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.
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.