WOW paying for an assigned seat!
 

Paying for assigned seats....This is the first time we have run into this situation on an International Flight. Our previous flights have always been purchased with miles including our international ones via United or one of the Star Alliance partners (business class) but this time we are paying cash for flight from JFk on BA. We were floored when it cost us another $900 to guarantee our seats were together. If we waited until 24 hours prior to flight there are no guarantees and this was in BUSINESS CLASS! So after paying a small fortune for our flight we had to come up with $900 for 2 seats on each air plane as we change planes in London both ways..I have paid for exit rows in economy or premier seating in economy but never have we paid anything extra in Business Class. How long has this been going on? What a rip off! We didn't want to take the chance of long flight not being together so we did it. TIme for a revolution fellow travelers!!!

Love knows no bound and it is nice to see you prefer paying 900 euros than being separated for 10 hours

Lovely story.

That's absurd! I've heard that some airlines inlcuding BA charge for seat assignments, but that was in economy class.

>>How long has this been going on? What a rip off! << Couple of years, maybe longer? It's not just BA either. Why didn't you wait until 24 hours beforehand, if you had booked together on one booking you would have been allocated seating together. Assuming that you are flying JFK to LHR, the flight is quite short, 5-6 hours, it must have been terribly important to sit together, to the tune of $900. In those business class seats, you are fairly private anyway, so I wouldn't have a clue who is next to me and I would not care if I was separated.

I thought the point of flying business class was to get some sleep...

I wouldn't have paid. Agree ... in business class you have enough privacy that it doesn't really matter who is next to you.

Well, I want to sit next to my husband not a stranger on ALL these flights since we are traveling together JFK to London then London to South Africa and reverse These are sleeper beds and I don't want to sleep next to someone that is not my husband! I was told by BA that waiting 24 hours prior to flight time, they CANNOT guarantee that we will have sleeper beds together. It is about 7 hour flight from JFK and then about 11-12 hours to South Africa which is long enough for me to want to be together......I was just surprised that after paying BIG bucks for Business class that there was an additional charge....

>>Well, I want to sit next to my husband not a stranger<<

>>These are sleeper beds and I don't want to sleep next to someone that is not my husband!<<

You won't see anyone - including your husband really - unless you specifically want to and lower the panels. The spaces are VERY private and the seats are quite far apart. And no, they don't 'guarantee' since that is how they convince people to pay extra. But they would have put you next to each other.

I sure wouldn't have paid $900.

Have you looked those flights up on seatguru? If they're on BA metal the seats are facing opposite directions. If the JFK-LHR leg is on AA metal, they aren't lie flat seats.

The airlines are charging for anything they think they can get away with these days. Paying $900 just encourages them. If no one pays for seat assignment, they'll stop charging for it.

I have been traveling on BA Club World ( business class ) for years. I have never paid for seat assignment and have always, always been satisfied with whatever seat they assign. You do have the opportunity to change seats when going online at the 24 hour designated period. As said, never changed seats. Even when flying with Mr. History they always assign seats together if booked on same ticket and, as janisj said, you have a great deal of privacy. I seldom speak to Mr. History after the meal is served ;) . ..about as private as it gets. Word of advice for first timers...never, ever pay for seat.

I might have taken the chance that someone would switch seats with me on the plane. I think it's more likely in business class. Of course, that's not a guarantee, and no one is obligated to switch, but it never hurts to ask.

I can understand your frustration, but no way would I have given them the extra $900!!

It's just a different way of pricing for an airline, I don't understand outrage at all. No one forced you to book that airline. If they didn't do that, the fare or some other fee would probably be higher. And you don't really have to sit next to a particular person, you just want to. Life won't come to a halt if you don't sit next to your husband for a few hours on a flight. Guess what, some of us do it all the time and are still here.

janisj....I did look at the actual airplane seats on the flights we are taking ....all four planes and the 2 seats we chose are together and face the same direction and are NOT far apart as are the ones that are next to the windows and over the wings. LIke I said, we are spending our children's inheritance. I am going to see what is available 24 hours prior to flight just for my own curiosity and to perhaps slap my own face! still think that it is wrong when you pay for Business Class that you should have to pay extra to assigned seats.

As I stated in my post, I have flown Business Class on BA for a number of years and have flown more than a few times with Mr. History. We have always gotten seats together by doing the 24 hour check-in. Once we had the two seats in the middle row, but all the other times he has an aisle seat, and I have the window one next to it. If two people are on the same ticket, I can't imagine that they wouldn't seat you together. And, as I also stated, you can change the seats assigned to you when you check-in 24 hours prior to departure. They will show available seats; you reselect.

>>I can't imagine that they wouldn't seat you together.<<

Precisely . . . Even coach passengers on the same booking almost always are seated next to each other. I have never seen Business passengers split up.

<i> LIke I said, we are spending our children's inheritance. </i>

And rightly so. The little blighters should pay for their own seats after you're gone.

Most of us would probably agree that paying so much for adjacent seats is neither necessary or wise. But still, the fee is exorbitant and I wonder how the airline has the nerve to charge on top of an already hefty business class fare.

For future reference, I have never been unable to get two seats together on an international flight as long as I checked in at the earliest possible time. Some airlines allow 24 hours before, some 48, but even on very busy and full flights it's never been a problem.

Paying that fee isn't something I'd really consider.

While I would never pay that fee for assuring seats together, I have had the experience of an airline changing our seats (in business class) so we were no longer together. My suspicion was that they did it to accommodate paying passengers when we were using mileage tickets booked 11 months in advance.

