Prebooking seats

zagfles

jpsartre wrote: »

They only charge if you want to pick your seat prior to online check-in. I pick my seat free of charge every time I fly with as do most people I'm sure.

For long haul I'm used to picking my seats just after I book, did on Singapore, over 6 months in advance and over half the seats were already reserved!

No charge with them, I guess that's the difference between a top tier airline and a mid tier one

Doshwaster

zagfles wrote: »

No charge with them, I guess that's the difference between a top tier airline and a mid tier one

Singapore do offer the option of paying for "preferred seats" for $50 per sector
http://www.singaporeair.com/jsp/cms/en_UK/plan_and_book/preferredseat.jsp

budgetflyer

Doshwaster wrote: »

Not me, I'm just a mid ranking Silver card holder. I'm sick of these pesky GCH's getting all of the best seats.

And I suspect quite a few of them spend a fair wad of cash and time flying to useless places on Tier Point runs to get and maintain their gold status.

jackieblack

I agree with jpsatre.

We always fly at school holiday times and never not had 3 seats together. We often change from what we're allocated and have only once not been able to pick alternative seats together.

zagfles

Doshwaster wrote: »

Singapore do offer the option of paying for "preferred seats" for $50 per sector
http://www.singaporeair.com/jsp/cms/en_UK/plan_and_book/preferredseat.jsp

That's only for a small number of "special" seats, probably emergency exits etc, the vast majority are pre-bookable free. We booked 4 together on the upper deck of the A380.

Doshwaster

budgetflyer wrote: »

And I suspect quite a few of them spend a fair wad of cash and time flying to useless places on Tier Point runs to get and maintain their gold status.

Yup. I do the same to maintain Silver. I'm not travelling with work so much these days so every spring I find myself looking for creative TP runs to get the additional points needed.

budgetflyer

Doshwaster wrote: »

Yup. I do the same to maintain Silver. I'm not travelling with work so much these days so every spring I find myself looking for creative TP runs to get the additional points needed.

Are we talking > £400 to maintain silver and get BA lounge access and a few little perks like fast track security and early seat selection?

I just don't get it, but am happy to be corrected and/or educated if im missing something.
But if you don't take enough "usefull" flight ie, business and pleasure, is it really worth spending all that money on TP runs just for those extra benefits

Gloomendoom

zagfles wrote: »

For long haul I'm used to picking my seats just after I book, did on Singapore, over 6 months in advance and over half the seats were already reserved!

No charge with them, I guess that's the difference between a top tier airline and a mid tier one

I booked ten months in advance with Singapore and over half the seats were reserved already. As you say no charge, except for the extra legroom.

Edit: The whole upper deck of a 380 was booked solid.
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Doshwaster

budgetflyer wrote: »

Are we talking > £400 to maintain silver and get BA lounge access and a few little perks like fast track security and early seat selection?

I just don't get it, but am happy to be corrected and/or educated if im missing something.
But if you don't take enough "usefull" flight ie, business and pleasure, is it really worth spending all that money on TP runs just for those extra benefits

To be honest, there's nothing to "get" or understand. It's just an expensive hobby.

For a few years I qualified for Silver purely by business travel which was a nice perk and handy for when I flew BA for pleasure but in recent years it has taken some leisure trips to get me over the renewal threshold. This is my probably the last year of being Silver as my work travel is reducing further and it would cost more than I can justify to maintain the status.

It's odd as I used to be a huge fan of the budget carriers but over recent years I have just got a little too used to fast track security, lounges and upgrades.

ferf1223

Doshwaster wrote: »

And that's precisely why BA do offer the option to pay for seats. They have worked out there are sufficient numbers of people who are willing to spend the money.

I don't know about AA, but Virgin do charge extra for bulkhead seats but normal seats (for now) are free.

But for now this is precisely one of the reasons I won't fly with BA....I won't pay to pre-select my seat, but I much prefer to have my seat picked out well in advance...and while there are airlines that give me this option for free, I'm quite happy to fly with them and BA is off the table for me.

AA are free with the exception of some 'premium' seats which you can select for free if you have status (it's gone for me now but maybe again one day one of us will do the platinum challenge again) or pay extra for if not, and I know Virgin charge extra for some seats including extra legroom seats...but in principle both airlines offer the option to pre-select your seats at no charge if you go for the standard seats.