We booked our business class round trip (for 2) in June to Dublin (a change of planes in London) several months ago. At that time we could not select seats. Finally, we were able to book seats a week ago. On line we got a runaround, finally on the phone we were able to reach someone. Our seats going over will be decided by THEM at departure, therefore at no additional cost. Our return seats are booked, 2 together, at an additional cost of $300.
Anyone have a comment??
Joyce
Can't say whether that is correct since you don't say how many people. Business seats if you choose to pay to select one in advance start from $93 long haul and $21 short haul.
You should be able to select for free from 24 hour prior to the flight.
We are taking BA to Paris this month, but in coach. We got spectacularly cheap seats a couple of months ago, so I felt it was worth paying extra to ensure my 18 yr. old daughter and I sat together. It cost us $160 each way for both of us on the departing and returning flights, long haul. We opted not to pay for the short haul flight between London and Paris.
It seems odd that you have business class seats and cannot choose them ahead of time. British Airways has a lot of issues, as do many airlines these days. When I found my deal on BA and tried to hold the tickets, the online problems forced me to call BA to make sure my hold had gone through. Boy, was that a nightmare! No one could understand what I was trying to convey. I was put on hold, which subsequently ended in my being hung up on. It took four calls before I confirmed that I got the tickets. More fun came later when they charged my credit card three times instead of once for my ticket hold. Why would I pay three times to hold the same tickets?
I have flown BA three times over the years, twice in business and once in coach and I have always thought them to be of high caliber.
I haven't flown with them in thirteen years, but according to some research, they are having a hard time competing with the newer low-coast carriers. I think that they should always try to seat people together when that is what most people want. This used to not be an issue years ago. However, I don't remember getting to choose my seats at all, in the olden days. We just assumed we would be sat as a couple or a family.
Could give us more details? We've done BA from Seattle to Shannon, there was a plane change in London to Aer Lingus- is that the same for you? Are both flights BA or is the Dublin flight a BA flight operated by Aer Lingus? For us, the options for pre-selected seats in business class on the long-haul flight required a charge. It's a long flight, so we pay to make sure we're together. We chose not to pay on the flight to Shannon. We choose and pay when we make our reservation. If we didn't then we wait ( I thought it was 24 hours before your flight, but things may have changed) and take what they give us. I'll have to check and edit this post when I can check what we paid.
Not sure what your question is. British Airways charges for advance seat selection unless you have high status in their mileage program or are flying First Class. For Business, we paid $278 for two seats (window and aisle) on the upper deck of a 747 for our next flight. I think that is the equivalent of 100 GBP. Lower deck seats are a bit less.
If there are no seats available for you to choose on the outbound flight, they must be holding some back for premium status customers. Or maybe there are no two seats together left, meaning others booked them all before you got a chance. For the return, $300 is more than we paid for our 2 seats, but I paid that last August and perhaps the fees have gone up.
In any case, it is standard BA policy. You can choose to wait until check-in, 24 hours in advance of the flight, and select seats fro free at that time. Or you can pay to have the certainty of sitting together in seats you have chosen for yourselves.
If you can check in exactly 24 hours in advance of your flight, you can view the seats that have been assigned to you, and might have the opportunity to change to ones you like better.
I agree with Lola's comments. I'll just emphasize that if you paid $300 for two seat reservations, one way, that sounds high (I usually pay about $25-75 per seat per flight in coach). Were these standard coach seats, special coach seats (say, in an exit row), or something fancier like premium economy?
Apparently, most of the European airlines now charge to select a seat before check in. On my recent trip booked through Delta, if I flew Delta planes ("Delta metal" in the lingo), I did not have to pay to select a seat before check in. If I flew code shares that were actually operated by Virgin Atlantic (to London) or Air France (from Paris), I did.
