british airways seating
 

i have been told that we cannot select seats on british air to london's heathrow until 24 hours before the flight. since our flight is around 8:30 p.m. on a monday night, does this mean we can only do it starting 8:30 p.m. on sunday? any advice in this regard would be appreciated. also, do you select seats for the return flight at the same time or do i have to go through the same process again when i return 2 weeks later? i figure 2 aisle seats are most desirable since i've read on this message board that the seats are very "small". i can't wait to hear what advice people have for me!

You have been told by whom? You dont say if someone at BA told you or if it is hearsay.

it's not hearsay, it is what the information supplied on the BA website. For Economy passengers it is possible to do an online check in and select seats 24 hours before departure of the flight.

The return flight can also only be booked 24 hours beforehand.

willit is correct.

<<For Economy passengers it is possible to do an online check in and select seats 24 hours before departure of the flight.>>
Maybe a better way to say this is that for everyone but First class or BA Miles Executive class top level, seat selection by BA website can only be done 24 hours prior.
Even Business class and lower tier BA Executive Club members cannot preselect.

have been told that we cannot select seats on british air to london's heathrow until 24 hours before the flight. since our flight is around 8:30 p.m. on a monday night, does this mean we can only do it starting 8:30 p.m. on sunday
Yes, you will get a note from BA letting you know when the seat selection is "open". You have to go through the same process on the way back.
You can also print your boarding pass !

As an aside, I was surprised when trying to book my seat on a flight from London to Cape Town how limited my choice of seats was.

As it was 23 hours and 58 minutes until the flight, I presumed I would have my pick of almost all, but quite a few, including most of the "Choice" seats were already taken.

It appears these were prebooked by passengers who were "codesharing" from an AA flight.

There is another possibility willit...
Anyone connecting with that London - Cape Town flight gets to choose 24 hours before their first flight.
So if I left 10 hours before that flight from Toronto, I could choose seats for both legs way before you.

We pre-selected our Business Class seats (last Jan.) for flight in September. This is the second time we've done so.

Have no idea what our tier status is, but don't think it is at the highest level.

BA's seating policy was changed earlier this year and approximately 100% of BA customers have felt abused and ticked off at one time or another over the "new" policy. Late word is that it's being "reviewed" by senior BA management.

Yes history you are right if you booked in "J/C/W/Y booking classes".
I don'y know exactly what these mean, but when I asked, they said the highest ticket price selections.
I book through BA miles and can no longer preselect in Business, which seems like a hell of a way to treat their club members.

robjame - you are of course correct - that is a possibility I hadn't thought of.

rojame,

Thanks for the information. I'm aware that BA charges a higher(ticket)price for upgrading than most airlines, but they will upgrade with fewer miles. A trade off?

Gardyloo - Hope you're right.
I have been letting them know everytime they send me one of their surveys. Regardless of what the questions are about, I turn the answer around to their "new" seating policy.

I thought that the 24 hour thing was SOP for most airlines. There are exceptions. AA gave me seats for my daughter returning from LHR to LAX 100 days in advance. Gofigger.

Air Canada lets you select the seat when you book. Seems like a good idea!

That's very strange. For the past 2 years, we've flown BA Montreal-London return and selected our seats right after booking our flights online. The system displayed the available seats and we just had to click them. We could even go back and change them up until a certain date.

Perhaps it's different for flights out of the U.S.

We haven't flown BA for a couple of years. Is this the SOP for seat selection for BA flights from the US to Heathrow or within Europe? If so, they would go down to the bottom of my choice of airline to fly for anything other than a short flight.

I am so glad Icelandair out of BWI let us select seats as soon as we booked for our Sept 07 flight.

Are any other international airlines using a similar policy? Deborah

"Perhaps it's different for flights out of the U.S.'
Don't think so . Toronto- London-Nice and back was our flight a few weeks ago.
No seat selection until 24 hours before the flight!

&quot;<i>That's very strange. For the past 2 years, we've flown BA Montreal-London return and selected our seats...</i>&quot;

Not strange - the policy was only changed this year.

I suggest you go online, input your booking reference, go to the seat selector and look at what happens.

My experience over the past six months is that you CAN select seats in advance, whatever the website may imply. What you can't do is:
- guarantee that selection won't be tampered with, or
- print off a boarding pass.

Both of these are possible only 24 hours prior.

Now I really can't be bothered worrying about seat selection on intra-European flights, and - quite contrary to my normal practice - my recent BA intercontinental flights have been at or close to full fare.

So it may be that advance pre-selection is limited to certain fare categories. But I wouldn't get lathered up over no preselection until you've actually tested preselection really isn't possible

Incidentally, many transatlantic passengers labour under the bizarre misapprehension online checkin is possible only on US domestic flights. This means I've several times waltzed through the fast bag drop on BA transatlantic flights while the Luddites were seething in the queues for the technically challenged.