[philsquares]

Here is the correct link. https://www.singaporeair.com/en_UK/es/travel-info/requests/seats/

[quote quote=878659]BUT I had emails from both the airlines I’m traveling with BA, and another trip Singapore Airlines, stating that from x date, in future, even in premimum plus cabins, they were now going start charging.[/quote]

Again, SQ is not charging in any class but economy.

[FDOS_UK]

Here is the webpage, with the info PhilSquares mentions

https://www.singaporeair.com/en_UK/es/travel-info/requests/seats/

[traveldoc1]

I suspect BA can get away with it because their seat arrangement is so awful, and people desperately pay in order to try to get one of the less bad seats. I usually fly with EK, AY and TG, none of which charge me for seat selection, which is how it should be.

[GordyUK]

This has been a long standing bone of contention for me. For years I’d book my Club World ticket and reserve a great upper deck seat on a 747, often 7 months in advance. When the charging came in, I was incensed as it basically just said “we don’t care about your couple of flights a year, we want Jonny Gold Card to be able to book the day before and get his choice, then you get what’s left”

Of course it makes business sense but I must have sulked about it for years 😂. Now that I have some status, of course it’s a perk, but I do still maintain that paid seats should be WT & WT+ only

[RHMAngel]

BA seat allocation charge

Rant for BA Seat allocation charge in Premium for ticket that was £1000+ long haul

[nevereconomy]

Does any other carrier have a seat selsction fee in anything but economy ?

[canucklad]

I’ve said it before, these charges are collectively our fault.

If everybody ignores them, the airlines will realize its a waste of time.
Sadly , it takes just a few of us to be lured with words such as enhancements, choice and greater freedom !!
And by feeding the pig, the pig just gets greedier and greedier.

Consider the choices we now have, how many different ways we can improve our flying experience by pay a supplementary charge. And in reality these extras bring us back to what we took for granted not that long ago, as part of your ticket price.

[capetonianm]

It’s a type of blackmail, and canucklad is correct, and we should never give in to blackmail, but in the case of flying, the alternative is sometimes worse than just paying up. If I cough up for a window seat, I know I’m not going to have people bumping me as they move along the aisle, or climbing over me, and I will have at least one side to lean against. If I don’t pay ……

*****Edited by Business Traveller*****

[GivingupBA]

[quote quote=905569]It’s a type of blackmail … we should never give in to blackmail, but in the case of flying, the alternative is sometimes worse than just paying up. If I cough up for a window seat, I know I’m not going to have people bumping me as they move along the aisle, or climbing over me, and I will have at least one side to lean against. If I don’t pay …… [/quote]

I wouldn’t quite call it blackmail, because there doesn’t seem to be a threat to me. I rarely fly on BA these days but when I did, I always resented paying to book my favourite seat, but in the end I just came to see it as part of the ticket price and chose my airline accordingly, BA often being the best choice (for me at that time).

The scam email is interesting – thanks for posting that. It looks to me like they’re just trying to get you to click on a link to a dodgy website?

[canucklad]

[quote quote=905572]I wouldn’t quite call it blackmail, because there doesn’t seem to be a threat to me[/quote]

Actually GivingupBA I’ve also called it blackmail in the past…….

Do you want to sit next to your travelling companion ? Y/N
Do you want an edible meal ? Y/N
Do you want a drink ? Y/N
Do you want to stand in a queue? Y/N
Do you want to be treated like a sardine ? Y/N
Do you need luggage? Y/N
Do you ………..?

And, the list will just grow and grow !!

Do you want to be bored on your 12 hour flight ? Y/N
You don’t mind being cold do you ? Y/N

As consumers we’re being continually shafted, and yet it seems our tolerance level to service reduction from these companies that serve us increases.
Maybe it’s a generational thing…..Millennials don’t know good service, because they’ve never had it, and are willing to pay more from an already low (not cheap)base

[capetonianm]

I have reported my own posting above to draw it to the attention of one of the moderators.

I should have broken or removed the link to the website …… I omitted to do so. Perhaps someone could do that.

[Londonian]

I agree that it feels a bit of a rip off to have to pay for a seat reservation in CW after shelling out a not insubstantial sum, but my strong sense is that the not insubstantial sum is generally lower than in the past. This is more of a general comment about the cost to service ratio that we face today.

This article might be of some interest:

https://www.telegraph.co.uk/travel/comment/how-airfares-have-fallen-since-golden-age-of-flying/

Today to fly to Boston in BA PE it’s about the same cost as it was in 1990 to fly in Economy. PE has it’s own TV screen with a huge selection of entertainment and a 38″ seat pitch. This is much better than economy class in 1990.

I first started to fly business class long haul in the mid 1990s. My first ticket was on Gulf Air at Christmas 1995 to Melbourne in the 40″ biz recliner class with a tiny screen that allowed you to follow the restricted entertainment for a little over £2k. This year, 23 years later, I an flying on JAL to Melbourne for a little under £3k on a flat bed with a huge TV screen that is entirely at my command . This strikes me as good value. Obviously this is not BA but that is the choices I have made. My point is that BA like the aviation industry as whole, is operating in a difficult commercial environment where price and NOT service seems to be the principal driver in most people’s choices.

1 user thanked author for this post.

DerekVH

[GivingupBA]

Canucklad said, Actually GivingupBA I’ve also called it blackmail in the past…….
Do you want to sit next to your travelling companion ? Y/N
Do you want an edible meal ? Y/N
Do you want a drink ? Y/N
[/quote]

Canucklad, thanks and I get all of that, but I object to the word “blackmail” – for which the dictionary has “the action, treated as a criminal offence, of demanding money from someone in return for not revealing compromising information which one has about them” – I maintain that BA does not do that, and your examples in your reply to me are not that. Thanks for listening!

To me at least, and for anyone (like me) who can choose their airline, I suggest that the BA charges for choosing a seat represent choice. No-one forces me to choose BA: for me it’s like e.g. TESCO suddenly raising the price of butter to 15 quid per kilo and bread to 15 quid per loaf – if they did that, I would go to another supermarket to buy my bread and butter.

[MartynSinclair]

@Londonian – I am with you on how airfare prices have fallen over the years, especially business and first. I am fortunate that I do not have to pay for my BA seats (yet I still find myself moaning about the service).. In real terms I am paying today, about half the amount I paid 10 years ago for longhaul (albeit, not I do not go direct).

Bottom line for me, I get a seat, which turns into a bed, I drink, eat and sleep (very well) & I think I get fabulous value for many, especially with the added bonus of easily redeemable avios.

Would I pay for a seat – I would like to think I fly sufficiently, if not with o/w with star – to avoid having to shell out for reserving a seat…

3 users thanked author for this post.

Ekond222, DerekVH, Londonian

[canucklad]

Fair comment GivingupBA …….maybe blackmail isn’t quite the right word to describe BA and other companies practices.

Extortion , Coercion and Exploitation might also , not quite fit the bill .

Yet, I stand by my premix, and I’ll use Air Canada as a non BA example.
They have created an experience in their “Y” cabins that can only be described as “an individual having to endure “, perhaps not to the extent of threat of pain and suffering, but endure most definitely fits the bill.

If you want to avoid this worse than cattle class experience, you definitely can participate in their “price gouging” scheme by choosing to pay more, allowing you to escape to their PE cabin.

And talking about “price gouging” if that’s not what EDI’s increased drop off/pick up charge is, then I’m an invisible rabbit called Harvey !!

As travellers, it’s not just BA that’s ripping us off, it’s becoming common practice throughout the industry.

[Author]

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