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.

Have had the worst time with getting a refund for seats paid for at time of booking tickets on British Airways. I have cancelled my entire trip with them (within the 24 hour cancellation period, though never was it clear up front when I booked that they had such a policy; thankfully they did). I will book on American Airlines where seats are not extra and you can choose them in advance. I am still waiting for the $576 refund for four seats (two people, round trip from U.S. to London). Long waits when calling them and same for choosing the chat option to seek a refund for the seats portion of the booking. Specifically, after a week I was refunded for the two tickets (business class), minus the $576 for seats. Once I cancelled the tickets, the notice I automatically got said the cost of the seats was separate and I needed to contact customer service to request a refund on those.

What's just as bad, I believe that if you don't buy refundable tickets and you cancel them, you do not get a full credit to use for a year like you do on many U.S. airlines--and possibly you only get your taxes back. So watch out for that if for any reason you have to cancel at a later date after the 24-hour "cooling off" period has passed. I have a lot of travel experience so this whole process was frustrating.

I never got any email confirmation once I applied for a seat refund, or any case number, as you do when you cancel tickets. With this case number you can track your refund status as you wait for that (as I did on the two tickets, minus the seat cost).

I love BA, but won't be flying them again due to this no one-year credit policy if you cancel even non refundable tickets. I wouldn't wait 24 hours either to get my seats on BA for free --due to what folks are saying here about preferring to know your seat at time of payment.

I should note that I do not have Gold or above status on BA; I believe you get free seats in some higher tier membership status levels. All in all, this is not a straightforward process if you buy your tickets and seats at the same time and then try to get a refund. I believe you also get $0 back on the cost of your seats if, for example, you have to cancel your flights at a later date. One thing for sure is this: If you don't contact them specifically on the seat reservation refund, you will not be getting that back.

Fly an airline that allows you to book your seats at the time you buy your tickets--better yet if this seat selection is free/part of the ticket cost, which it should be, you would hope, with business class.

Just princess, BA is pretty clear that the seat fee is not refundable if you cancel your flight, even if the tickets themselves are refundable. I am sorry you are disappointed.