Are the worst seats always a given for Awards bookings?

[WTL]

Can anyone advise on the seat allocation process as it applies to Award seats on the SYD-LHR QF/BA codeshare route? I ask this because the in-laws flew outbound in the worst possible seats, and as they’re old and lining-up for hip replacements, etc, asked BA how to improve things for the return leg. Online check-in was their response. Fair enough. So I logged in at 2201 the day before the return leg to take care of that for them (chose 52J and 52K or whatever the two on the right are) and found, interestingly that the system unilaterally changed them to 50A and 50C (window and centre) after I pressed confirm. This wouldn’t have been a simple case of someone else getting in first, because I know from experience that the BA website will tell you explicitly if that happens, and let you reselect.

I called BA and QF to discuss what I thought at that stage was a website error (the BA online check-in has been serving up plenty of them to me lately) and was told the only way to remedy this was at the airport, as once the check-in has been confirmed it can only be adjusted at the desks (sure, sure). "You and I both know only the scraps will be left by that stage", I argued, but operators in Sydney/Bangalore/London promised to append a note to their booking to support their case (that there was website funny business) when they present at check-in.

I was flying out of LHR T1 a few hours before their flight from T4 so I found a nice BA lady who called their seating people to see what could be done, and they were apparently then moved to row 26.

When they got to the airport (second in line at check-in) they found themselves in the row 47 centre section, with no notes attached to their booking to distinguish them from all the other grumpy travelers.

They ended up flying in 27 I think.

Anyway, it intrigues me that this may not have been a website error, rather, combined with their bad seats on the way over, and then how the system moved them five times (that I know of) between check-in and departure as the flight was filling and various priority allocations were taking place, perhaps this is the result of the Awards seat codes being the lowest ranked in the system?

You cant really expect much in the way of favours if you have no status and you’re flying in Awards seats, sure, but it actually appears that you are so far down in the pecking order that you are always going to cop it in the neck - even if you go to the trouble of checking in first, and all you want are a couple of isle seats anywhere on the plane.

I think they acquitted near on 400,000 points under the Any Seat scheme with two or three weeks' notice. They now see the active pursuit of points for this purpose through the dogged use of their Amex as being of rather less value than they had before their BA experience.

I have a bee in my own bonnet about being lied to (thrice) about the "supporting notes" too.

Can anyone shed some light on how this actually works?

Regards,

WTL.

 

[oz_mark]

You cant really expect much in the way of favours if you have no status and you’re flying in Awards seats

I think they acquitted near on 400,000 points under the Any Seat scheme with two or three weeks' notice.

I suspect thet the issues are that at three weeks out all the good seats are gone, and status would be more likely the reason for the shuffle.There may have also been some aircraft substitutions going on.

As for the other issues, I will let those go through to others to answer

 

[JohnK]

I do not think award seats have much influence in seat allocation. It will more than likely be the status of other passengers and a first in first served for premium seats.

During a Oneworld RTW award in Aug-Sep 2008 I had bulkhead and exit rows allocated for all long haul flights including a BA flight from ORD-LHR. It was only booked 4 months before departure.

Planning another Oneworld RTW award in April 2009 to take my 71 year old father on a RTW and hope to get good seats allocated for those flights as well. I think he will be spoiled with lounge access....

 

[coyote25]

I agree that status is the main determination not award seat, or a least it use to be. I think the new system now has status first then revenue on the ticket -- so no status award ticket would get bad seats.

When I've been on an award seat on QANTAs and Oneworld as a WP I still got some of the best seats in Y.

 

[Arthur Hodgson]

I do not think award seats have much influence in seat allocation. It will more than likely be the status of other passengers and a first in first served for premium seats.

During a Oneworld RTW award in Aug-Sep 2008 I had bulkhead and exit rows allocated for all long haul flights including a BA flight from ORD-LHR. It was only booked 4 months before departure.

Planning another Oneworld RTW award in April 2009 to take my 71 year old father on a RTW and hope to get good seats allocated for those flights as well. I think he will be spoiled with lounge access....

I'm not sure why anyone would choose to travel on an airline where you can't actually select your own seats. Why leave it to the gods (or possibly incompetent Qantas staff)?

Even AirNZ lets you choose your seat online months ahead of flying. And I can always get bulkhead/exit rows (if that's what I want) on UA because you can do it online at any time.

 

[WTL]

I'm not sure why anyone would choose to travel on an airline where you can't actually select your own seats. Why leave it to the gods (or possibly incompetent Qantas staff)?

Even AirNZ lets you choose your seat online months ahead of flying. And I can always get bulkhead/exit rows (if that's what I want) on UA because you can do it online at any time.

You can get preallocated through a travel agent at the time of booking.

