Seat requests with British Airways

[alexandra uk]

Does anyone know if you can request seats with BA, and if so which are the best ones to request ?
DH is 6.3, so legroom is important.

 

[LisaUK]

ba is a scheduled flight so you should be able to book seats when you book tickets but they only assign a portion of the flight seats so we missed out and have to get seats at the airport.

I would speak with your agent and check. We are flying BA on a 777 which means that the seats are 333 - not great for a family of 4 so check ahead of time to see what you can get. You might be able to put a note on your booking about the long legs !!!

 

[Wednesday till I die]

Hi Lisa.

Just flown over there on a 777 and the seat configuration was 2/5/2, or 2/4/2 in places. This was with Delta. Don't know if B.A is the same but if they are the 2/4/2 seats were the back few rows. Hope this helps any family of four's (like mine!)

Barry.

Alex.

I am 6.4 and there was plenty of legroom, much more than on the Virgin flight.

 

[alexandra uk]

Thankyou both
I'll get on to Bon Voyage, and ask if I can pre book some seats.
Have you got any idea which are the best to ask for ?

 

[alexandra uk]

I've had an e mail from Bon Voyage to say that seats can be requested, but not its not 100% that you will get them.
They also said that Bulkhead and exit seats can only be allocated on the day.

 

[Scottish-Helen]

I work for BA, you can only pre-allocate general seats, it is correct that exit seats/bulkheads can only be done on the day. It is only check-in staff that have access to that part of the computer. You should be able to get seat numbers together though. The only way to get the exit seats is to check in early, I have often managed to get these seats by using this method (I've only worked there a short time so I was just a paying customer)

 

[alexandra uk]

Thanks Helen
Where would I stand on getting Bulkhead seats ?
(I know I'd have to check in early, which is no problem because I'll use the 24hr online check in the day before to request them)
I want to know whether they would allow us to sit in the Bulkhead with a 2 year old. I read a thread, where someone thought it was only for babes in arms and sky cots

 

[Stuartpaul]

I've just had an absolute nightmare trying to reserve BA seats for a family of 5. As you can imagine with youngsters its important to know you at least stand a chance of sitting close to each other.

They didn't want to know and despite their recent advertising campaign looking to slag off the lo-cost airlines insisted I had to 'take my chances' by getting there early!!

In this day and age I find that unacceptable (especially when its no problem at all with virgin) and wrote to the Chairman.

He has condescendingly agreed to reserve seats (for which I am grateful) but it will be a long time before I fly BA again.

 

[Hilary]

In this day and age I find that unacceptable (especially when its no problem at all with virgin)

I agree that the whole airline seating lottery seems like too much of a lucky dip, but just wanted to point out that BA is certainly not alone on this.

We've pre-requested (I know they are not guranteed) seats with Virgin only to be told at check-in that 'our' seats are no longer available, and I've heard tales of many others flying with Virgin (and other airlines) who have had similar experiences.

I appreciate that there can be legitimate resons for giving a pre-allocated seat to another passenger, but it happens too often to always be down to a change of aircraft, etc. I was once behind someone checking in for a Virgin flight at Orlando and heard the passenger ask for seats in a particular place on the plane, only to be told they had already been allocated to someone else. However, because that person had not yet checked in, the desk clerk switched the seat allocation to satisfy the passenger standing in front of her.