BA to allocate seats for Hand Luggage fares

richardw

For new bookings from 26th March 15, and if you don't like the seat they'll charge you to change it.

http://www.britishairways.com/travel/flightops/public/en_gb?p_faqid=5238

Alan_Bowen

Yes, BA really know how to make the customers happy! Seat 25B next to the toilets appears to the likely outcome, it is to drive customers to either pay a higher fare in the first place which comes with the ability to choose your own seat or force you to pay for one at the last minute, by which time there may not be an decent seats left. However if you book before 26th March, even if you are travelling much later in the year, the existing rules still apply.

Doshwaster

Interesting that this also applies to all tiers of Executive Club members so even if you are a Gold Card holder you don't get free seat selection when travelling on a hand luggage fare. This is going to annoy a lot of frequent fliers who do short business trips to Europe.

richardw

The easier option would just be to restrict the number of hand luggage seats available per flight rather than this strange way to win back revenues and cause annoyance.

MiraculousM

BA have done nothing recently but upset customers... First the cut in avios points and now this. Taking my business elsewhere

Doshwaster

MiraculousM wrote: »

BA have done nothing recently but upset customers... First the cut in avios points and now this. Taking my business elsewhere

There's a very long thread on Flyertalk about this. I can't remember them being this angry in a long time despite all of the recent BA "enhancements".

People who do day-trip and overnight trips to Europe for work are a huge part of BA's customer base. Previously they were willing to pay a little more than EasyJey for a better service but now it is hard to see why people should keep flying with them as loyalty isn't being rewarded.

callum9999

MiraculousM wrote: »

BA have done nothing recently but upset customers... First the cut in avios points and now this. Taking my business elsewhere

Why? Because you'd be better off elsewhere or because you're throwing a tantrum?

If it's the former then great, if it's the latter then BA won't care/notice and you're just cutting off your nose to spite your face.

callum9999

Doshwaster wrote: »

There's a very long thread on Flyertalk about this. I can't remember them being this angry in a long time despite all of the recent BA "enhancements".

People who do day-trip and overnight trips to Europe for work are a huge part of BA's customer base. Previously they were willing to pay a little more than EasyJey for a better service but now it is hard to see why people should keep flying with them as loyalty isn't being rewarded.

Seriously!? They throw tantrums because their sandwich comes out with it's plastic wrapping still on!

Unless all these people only started flying BA after the introduction of HBO then I hardly see how that could possibly be true. If they were happy to buy non-HBO fares before then there's no logical reason why they wouldn't now. Assuming the reactions to stuff on Flyertalk is even remotely representative of the wider flying world is very wrong in my view.

dickydonkin

callum9999 wrote: »

Seriously!? They throw tantrums because their sandwich comes out with it's plastic wrapping still on!

Unless all these people only started flying BA after the introduction of HBO then I hardly see how that could possibly be true. If they were happy to buy non-HBO fares before then there's no logical reason why they wouldn't now. Assuming the reactions to stuff on Flyertalk is even remotely representative of the wider flying world is very wrong in my view.

In respect of 'tantrums' on FT, if you don't like it, then it is very easy to unsubscribe. 'THEY' all don't complain about the hygiene wrapping on sandwiches - although there is an underlying trend of snobbery within the BA forums. That said, you and I both subscribe to FT for information and other news and views. If I believed these weren't the views of the general flying public, then I wouldn't have joined.

Like most forums -especially this one- you will get an element of complaints and opinions that are trivial to many and yes, there will be tantrums when people get responses that they do not want to see.


The 'tantrums' on Flyertalk are not just relating to the recent situation with HBO seat selection, but the the cumulative degrading of BAEC and indeed the BA product overall - which in even to those wearing red white and blue spectacles, is becoming a race to the bottom in many peoples eyes - with, I suspect, many more changes to come in the near future.

With respect to FT members reactions arguably not being representative of the 'wider flying world', maybe those who agree with that assertion should look at the respective threads and see how many posters actually agree with the changes as opposed to those who don't.

I don't know the membership numbers of Flyertalk, but it must be substantial, and they all can't be wrong.

Doshwaster

callum9999 wrote: »

Seriously!? They throw tantrums because their sandwich comes out with it's plastic wrapping still on!

Unless all these people only started flying BA after the introduction of HBO then I hardly see how that could possibly be true. If they were happy to buy non-HBO fares before then there's no logical reason why they wouldn't now. Assuming the reactions to stuff on Flyertalk is even remotely representative of the wider flying world is very wrong in my view.

Of course these people aren't "representative" of the general flying world. Most people only fly a handful of times a year. These are people who fly a lot and care enough about it to post on a internet forum. They are the people who airlines make a vast amount of money from.

Personally, I couldn't care less about the plastic around sandwiches (although it probably tastes better than some of the fillings) but the new policy on seat selection on HBO fares makes no sense at all.

MiraculousM

callum9999 wrote: »

Why? Because you'd be better off elsewhere or because you're throwing a tantrum?

If it's the former then great, if it's the latter then BA won't care/notice and you're just cutting off your nose to spite your face.

To be honest i am far more annoyed about the cut in avios.. it was the only reason i consistently used BA for long haul flights and recommended it to my friends ("They give you an excellent number of avios for flying to the east coast. You are rewarded enough to pay the extra £50 for the flight for sure").

I have had terrible service on the last couple of long haul flights and adding to that, the cut and other carriers that arent US airways finally being given clearance to fly to Philly airport which is where i fly into the most means that I can take my business elsewhere.

I am not throwing a tantrum. I dont fly enough nor have bronze or above status to care enough about this change (and most SH flights are usually only about an hour or 2). It just means I now will not go searching specifically for BA flights and look at the full range for not only my frequent short haul flights but my long hauls too.

I just think that they are doing everything to get customers, both frequent and infrequent, to give up their previous loyalty, which is highly damaging to the product, especially as airlines like virgin are usually reviewed far better