 

[serfty]

I'm not sure why anyone would choose to travel on an airline where you can't actually select your own seats. Why leave it to the gods (or possibly incompetent Qantas staff)? ...

You can get preallocated through a travel agent at the time of booking.

... or even call Qantas. They will allow pre allocation for non status in WHY until ~¼ of the cabin is allocated. J, F and Elites can generally pre allocate up to a day before departure.

To get around the "(... possibly incompetent Qantas staff)" aspect, you can then use Amadeus www.checkmytrip.com to check you have the seats you expected.

 

[JohnK]

I'm not sure why anyone would choose to travel on an airline where you can't actually select your own seats. Why leave it to the gods (or possibly incompetent Qantas staff)?

I try to avoid airlines where I cannot pre-allocate seats. All my flights were on QF, BA, AA and AY where I had seats pre-allocated with the booking. I called to change the QF and BA flights to exit row and bulkhead seats and got an aisle seat as forward as possible on the remaining flights.

Even AirNZ lets you choose your seat online months ahead of flying. And I can always get bulkhead/exit rows (if that's what I want) on UA because you can do it online at any time.

I can understand the advantages of being able to change seats online but in reality it is not that different to being able to change pre-allocated seats over the phone. In fact sometimes it may even be better as the person on the phone may have access to seats that do not show up online.

 

[Myrna]

We have used hubby Qantas FF points to book (online - no assistance required) 2 international flights (economy class) this month for a young relative. Then hubby phoned Qantas platinum service to request seat allocations for the 2 flights. But, they could only allocate a seat for one flight and not the other. They said the other flight was closed to them and the relative would get the seat allocated at check-in for that flight.

:?: - Is there anyway we can request seat allocation before an international flight? - for peace of mind really so that the relative does not end up at the back of the plane?

Thanks.

 

[simongr]

Two RTW trips on multiple different awards had mrssimongr and me sat in every seat we wanted except on CX as I forgot to cal CX ahead of time to allocate seats.

 

[codash1099]

For my recent DONE4, the agent was able to get pre-allocation on all legs except BA from SFO to LHR. She managed to register a window preference for that but I ended up with an aisle.

Does BA normally allow pre-allocation?

 

[JohnK]

:?: - Is there anyway we can request seat allocation before an international flight? - for peace of mind really so that the relative does not end up at the back of the plane?

As far as I am aware once a flight is closed from further seat pre-allocation there is not much one can do even as a Platinum. You can request QF to put a note on the booking for the seat preference and try to turn up to check-in as early as possible.

 

[simongr]

For my recent DONE4, the agent was able to get pre-allocation on all legs except BA from SFO to LHR. She managed to register a window preference for that but I ended up with an aisle.

Does BA normally allow pre-allocation?

For OW Sapphire or Emerald or full fare C/J/F tickets

 

[straitman]

For OW Sapphire or Emerald or full fare C/J/F tickets

I thought it did not include OW Sapphire but I'm not willing to stake money on it. :shock:

 

[JohnK]

I thought it did not include OW Sapphire but I'm not willing to stake money on it. :shock:

To a certain extent pre-allocation of seats on BA does include OW Sapphire but the first few rows of WHY are not accessable. :-|

 

[serfty]

IME, Qantas permits pre-allocation for it elites after it may have closed for non members or Bronze.

Certainly with QP, SG and WP bookings I have been able to pre-allocate on fairly full seat maps.

 

[serfty]

To a certain extent pre-allocation of seats on BA does include OW Sapphire but the first few rows of WHY are not accessable. :-|

I have never preallocated on BA in WHY except under the newer systems where as a WP I was able access just about any available seat - this included exit rows - all this online (Just watch out for the dreaded BA seat shifters).

I do believe o/w Sapphire are eligible as well - maybe with JohnK's proviso.

 

[simongr]

I thought it did not include OW Sapphire but I'm not willing to stake money on it.

BA Seating policy -> https://www.britishairways.com/travel/mmbseatingpolicy/public/en_au

Lucky you kept that moneyin your pocket

To a certain extent pre-allocation of seats on BA does include OW Sapphire but the first few rows of WHY are not accessable. :-|

Nor 1AK on the 747 - I think that is in fact just BA Gold.

 

[Dave Noble]

Nor 1AK on the 747 - I think that is in fact just BA Gold.

Or other OW Emerald

Dave

 

[Myrna]

As far as I am aware once a flight is closed from further seat pre-allocation there is not much one can do even as a Platinum. You can request QF to put a note on the booking for the seat preference and try to turn up to check-in as early as possible.

Thanks, JohnK. We have told our young relative that she must check in at LAX early for her return flight so to get a good seat (hopefully). Although we thought we had got her a reasonable good seat for the outbound flight, when she checked in her seat was changed - towards the back of the plane! I know when I travelled with hubby we always got reasonably good seats because he is a plat.