We got a reasonable deal for business class on BA in December from LAX to LHR and return. We booked the seats we wanted for the outward trip, but haven't reserved seats for the return trip. Are they likely to give us the seats near the toilets, baby bassinets, or seat us apart. We are a bit reluctant to pay even more just for reserving seats both ways.

They are unlikely to seat you apart, but the precise location of your seats will depend on the specific flight, load factors etc. Remember you can select seats (no fee) at 24 hours before departure, so you ought to be able to have SOME say in seat location.

We fly BA a lot (or rather we did, that is likely to change!). Since I lost whatever status I had which enabled free reservation, I usually leave it until the 24 hours and have rarely had any issues getting reasonable seats together but I do make a point of going online as soon as check in opens. On the rare occasions I couldn’t get satisfactory seats, I just asked at check in and that have always sorted it out.

I know what you mean about being reluctant to pay for reserving seats. I recently booked Business Class reward flights from London to Tokyo and was quite shocked that they wanted me to pay Ł90 pp to reserve seats.i suppose I should not have been that surprised but it certainly doesn’t do much for customer loyalty!