BA booking page

patgc

Looking to fly BA  LHR to PDX  return September 2025 using business class. On the booking details page can I check what seats are available before payment. I am flexible as to dates so want to make sure its a decent seat before payment.
After I enter my passenger details it then gos to enter Card details. Is it going to take payment immediately or later 

heatherw_01

You pay for a flight straight away. They ask for details then card details.
This is normal and this is the case with all flight bookings.

eskbanker

heatherw_01 said:

You pay for a flight straight away. They ask for details then card details.
This is normal and this is the case with all flight bookings.

AIUI OP is asking if there's the opportunity to see seat availability prior to payment, rather than querying whether the flight needs to be paid at the time of booking?

skycatcher

BA make you pay for your seat selection even in business class unless you have silver/gold status.

patgc

eskbanker said:

heatherw_01 said:

You pay for a flight straight away. They ask for details then card details.
This is normal and this is the case with all flight bookings.

AIUI OP is asking if there's the opportunity to see seat availability prior to payment, rather than querying whether the flight needs to be paid at the time of booking?

Exactly ,I am looking to pick which date has the most suitable seat i.e a window seat,  available. I dont want to end up like I did this year with a rubbish Business aisle seat and being unable to sleep due to Staff and passengers walking past me and nothing to seperate me from them and no privacy.. I know I will have to pay to reserve my chosen seat.

eDicky

patgc said:

Looking to fly BA  LHR to PDX  return September 2025 using business class. On the booking details page can I check what seats are available before payment. I am flexible as to dates so want to make sure its a decent seat before payment.
After I enter my passenger details it then gos to enter Card details. Is it going to take payment immediately or later 

I understand what you're asking, perhaps the lack of ? twice in your post confused others.

I'm not familiar with BA online booking process, having neither desire nor need to fly with them, but usually (always?) an airline tries to sell you seat selection before payment is taken for the overall cost. To do this, the seat map for the particular flight is displayed with available seats and their price.

If that doesn't happen before entering your card details, I guess you will have to enter them, then if available seats are not to your liking, abandon the booking and start again for a different flight/date.

Even with card details entered, payment won't be taken until everything that you've selected is (I assume) displayed and you click 'pay'.

Voyager2002

I suggest that you choose a different airline, possibly a code-share so that you would actually be on a BA 'plane. I was impressed by the Iberia web-site.

jimi_man

Hi. Yes you can check as after you’ve chosen the flight it asks if you’d like to choose a seat and takes you to the seat map. Tbh next September the flight I’d imagine will be wide open and you can pretty much have any seat you want. If it’s an aircraft with Club Suite then every seat is an aisle seat. 

 Best to do it on the website, not the app. 

Ballard

You can try expertflyer.com which wasn’t working for some time but now appears to be up and running once more. Look at the seat alert part but be aware that you only get a few checks per day without paying. 

Being as the site was down for some time I wouldn’t recommend paying.

I’m pretty sure that BA allow free cancellation within 24 hours (although I may be getting confused with Avios redemption). If so, you’d be able to cancel if you booked and weren’t completely happy. 

jimi_man

I have an Expert Flyer subscription so if you want any checks then let me know.