I hate BA and won't fly them unless I'm desperate. That seating policy is one reason. It isn't new, they've been doing that for some years now, as they did it to me when I last flew them which was at least two years ago and probably more. At that time, they couldn't really explain the policy to me or why they were doing it, but I seem to remember them making some statement about how they only assigned a few seats ahead of time (even months) and most of them not until check-in. I have no special status with them. Then I got to the airport way ahead of time to get a good seat and for some strange reason they claimed most of the seats were taken, even though I was one of the first people there. I say, how is that possible if you don't assign seats. The agent said she didn't know, she didn't really understand the policy, either.

I did get a decent seat by getting there fairly early for check-in, though, although I think even then they gave me a middle seat and put me on a list and said maybe I could get another one at the gate that was better - which, luckily, I did. I don't think they had online booking at that time.

I had no problem getting a seat assignment with KLM last year, but 90 days out doesn't seem that onerous to me, so I probably called after that date.

Why are you guys even surprised? BA has for long shown that they don't care about people in coach, unless you're paying full fare. They are probably the only airline in the world that <b>doesn't allow</b> people to sign up for their FF program unless one is buying at least World Traveler +, or signing up for their credit card. And most discount fares earn 25% miles only.

Which airline in the world is more prohibitive? Tell me.

BA flies big 777 and 747 from US to Europe. Some of their 747 are configured 14/70/30/177. So &quot;premium&quot; passengers constitute 40% of the seats and much more in revenue. Their 777 is ever more: 14/48/40/127 for 45%. <b>BA doesn't need coach flyers</b>, and you guys are only filling up some empty space on their planes.

&lt;&lt;they've been doing that for some years now&gt;&gt;
BA let you choose your seats up until last November - now it can only be done 24 hours before
&lt;&lt;the only airline in the world that doesn't allow people to sign up for their FF program unless one is buying at least World Traveler&gt;&gt;
Is this a new one - I signed up 3 years ago and there were no restrictions. They were begging.
The only explanation I have had that makes ANY sense is they say that so many people book by FF points and then cancel that they were unable to keep it all straight. It was automated, so what's the problem.
It may have been more to do with the fact that their overbooking flights as all airlines do became obvious and people became alarmed when there were no seats to select.
Regardless the policy is as nibblette describes above. It was a major reason to fly BA and now that reason is gone.
If they get enough complaints they will revert back.

Robjame is certainly correct about this change in per-assignment policy.

We flew to London on BA from Dulles in September 2006 (in Economy) and had no trouble getting pre-assigned seats at the time of booking.

In October 2006 I made a booking for London and also got a pre-assigned seat.

In the past several years we've had BA flights as part of our AA FF Business class awards and were never allowed to make advance seat reservations. On one flight there were four of us and although we tried numerous times we were told they'd be assigned at the airport. We had a transfer and went to the BA gate nearly 3 hours before the flight and nearly all the seats were gone. The four of us could not get any 2 seats together. (That one was in 2003). We had the same thing with two of us in 2004 -- and that was in Business Class, London to Berlin.

Anyway, I'll call and try to pull the &quot;special needs&quot; case. Our flight from London to Rome isn't until late June. When do you think I should call and try to get our business class seats assigned?

Okay, guys and gals, I can see that I am not the only one that has discovered this problem. Other than finding a small child to take with me to England, I will have to get a seat assignment 24 hrs before flight time. Those of you that have done this, (on-line) what was the result? Were you able to get an aisle or window seat of your choice?
I do not want to wait until I get to the airport.

Could this policy be terrorist related?

&lt;&lt;Could this policy be terrorist related?&gt;&gt; You think al-Qaeda is running BA? (sorry couldn't resist)
The issue becomes one of logistics. Can you imagine what it will be like trying to access the seating assignment page 24 hours ahead? What do you do for your return journey? Like to have everything arranged and ready. Just more aggs for us OC planners.

It probably IS &quot;terrorist-related&quot; but I suspect the people who like to plan ahead and don't want to be forced into some airline FF program in order to do so are the ones who are being &quot;terrorized&quot; in this case.

