[Shep]

I booked through my travel broker a British airways seat and asked for certain seats and was told I would have to pay extra $100 per seat for the leg Sydney Singapore. I must have traveled with at least 15 airlines this is the first time it’s happened. Well done British Airways.

2 users thanked author for this post.

Polly, SGJNI1961

[first_class_please]

Since 2013…

Unless holding high enough fare class or frequent flyer status.

[SimonS1]

I thought most airlines charged now. Another source of income raising.

[_glbetrkkr_]

BA is the only airline I’ve known to charge seats, even in J class…
Only F class has free seat selection.

[jetsettraveluk]

I have a travel agent I’ve been using for a few years, never charged me extra for seats. Even on BA. As far as I know he is the only one in the industry who sells gives it to his clients free of charge.
PM for further details

[canucklad]

[quote quote=931944]BA is the only airline I’ve known to charge seats, even in J class…[/quote]

Shep. you never said what class, I’m assuming Club World though, as its common practice across the industry in Y nowadays . If it was in J then simply put, BA is charging you for being a disloyal customer, even if you have opted for one of their premium classes.
If you’re flying in a Premium cabin, with premium prices you should be treated accordingly.
Shoddy practice, but its BA so not surprising..

1 user thanked author for this post.

w8ster

[SwissExPat]

This happens to a limited extent on SWISS also.

In J longhaul there are certain seats that (being more private and desirable) you can pay an extra CHF 199 for! Some of these are reserved and available to Hon Circle (high level FF) right from initial booking but some are simply available for purchase. In my last flight, I managed to get one of these at 24 hour checkin without paying the CHF 199. [The published fare for my journey was CHF 8,000 !! but I was using Miles & More points]

I’ve always thought that it is a acknowledgment from SWISS that some of their seats in J are ‘inferior’ to others.

1 user thanked author for this post.

Polly

[_glbetrkkr_]

The context of this post is J class. It goes without saying what class I’m referring to…

[simeoncox]

I recently purchased a QF multi-codeshare C ticket PNH-BNE, through an online 3rd party vendor. I, too, had to pay $US26 per seat choice on the EK sector.

Not happy, Jan!*

*AU idiom.

[Polly]

Really. I just bought 2 J returns to LHR HKG on Swiss yesterday, and asked to chose our seats at the same time, no extra charge. Was amazed, as BA Silver, we don’t pay. But read lots of complaints of those who do have to pay to ensure sitting with family. Was praising Swiss for this policy. BA obv use it as an income policy in J, seems unfair after paying so much for a J Asia tkt, to have to pay another £80 pp per flight, on top to chose seats. Plain greedy.

[RHMAngel]

I was shocked too – last summer 2018 J no charge to Tokyo – was that blind luck ?

6 months later to Tokyo in January 2019, charged for choosing the seat. And it wasn’t a token low amount. Utterly stunned.

Kind of expect this sadly in economy for my personal short haul European weekends away.

Said a couple of times before on this forum, race to the bottom and behaving like low cost carrier on long haul routes.

[EU_Flyer]

[quote quote=932304]BA obv use it as an income policy in J, seems unfair after paying so much for a J Asia tkt, to have to pay another £80 pp per flight, on top to chose seats. Plain greedy.[/quote]

Agreed. Although they seem to do this also partly to give their Gold and Silver BAEC members first preference at free seats in Club. Perhaps a middle ground would be to allow non Gold / Silver FF members the option to choose certain less ‘popular’ seats for free?

That way they don’t feel like they’re buying a Business Class seat on Ryanair?

[GivingupBA]

[quote quote=931659]I booked through my travel broker a British airways seat and asked for certain seats and was told I would have to pay extra $100 per seat for the leg Sydney Singapore….. Well done British Airways.[/quote]

I’ve complained about having to pay to choose a BA ‘J’ seat in the past, and a lot of people do, but I don’t any more. I just take it as part of the cost, which I look at and then compare across airlines – e.g. airline A is $xxx fare and $xxx for the seat, total $xxx: airline B is $xxx fare and $0 for the seat, total $xxx – then I choose airline on that basis. In the same way if e.g. Ryanair make lots of charges on top of the fare, I just total them up and then compare across airlines.

But everything must be clear upfront – when costs are hidden, especially at the last stage of booking, I think people have grounds for complaint. Just my 2p. worth on the topic.

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Jacob, alanred13

[capetonianm]

It’s one of the reasons I BA whenever possible. I suppose I should appreciate that they are often cheaper than other and better carriers, and I don’t have a problem with paying for ancillary services, but when I pay a business class fare I don’t regard seat selection as an ancillary.

Race to the bottom and all that …….

[w8ster]

I flew BA few years ago from LHR to EZE on J and yes was asked to pay for booking a seat on top of the Ticket price. I had to get there fast and then being the only direct was the only reason I picked them which I regret.

The seats are not business class worthy and had to pay to book seat so I am not stuck in those silly middle seat where you are trapped by people. Service was at best budget airline worthy ..

I never flew them again.

[Author]

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