elaine

Well, this has turned into quite a discussion.

For the record on my own booking: it was booked weeks in advance, I booked on line but then made phone calls immediately to try to get a seat, I have called several times, and again, they have confirmed a seat for the return flight but not for the outgoing.

I even tried emailing BA customer service on line. They just replied with this canned information: "please request your seat assignment at the airport. We recommend your getting to the airport early."

Ya' think?

Christina

yeah, Elaine, that's basically what happened to me. NOne of the above explanations really fit my case -- I bought my ticket at normal times (not too late, not too early) just like any other flight I've had, they just wouldn't give me a seat assignment and gave me no alternative as to being able to get one at some later date.

Getting there early isn't that much use as no one is at the counter real early. As I said, when I was there as early as it opened for that flight, they still claimed there were no window seats available for me even though hardly anyone had checked in but me. I will admit I eventually got one as they put me on a list and said maybe I could get one at the gate... and luckily I did.

This is just one reason I don't fly BA any more unless they offer the only reasonable schedule for where I want to go. I recently booked a flight to London on Virgin instead, even though BA was slightly cheaper, and Virgin gave me seat assignments with no problem, 4 months ahead.

RufusTFirefly

Actually, the above explanations would fit anyone's case. There are a limited number of advance seats available on a flight. No matter when you buy your ticket, if they've already given out all the advance seats, then you have to wait.

I do also know that if sales for a particular flight are very slow, they will sometimes release a few seats after the initial allotment has been used up. But there's no way to know if and when this would happen for a particular flight.

AAFrequentFlyer

BA and most European airlines are some of the worst in that dept. AA will ONLY block the bulkhead and another 25% or so of seats for elites(exit, first 10 rows of window and aisle seat). There is a good reason for blocking seats, but some airlines really go way beyond what's necessary.

BTW, thank you CIRCA for the nice compliment. All I could do is try.

Susan56

I booked on line with BA about a month or so ago for 4 round-trip tickets to London. When I first saw this thread I quickly called BA to book the seating. No problem, they gave me seating assignments, for both flights, right away. I guess it depends on the flight! I must be flying on empty planes!

decatur8ter

I think BA is great but the seat assignment idea they have is draconian. Treat their customers like children.....we will not tell YOU what WE know so there !!!!The seat can only have one person in it to fly...so first come first serve....if you book a year in advance, well, you should know or choose where you wish to sit. Glad it irritates other people as BA act's like I am the only person that thinks it is lunacy. Remember BA you are a service WITH competition...now is not the time to run passengers off

Gardyloo

When I booked a couple of flights (April) earlier this week with BA and couldn't get the seats I wanted, the phone person told me that's because they only get around 10% of the remaining seats released at a time, presumably so that later-booking (and potentially higher fare-paying) pax won't get stuck with all the crummy seats after the early bookers (including non-rev) have done their cherry-picking. Makes sense but why not fess up earlier?

uhoh_busted

I called today to get seats on our May flight (to Cape Town SA via London) and must have timed it well. row 20 on the "2" side between the US and London, and 2 aisle seats across from each other on the long haul to Cape Town in Row 31. I had my Executive Club number, but my DH lost his card...so I asked the nice guy who'd just given me seat assignments if he could look it up and he did! So now we will get those many many miles appropriately credited. This was a really nice customer service experience. Hope it holds....