BA to charge for seat selection.

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Viewing 15 posts - 46 through 60 (of 96 total)

  • Airpocket
    Participant

    Jokes aside, it would be interesting to see how News International/Sky approach this story. Will they be sympathetic to BA or will they crush it?
    As we know, News International wields a disproportionate amount of influence in the UK. If it can bring down Labour it can certainly do the same to BA.


    NTarrant
    Participant

    Don’t think that News International alone can have credit for bring down Labour, but one does have to look at the headlines in this story.

    Take London Lite yesterday with a big splash on the front page, something like “£160 for a seat on BA” I know its headline grabbing so you pick up the paper or read it but it is still trial by media. Sadly for BA there was not a lot of other news yesterday, hence the big headline. But then again todays news, tomorrow’s chip paper!


    Hess963
    Participant

    Hi everyone !!

    NTarrant and JimB that is good! I definitely think we need a lttle bit of “cooling down” here.

    Airpocket do you have to use words like ” crushing it or bringing down BA “??. I know you mentioned you do not fly BA–so you do not care what happen with it. But there are still BA pax and loyal here who do not generally like such wordings. I comment to BA sharply too, but I do not use words like that as it really make people think you might have a personal concern regarding BA. I do not like it either when airlines and their policies are highly rated and commented even glorifying them.

    I think this issue should be aired to the British public who will fly or are flying with BA as this is a huge issue. This could really influence people’s choice in flying with other airline rather than BA.
    Yes, in some countries, airlines and areas regarding this matter–it is normal to raise or to implement such actions( trying to cut costs –whatever …) but it doesn’t mean that the BA pax are nonchalant to it. And why just accept such actions as a fact. Pax have still rights and choices!!

    BA should be aware of these aspects and really reconsider this step before it gets daunting entirely !!


    Airpocket
    Participant

    Well, perhaps this op-ed piece in the week-end FT might be more to your sensitivities:

    http://www.ft.com/cms/s/0/450da4fc-aa36-11de-a3ce-00144feabdc0.html

    Or, you could just type BA into the FT’s search engine and it will bring up the article.
    I make no apologies for using the language that I did. Certain elements of the print and televison media in this country DO have the power to wreak damage on entities. I was simply alluding to their strength. I’m neither a fan of News International/Sky nor BA so I’m pretty neutral in this context.


    Account_Deleted
    Participant

    Account deleted


    GoonerLondon
    Participant

    Lets deal in facts, not fiction

    The full detail about this new policy is here:

    http://www.britishairways.com/travel/newseatingpolicy/public/en_gb

    The old policy (so you can compare) is here:

    http://www.britishairways.com/travel/mmbseatingpolicy/public/en_gb

    The point I was trying to make (perhaps poorly) is that nothing really has changed. If you could have a free seat reservation under the old policy then you still can. Whats being made available is for those who couldn’t get a seat reservation to now pay for one.

    I appreciate that some would say a seat reservation at time of booking should be a feature of the BA Package. But that hasn’t been the case for some time. Some of the points in this thread seem to relate to this general principle. But as I said this is old news. Personally I think it is a good thing for more choice to be available to those who pay full fare. But I understand this is just a point of view.

    Finally about posting: I think it is important to correct misunderstandings – and I simply wanted to suggest that some posters emotive rants about this being the end of the airline/ a disgrace etc is an over-reaction. Much of this ‘anger’ seems to relate to the original policy of not allowing seat reservations at time of booking at all. Would you prefer to have kept this – or allow the option of paying more when a seat reservation is a little more important? ((if the answer is – no I want a free one at time of booking – well, as I say, that was stopped ages ago).

    And then some peoples anger seems to be an ongoing rant in several threads, and goes along the lines of “Isn’t BA rubbish..here’s another example’. We get it – you don’t like BA.

    And lets not get personal. Calling people ignorant isn’t helpful or nice. Humorous asides we should be able to take in our stride though.

    The media is great at picking up a policy change and amplifying it to the point of crisis, They were very good at this, for example, at M&S a few years back. They are also good at it in BA. Both are institutions which people are fond of or divide opinions, and therefore make people read the paper.

    As Frequent Fliers though – shouldn’t we be a little above this?


    Cwyfan
    Participant

    This is a tax on tall people like myself…I look forward to their initiative to tax fat people who without paying extra share their neighbours seat space

    They seem hell bent on becoming the world’s favourless airline


    RonaldoJ21
    Participant

    Well I’m off to Cathy and Virgin


    RonaldoJ21
    Participant

    Well so may are changing to Cathy or Virgin and this will precipitate the move of more. Any increased revenue will be offset by loss of customers and loss of good will.


    Airpocket
    Participant

    And so the exodus continues.


    marckirby
    Participant

    I have a couple of simple points. £60 is too much to charge to pick a seat in business. £20 is proabably more sensible, Indeed, I might be persuaded to pay that.

    GoonerLondon is quite right when he suggests that this probably all stems from BA’s original policy of not letting you select a seat at time of booking unless you are Silver etc.

    However if you were not Silver (or whatever) you had a good chance of getting the seat you wanted 24 hours before departure. That may no longer be the case as some people may well have paid the fee to book their seat(s) thus reducing the choice. Only time will tell.

    The upshot is that if you need to sit in a certain seat (for whatever reason) and are not Silver, then you really will need to pay the £60. So in effect BA are forcing (in certain circumstances) this fee to be paid.

    I am irked about this, but not with anyone on this site or their views. Just with BA.

    So whilst I am not a millionaire and the loss of my trade will in all probablility not affect BA, here is at least one consequence.

    The two business returns to Sydney that I would normally have booked with BA (circa £7200) have now gone to another airline. So will the next two in February and the next two in July.

    It’s business not personal… excuse the pun.


    Travellator
    Participant

    I agree that the £ 60 is too much in club. I have already stated I pay Flybe and Aer Lingus.

    We are doing HKG later this month and we are both in upper deck because of Silver, my son booked later – no silver so will either have to pay or wait until 24hrs before travel, on checking seat plan there is only 1 upper deck seat available just now. This brings me to another point – I cannot believe the number of already allocated seats are Silver/Gold or paying full fare, someone somewher knows how to get round it !


    JonathanCohen09
    Participant

    Marc

    you make a good point, because you are not prepared to pay £120 to book seats for your trips to Aus BA have lost or will loose circa £21600 because they want you to pay £360 in order to reserve the seats of your choice.

    If lots of other passengers feel the same way and so switch carriers then the impact will be all the greater. Is it just me or has someone at BA got their maths wrong?


    Cwyfan
    Participant

    If all the posters who threaten to leave BA, actually do, there will be no need to book your seat in advance at all, as there will be plenty empty on the day


    STORMIN'
    Participant

    This must represent the most ill thought-out decision in recent times. This truly indicates where WW is taking this once great airline – down the Aer Lingus LCC route. Cost-cutting is now very evident on all Premium Fare flights. I have completed three Club World flights in the last three weeks and the food options ran out on all three occasions. On one, the sandwiches ran out in the afternoon tea service long before the whole cabin was serviced. The crew were extremely stressed by this and said that this now happens on almost every flight. When taking matters up with the management, they are merely told that there have been no significant increase in passenger complaints – this is possibly because passenger complaints nowadays are met with a pre-printed response letter that will not deal with the specific complaint. BA needs to be careful – they have the best FAs in the business and it’s these resources that keeps passengers returning. However, their patience won’t last forever – neither will passenger loyalty. I have been a Gold Card holder year on year since the current Tier system was introduced some 20 years ago – I guess this will be my last year as I now look elsewhere to place my loyalty.

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