British Airways: Refund on seat selection fee?

The only suggestion I can make is not to wait till after the flights. Contact BA now and see if you can get a refund on the seats they changed on you -- or perhaps other seats that work better for you (though that may be hard to do with four seats and the flight so soon).

The process will certainly add to your stress, but might produce a better outcome or at least a refund. I can't remember having dealt with BA on the phone but I doubt if it's any worse than other airlines. BTW I can identify with your son, I always liked the window, behind the wing, when I was younger.

Call them now, do not wait, and be firm, you paid to select the seats!

We fly BA a lot. Generally when your seats are changed for “operational reasons” it is because they changed to a different kind of plane, like from a 787 to a 777. So the seat arrangement is different.

I am afraid you are not going to get a refund by calling. You have to do it in writing, on the form they provide, probably after the flight. But what you paid is still valid and gives you the right to choose your seats again. You can move yourselves to better seats yourself.

So go into Manage My Booking and select “view or change seats”. That will bring up the seat map for your new plane and you can move from your assigned seats to anything that is available. If they are at a higher price than your original seats you will pay the difference. If they are less I don’t think you get a refund.

It is much better to do this yourself online so you can see the seat map and all the options, then pick what works best for you. And the sooner you do this the better. Others are in the same situation.

From BA website……

“Sometimes we may need to change your seat, even after you have boarded the aircraft. Whilst we try to prevent this, it might be unavoidable for a number of reasons including a change of aircraft due to operational, safety or security reasons, so we cannot guarantee seating.
If we have to change your seat, we will attempt to find you a suitable alternative. We will try to seat your group together, then match your choice of window, middle or aisle seat, if possible. If you have paid for an exit row seat, we will try to offer you another exit row seat.
If we are unable to offer you a suitable alternative for seating you paid for, you can apply for a refund. See the paid seating terms and conditions below.”

https://www.britishairways.com/content/information/seating/seating-changes-and-refunds

It always helps to go directly to the source versus asking on a forum where you are bound to get a lot of differing opinions

Here is the page with refund conditions:

https://www.britishairways.com/travel/seatrefundterms/public/en_gb

I suppose it comes down to what is a “suitable alternative seat”. They will likely argue that you have “suitable” seats because your family is still together. Maybe they are obligated to only pay you the difference between the fee you paid for your chosen seats, and the fee for the seats you ended up with further back, or in the middle section. (ASAIK, there are no “free” seats if you want to choose in advance, but the ones toward the back and in the middle section are indeed cheaper.)

The form looks fairly straightforward to fill out, as long as you have all the information, should you want to pursue that course. But you might be happier just doing as suggested above—-go into your booking online and choose seats you like better, if they are available. I have done this successfully several times over the years we have been flying with BA. The only time we applied for a refund was when they downgraded us in class, from business class to economy on an intra-Europe flight. But that is a separate claim process because it falls under the EC261 rules.

If there are no better seats available for you to move to, then keep trying. If you end up staying in the seats they gave you (in the back of the plane outbound, and middle section on the return), then you can file your claim for a refund afterwards. They won’t process the claim now because there is always a chance you will get moved again.

Thanks Margie. I amended my post to start what I actually meant in the first place—- you can’t get a refund by calling, so that would be a waste of time.

And I still think moving themselves to better seats (if there are any) is a better solution.

I hope Key Lime returns and lets us know how it turns out.