 - $6k. So no, I don't think it's reasonable to ask for another $100 for seat selection when one is paying that kind of money. I can fly B6 cross country for $250 and get a pre-assigned seat.

If you asked whether it makes sense for BA to reserve its better seats (i.e. the few that don't require another passenger to climb over you if you're asleep) for its best customers, I'd answer - ABSOLUTELY.

Of course BA has the incumbent advantage at the most lucrative business-transfer airport in the world. But the 'invisible hand' has a way of equalizing those advantages when a supplier takes advantage of its market position. Let's be completely honest here - BA has the least competitive J-class product of any of the other majors (even the, gasp!! - US3) on the LHR route. I'm too much of a capitalist to believe that that continues indefinitely.

steveinbc wrote:

Then you didn't look very hard or didn't do it on BA's website. Last time I booked when I got the section for seat assignments it said, "Cost for seat assignements $0.00" or something like that (I'm BA Gold so there is no charge) which to me assumes that if you do select seats it shows you are required

Absolutely how it is supposed to be. You want to please those that are spending tens of thousands of dollars a year on tickets more than those who are one time ....

This forum is supposed to be for people to express their views and discuss the subject of aviation I a friendly and courteous manner. It's a shame when posters personalize comments and make the forum an unpleasant space.

You must be new around here...

I get it - it's their carrier, and they can do as they wish. Too, I guess I should have done the research and known about the charge before booking, but I'll admit it - it never occurred to me that an airline would charge for selecting seats when a Business Class booking is made.

It will. of course, affect my choice of carrier in the future, and AA can "check the boxes" for travel from DFW equally well - and (indeed) having seen the laughable product BA call Business ("Club Europe") on their inter-Europe flights, I might do better to avoid them in futuro. As most of my domestic travel is in my own plane (in which every seat is a window seat), I'm unlikely ever to get to anything resembling Platinum.

I will pop back into AA Gold status next time I set foot on an AA flight, and at that point, as I understand it, I will have the ability to select seats on the BA flights a week in advance (which beats 24 hours, I suppose); my question is, for all you seasoned world travelers, will there be a reasonable selection of seats remaining at that point, or should I just drop the extra $325 or so that it will take to select seats for the family, together?

What other airlines charge for seat assignment in business class? so does beat charge for seat assignment in first class?

LH658 wrote:

What other airlines charge for seat assignment in business class? so does beat charge for seat assignment in first class?

No they don’t. LX charges for some of the seats. Just to be clear,with BA you can choose seats at checkin. As a OW ruby member you can choose seats 7 days before departure etc. And that’s really not hard to achieve.

There is also a theoretical seating algorithm in BA’s systems. Not everyone sees the same seats available, depending on status, not even for purchase.