I booked tickets via AA from Boston to Berlin, flying BOS-LHR on AA, then LHR-TXL on BA. About 2 weeks after I bought the tickets, I went to BA's website under "Manage my Booking", I was able to change our seats to an exit row. Later that day, I received an email from BA confirming the changes I made.

That was 6 weeks ago. Today, I checked our BA seats again using "Manage my Booking". To my surprise, our seats on one flight were changed. And instead of sitting together, we were assigned seat 13A and 14A, even though there are plenty of unassigned seats on that flight. I never received an email from BA regarding this change. There has been NO CHANGE in equipment either. And the exit row seats which I had previously selected remained available. So I switched us back to the exit row seats.

This is the 2nd time BA did this to me. When I flew BA (also booked via AA) back in May, I picked my seat soon after booking but never went back to double check prior to the trip. When I boarded the plane, I was horrified that my seat was in a NO recline row. Knowing myself, there is no way I had picked a seat like that, so I assumed BA had switched my seat at some point.

Is this a common occurrence?

The simple answer is that no airline guarantees seat assignments. They always reserve the right to change them. I've found BA to be more apt to play musical chairs with my selection than a U.S. airline does. I have an acquaintance who works for BA. She told me once that "You Americans are way too obsessed about getting specific seats."

I think the answer is to be vigilant and to keep checking.

<i>The simple answer is that no airline guarantees seat assignments.</i>

I understand that. What seems odd to me is:
1) No equipment change
2) No one is occupying the exit row seats we were bumped out of
3) Our REassigned seats are not together, even though there are plenty of empty seats throughout the plane

To me, it looks like BA just wants to annoy the heck out of me for no obvious reason. Maybe that IS their goal and they have succeeded.

Well, the official "seat assignor" has to do something to justify their job!

dfr4848, any idea as to how I can apply for such a job?

The British Royals need some "real jobs" to fill their days!

I'm happy to report that BA didn't attempt to change our seats since 10 days ago; of course, I've been checking our seat assignments every few days to be sure.

Now I've checked in for our flights and our exit row seats are secure!