I haven't had to cope with BA's &quot;no advance seat assignment policy&quot; (because I've hung on to gold status), but I have had to deal with it on several other airlines, principally Air France and Turkish Airlines (about 9 return trips in total). (Not to mention Norwegian Airlines, which is a discount airline with no seating assignments whatsoever - just a stampede onto the plane.) To date, I haven't had a problem getting the type of seat I wanted (aisle seat) on any trip. I've also had good luck getting good seat assignments for my husband and me (aisles across) and for my husband, mother and law and me (one window, an empty middle seat, one aisle and another aisle across). Granted, none of these trips have been long haul (at most 5 hours). Just make sure that you do log on to the internet and select your seat at 24h - one minute, because seats do tend to disappear fairly quickly.

I hadn't even thought about the return! So for those of us taking connecting flights, we need to remember to log on 4 times to get seats! Have to write this down in my calendar now!

Luckily the only time that I must deal with BA in June is London?Amsterdam flight.
Coming back my flight is with AA..FCO/ORD/SAT.

...and I'm Canadian
Eks If I read this correctly
&lt;&lt; Pre-seating in Euro Traveller is not available on any route at anytime (Euro Traveller is our European leisure product).&gt;&gt; you don't need to worry about your 2 and 3 legs. They aren't gonna let you choose anyway.
When I asked in Toronto at check-in we were told they COULD NOT assign flights London to Europe(or reverse) at any time.

Margo,
We flew Seattle to London last July on BA. Our reservations were made 10 months in advance. We couldn't get assignments for our flight to London but we could for our flight home. I like to have my seat assignments, so we called and called and always got the same answer &quot;you have to wait 24 hours before&quot;. But I started logging on to our reservations about every three days and lo and behold about 1 month before we were to leave, it let me pick our seats. So my advice to you is to keep checking back on a regular basis and maybe you can make yours. It makes sense since some people say they get to the airport earily and all the asile seats are already gone.
Have a great trip.

hester - &lt;&lt;flew Seattle to London last July on BA&gt;&gt;
The key to this whole post is that this is a change in BA policy effective November 2007. All was well before that. Now the access to the seat choosing web site has changed.

Looks like BA has a way to deal with those empty seats...

http://www.fodors.com/forums/threads...p;tid=34966276

Checking the web so often just to have seats' assignement, can be pretty stressfull.

It seems to me that BA has forgotten the Golden Rules about making Customers happy..

Well, I talked with a very nice man at BA today. He couldn't have been more cooperative, although he still could not specifically assign us seats for our ticketed Club Executive class flight London to Rome.

He did mark both of our tickets to cross check them and added the Alzheimer's reference plus a request to seat together. But he insisted that no seats will be assigned until check in. He felt confident there would be no problem and they'd even move others to accomodate our special needs, especially since it is now noted on the reservations. He was very apologetic that the reference will include &quot;mental illness&quot; as the reason, as it seemed the only logical item under &quot;special needs&quot;.

He also apologetically put me on hold for about 5 minutes while he worked with a supervisor to see if there was any way we could go ahead and get seats assigned, but without success.

I still don't get the references above that this problem has only been recently (although I think that Nov 2007 was a typo from robjame). We went through this two years ago and also four years ago.

And robjame, that article about the dead bodies in first is funny, but compared to some of the people I've been seated next to, I'd welcome the quiet.

&lt;&lt;I still don't get the references above that this problem has only been recently (although I think that Nov 2007 was a typo from robjame). We went through this two years ago and also four years ago.&gt;&gt;
Right it was an error - should be November 2006
We always book 300+ days ahead. We have always been able to sign in the BA site, choose our seats. Now that seat selection feature has been locked until 24 hours before departure unless you are a BA FF elite level or one of the special exceptions. It definitely is a change... ask any TA or BA rep. They have been fielding complaints.

Well apparently my problem was that my BA tickets were always part of an American Airlines FF &quot;package&quot; not booked directly and paid for to BA. So apparently that's why it was always the same for us in the past. It's interesting though, because we had the exact same thing with an Iberian interEurope flight and there was no problem advance booking those seats.