Plane talk: Seattle BA flights to be a 787-10 starting in July

Interesting! We just booked business class coming home from London (thru SFO) for October and I have not been allowed to choose seats. The configuration shown for our flight is still a 747, but we conjectured that they are not allowing seat selection as they may be planning an equipment change since they are the last bastion of 747s for passenger use. Looks like a winner!

I believe British Airways charges an extra fee to pick your own seats - even in business class, no?

Sadly, most major airlines are retiring (or already have retired) their 747s. I loved that upper deck cabin. Their days are numbered. Even the A380 is being phased out by some airlines.

From what I've read, the new BA business class suites are lovely. I'm sure you will enjoy that flight, Lola.

It isn’t quite true that all flight to/from Seattle will be on a 787, at least so far. My July/August flights are showing on a 777.

There is no flying experience like sitting in seat 1A on a 747 -- the seat's window has a bit of a forward view to it. I've been fortunate to do it twice.

Sadly, most major airlines are retiring (or already have retired)
their 747s. I loved that upper deck cabin. Their days are numbered.

Most certainly are. The 747-400 is an old plane that had next to no competition when it launched, but is just outdated today. And the newest 747 version hasn't sold well. One exception though was Lufthansa sp they will continue to operate 747s.

Carol, my post concerns the daily flights BA 48 and 49 only.

You must be on BA 52/53, the earlier flight that runs several times a week. That is a 777 and is not scheduled to change.

David, yes BA does charge to choose one’s seats in advance, even in Business Class. We feel it is worth it to sit on the upper deck. With the new 787-10, it will still be worth it to ensure a window seat for me (my husband does not care as long as the IFE works).

My first flight on a 747 was in 1976 on Pan American from Fairbanks to Seattle. I have loved that plane ever since. And the pilots I have spoken with like it too. When BA switched to a 777 for BA 48/49 for awhile earlier in this decade, we started using other airports (SFO, YVR, or SJC) for our flights to avoid the 777s.

Laurel, when in October is your trip? The proposed schedule shows the 787-10 for BA 48/49 from July 1 to October 24. And San Francisco is not mentioned in the list at all. Maybe they are getting the new A350 instead?

https://www.routesonline.com/news/38/airlineroute/288109/british-airways-s20-london-heathrow-long-haul-changes-as-of-12dec19/

I'm on British Airways flight 48 from Seattle on Sept 16th and haven't gotten my notification yet. I booked using Costco so maybe it has to go through them first. Darn I was looking forward to the 747 again.

I think they are doing a rolling notification, based on date.

But with a booking through another source, you should get the notification from them (Costco). Or maybe not. Our outbound trip in July is booked through Alaska Airlines, with miles, and I have not heard anything from them. So I went into my booking and saw the equipment had changed and we had no seats. I went ahead and chose our seats on the new plane. I could do this because I paid to select our seats on the 747.

Even if you have not received any notification of the change, you can monitor your booking through Manage My Booking and look at new seats when they officially make the change for your flight.

Thanks Carol. I found the BA booking # on my costco email and went to british airways website. The website now does say that the plane will be a 787-10. I checked and hubby & I are sitting next to each other in business class. I've never flown business class so I'm looking forward to this.