[Ah,Mr.Bond]

My mum was equally disgusted to pay a hefty fee just to choose a business seat to Florida. Yes, this is the norm now… IN ECONOMY… for business I know of no other and is a total insult to business passengers. I would expect this at no charge, and once silver status is lost I would not be paying my money to BA that’s for sure.

[Alex McWhirter]

FDOS – Correct. SIA does not charge for business class seat selection.

http://www.singaporeair.com/en_UK/gb/flying-withus/fare-types/

[AlanOrton1]

BA have been doing this for several years now. Along with ‘leading’ the way with various fees, fuel surcharges etc that get added on to Avios bookings. (Particularly for long haul).

While they are one of the few that do charge these fees for premium cabins, I suspect they will not be the last. I believe Swiss already does for some of its preferred long haul seats in their business cabin.

Where BA ‘lead’, other airlines have often followed. Think long haul hand baggage only fares etc. (This isn’t meant to be a compliment).

However, as RFerguson points out, those traveling together generally do get seated together, and for higher status Exec Club members (at least for now) it is still free and by charging extra to those without status to choose their seats, in theory it can leave a better selection for status pax.

[handbag]

Totally agree with all points rferguson made. I too cannot remember a flight when pax have been split (unless missed connection etc.). Wouldn’t bother unless there is a specific seat required.

[Inquisitive]

I have travelled business class in Singapore Airlines, Thai, ANA, Korean, United, Delta, Qatar, Jet Airways during last 2 years; none of these charge for seat selection.
Economy is a different matter, that shall not be part of discussion in this case.
Calling it business class with hefty fare compared to economy and then charge for seat selection is a stupid idea and it shows management caliber.

In addition there shall be some kind of regulation that family shall be allocated seat together or at least nearby. Even in economy airlines try to extract more money from family booking. For my holidays, I have seen when I book 4 tickets together, it cost more than a single ticket.

[christopheL]

@Alex McWhirter

“Most airlines now have a fee. Quality airline SIA has begun charging for seat selection. But SIA does not levy the fee for business class passengers.”

Charging for seat selection is a common practice today … in economy class.

Do you have any exemple of a “quality airline” other than BA charging for seat selection in business class … ?

As far as I know, even the few long haul low cost carriers do not … (Scoot, Joon, Air Asia …)

Charging for seat selection in economy class is slightly different from charging seat selection in business class. Don’t you think so ?

[Alex McWhirter]

[quote quote=877386]While they are one of the few that do charge these fees for premium cabins, I suspect they will not be the last. I believe Swiss already does for some of its preferred long haul seats in their business cabin.[/quote]

AlanOrton1 – You are correct. Swiss introduced a fee for the “throne” seat.

Swiss introduces “throne” seat reservation fee

[quote quote=877389]In addition there shall be some kind of regulation that family shall be allocated seat together or at least nearby.[/quote]

There should but not easy to enforce at busy hubs with groups of pax making connections, flight delays, overbooked flights etc.

I remember one Ask Alex query involved a Hong Kong-based lady travelling with her mother who was in her Eighties.

Both were booked Y class with BA for HKG-LHR. But both had not paid extra to pre-reserve their seats thinking that the BA computer would not be dumb enough to seat both apart.

But it was dumb. Even though they both accessed manage my booking “on the dot” (those were her very words which I can still recall) of the advance booking period they were unable to get seats together.

Check-in staff weren’t much help. It was a fully booked flight in Y. Both had to sit many rows apart.

Although the daughter was fluent in English it was a problem for her aged mother who did not understand any English language.

When I contacted BA’s PR department it only offered sympathy. It suggested next time they both pre-book and pay the fee.

[christopheL]

@ Inquisitive

If you do not want to be charged more per head for a group of 4 compared to a single ticket you just need to check how many tickets are still to sell whith the lowest fare.
If you don’t mind split your booking into two separate PNR codes, you can then make two bookings, one of them will be with the lowest fare, the other one with the highest fare.
But you then will have to keep in mind that your two separate bookings will be considered as … two separate bookings by the airline !

1 user thanked author for this post.

Inquisitive

[Alex McWhirter]

[quote quote=877390]Do you have any exemple of a “quality airline” other than BA charging for seat selection in business class … ?[/quote]

christopheL – Please see above re Swiss’ fee for its throne seats.

[christopheL]

Alex, I may be wrong but I am sure that you can see the difference between the very few Swiss throne seats and the “all the same” club world seats …

There are about 10% of throne seats on the A330 and A340 and a small 20% on the B777 which make them very looked after by solo travellers

[Alex McWhirter]

Indeed you are not wrong, christopheL. But these seats are classified as business class.

[christopheL]

I would say “happy few’s business class seats” 🙂

[canucklad]

[quote quote=877391]When I contacted BA’s PR department it only offered sympathy. It suggested next time they both pre-book and pay the fee.[/quote]

And that’s the problem, if I was that lady, the next time I’d choose Cathay.
But BA doesn’t have to worry about that as their HKG flights are invariably packed.
Therefore, a blackmail charge is all to easy to apply , simply because they know people will pay it, and if they don’t and the outcome is like the lady mentioned, then heyho …what’s one disgruntled unhappy customer worth, not much, after all threes loads of potential other future unhappy with BA customer out there , ready to fleece.
Whatever happened to paying a decent price and expecting a decent return from your supplier of choice.

[Alex McWhirter]

canucklad – Quite true. I remember in the 1970s when BA had a monopoly on the HKG route and provided dire service (CX was only allowed to break the monopoly in 1980) the flights were still full.

In those days many Hong Kong-bound travellers would route via another Asian point (with an Asian airline like TG/SQ/MH/CX) in order to get a better fare and sample better onboard service.

Indeed it was only because of many thousands of passenger complaints (about poor service / high fares * ) that the aviation bodies both here and in Hong Kong decided to remove BA’s monopoly.

* As Hong Kong was a colony at that time IATA had no authority to control fares on the London-Hong Kong route. It meant that BA was free to charge what it liked (within reason of course). I worked in the travel industry then and I remember it was cheaper to fly London-Hong Kong-Taipei (an IATA-based fare at that time) rather than London-Hong Kong (classified as a cabotage route).

[Alex McWhirter]

canucklad – I should have mentioned I did published that reader’s letter in the Ask Alex column. But it’s now being a paywall and I’ve forgotten the month/year it appeared … it was probably about four or five years ago.

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