@Kathie Yes, I think that is not uncommon, but it might also be because of a change of equipment, which is also not uncommon and one of the drawbacks of making seat assignments so far in advance.

There was no change of equipment and the seat assignments had been re-checked just a week before the flight. I do think it had to do with paid tickets versus mileage tickets.

I fall in the group who rarely speaks to my traveling companion after dinner service; he uses headphones and listens to whatever, I like to read. We have rarely had a problem getting seats close to each other when the 24 hour window opens, but I would never give an airline another €200 let alone €900. That's a shocking waste of money to me, and we are also traveling on the children's inheritance.

>>LIke I said, we are spending our children's inheritance.

And rightly so. The little blighters should pay for their own seats after you're gone.<<

No argument here -- it is just I'd want to spend that $900 of their inheritance on another flight somewhere.

DH and I now have a strategy for seats close to each other. If there are plenty of seats available when we book, DH and I never ask for seats together. We both like isle seats, so we try to get seats either across from each other or one in front or back of each other. Next best is we book a window seat and isle seat in the same row and hope no one else is in the middle. If there is some one in the middle, I have never had the offer of the window seat ejected. If there are empty rows and we can nab one, I sleep.

Nice that you can be together if it is that important to you. I mean that sincerely. Myself, $900 would buy a short cruise for the two of us, or one ticket to St Kitts or Europe, so we would have sacrificed a few hours to have fun doing something else.

Enjoy your trip though - sounds wonderful!

I think they have overcharged you. A reserved business seat on BA should be a maximum $83. So even with four legs, your fee should have been way less than $900. Maybe call and see if you can cancel all the reserved seats. As others have said, you WILL be seated together. Like others, we have traveled with two or four adults on BA intl several times and always have been assigned adjacent seats -- still actually quite far apart. (You will have to get up and take a walk to visit each other.)

Or, if you reserve exactly 24 hours in advance, you will practically be guaranteed adjacent seats. The only reason to pay to reserve on BA is to avoid a lousy center seat in coach.

Have a wonderful trip!

I was talking with a friend of mine who traveled to the UK with her 2 children in Economy. She did not have the extra money to pre purchase her tickets so she didn't and she did not have 3 seats together when she arrived at the airport to check in. So it isn't always a guarantee that you will be sitting together just because you purchased your tix together. I think that spending $121 on each flight and for us that would be 4 planes is outrageous considering what we paid for the business class sleeper bed tickets but we decided we wanted to sit/sleep together and not next to someone we didn't know . I double checked and it is $121 to pre book/guaranteed seat on BA flight not $83 as above poster indicated. the configuration of the sleeper beds is very strange on this plane not what we had on our Untied flight to China business class or Lufthansa flight to Europe business class which was 2 seats facing the same direction next to each other on every single seat in business class. This BA flight is strange in how they have their sleeper beds unless you are in the center of the plane where 2 seats are facing the rear of the plane and 2 seats facing the front of the plane. Over the winds and next to the windows, one seat is facing rear and other seat is facing the front. It is done, we bit the bullet and we will enjoy sleeping next to each other and not worrying about the possibility of sleeping next to people we did not know. I still say it is outrageous to charge extra for this in Business Class....

For future reference, American Airlines doesn't charge for seat selection at booking for any cabin, and IMO in business class AA's product on its new 777-300s is superior to BA's in every way.

>>IMO in business class AA's product on its new 777-300s is superior to BA's in every way.<<

I agree -- almost as good as first class on a lot of carriers (without the pajamas though)

Regarding BA flights and seat selection, if you are traveling with family you can select your seats ( free of charge ) a week before departure. The usual 24 hour prior to departure seat selection allows you to select seats although with more than two people you may have a problem sitting together. Those that have problems are, for the most part, those who don't read the information. Arriving at the airport and assuming several people will be able to sit together simply because they bought their tickets together is pretty naive.

Mr. History and I have flown numerous times on BA in Business Class. I think on our first trip we were convinced that we should pay to select seats and did so. That first time was the last time. Never have had a problem selecting seats together at the 24 hour seat selection time period. In fact when you go online to print boarding passes and make seat selection, the airlines will have selected seats for you, but you can change them. I have seldom done so. When flying together, our seats have always been together. In fact, they seem to recognize that Mr. History likes an aisle seat and I prefer the window seat.

<<she did not have 3 seats together when she arrived at the airport to check in.>>

I bet if she had checked in at the 24 hour mark, she would've been able to get seats together. Waiting to get to the airport to check in 2/3 hours before the flight means you're picking from the leftovers.

HistoryTraveler, do you have a BA Executive Club account? If so, you set your preferences for window or aisle in your account information there -- possibly you already have it done. I agree that I've never had trouble getting two adjacent seats at the 24 hour online check in time.

A year ago I made a reservation through United, didn't realize that the flight is Air Canada, and couldn't get assigned seats. Called, they said if I pay I can get assignment, if I don't want to pay, have to wait till 24 hrs prior.

thanks Gardyloo but we are flying to London as a stopping point only on our way to South Africa which AA does not fly to but good information for the future. We generally use mileage on United or affiliate but didn't have enough miles and fares on Untied were more expensive than BA so BA got our $ this time around.

Apropos and slightly off-topic, but I've noticed that for travel from the US to South Africa this year, many business class fares from major Canadian airports (Toronto, Calgary, Vancouver et al) to Joburg are running around US$2700 or less (typically Air Canada/Lufthansa or Air France/KLM) through August/September. This is typically ~US$2000 or more less than comparable fares from US airports.