British Airways Extra leg room seats

mainline.martin · 2 January 2019 at 5:16PM

In April 2018 I booked for my wife and myself to fly to Grand Cayman with B. A. in November 2018.

The schedule was Manchester to Heathrow then Heathrow to Grand Cayman and return flights 14 days later so 8 seats in total.

At the time of booking I checked emergency exit seats were available for extra legroom on all flights and all seats at emergency exits were available.

I am 6’2” and anyone 6’ or over will know the discomfort experienced in a normal pitch seat.
B.A. had prices on all seats so you could reserve the seat you wanted, the seats at the emergency exits where you could clearly see there was more space for your legs were 3 times the price of a normal pitched seat.

I paid additional fees for 8 seats at emergency exits. I did receive emails from BA in July 2018 to say they had changed my seating allocation but I presumed they had just moved us to another emergency exit seat on a like for like basis. If not I was expecting a refund, the refund never came, so I remained confident we were still seated in a like for like basis.

Out of 8 emergency exits seats I paid for, we were only seated in 3.

Upon my return I requested a refund from B. A. for 5 seats I’d paid for at a premium rate, below is their response.

Thanks for getting in touch with us about your flight from Manchester on 22 November. You’re clearly disappointed with your seat because it didn’t have as much leg room as you’d expected. I completely understand why you’re feeling let down.
I realise you feel you didn't get the seats you'd paid for. The maps you can see on ba.com are representative of the seats on board our flights. We can’t guarantee your seat will be exactly as shown on our website, as the configuration can vary depending on the aircraft you’re travelling on.
I’m afraid we can’t promise you’ll be able to sit in a particular seat on our aircraft and we do advise this in our General Conditions of Carriage, which you accept when you make your booking. This means I’m unable to offer you a refund on this occasion. I know this isn’t the answer you were hoping for and I’m sorry.
I can see why you’re frustrated we didn’t meet your expectations and we’re grateful you've taken the time to let us know how you’re feeling.
Thanks again for giving us the opportunity to respond to your concerns. We appreciate your support as a Blue member of our Executive Club. I hope we can welcome you on board again soon. Please feel free to contact me directly using the blue link below if I can help you with anything else.

I emailed them back stating I’d paid a premium for extra leg room seats by emergency exits and I expected a refund and this was their reply.

I'd like to inform you that we do inform passengers that the seat map is for guidance only and not true to scale. Extra space between rows does not indicate extra legroom.
However, any exit row seat may have extra leg room, but we don't sell these seats as extra leg room seats on ba.com. The leg room may vary as per the aircraft seating configuration. I do appreciate your reasons for asking, I'm afraid we cannot refund you the prepaid seating charge.

So basically, B. A. believe if they do not sell seats as extra legroom seats, they can charge you a premium for them, then move you to a seat you’d pay less for and not refund you the difference. The scale argument does not stand up to scrutiny as the seat pitch at emergency exits are always more than standard pitch.

What I’d like to know is what is to stop B. A. selling those seats by emergency exits many times over, moving the people who paid for them to a less expensive seat and pocketing all the extra fees they’ve collected?

k3lvc · 2 January 2019 at 5:25PM

mainline.martin wrote: »

The scale argument does not stand up to scrutiny as the seat pitch at emergency exits are always more than standard pitch.

Are they ? Or is this just your experience ?

I've flown on plenty (160 sectors last year though only a few on BA) and there have been many where the space leg space at emergency exit was no different.

Did you actually get the emergency exit seats you paid for (you've assumed theses also get extra legroom) or were you moved elsewhere ?

You're probably likely to get a fuller response if you log on to https://www.flyertalk.com

mainline.martin · 2 January 2019 at 5:52PM

The seating diagram for all flights clearly shown there was extra space at the seats booked and also they were 3 times the cost of seats elsewhere. So the visual implication is the additional cost is for additional legroom.

If you checkout the Boeing 777 layout on BritishAirways.com you can clearly see the seats with extra legroom.

k3lvc · 2 January 2019 at 6:03PM

mainline.martin wrote: »

The seating diagram for all flights clearly shown there was extra space at the seats booked and also they were 3 times the cost of seats elsewhere. So the visual implication is the additional cost is for additional legroom.

If you checkout the Boeing 777 layout on BritishAirways.com you can clearly see the seats with extra legroom.

But you're not listening to BA - both on the seating plan and in their correspondence with you they say that the plans are representative. Unless I'm reading wrong they didn't sell you an extra legroom seat, merely an emergency exit seat which you assumed (wrongly) would also be extra legroom.

Were they flights on BA metal booked via BA ?

https://www.britishairways.com/en-gb/information/seating/seating-changes-and-refunds#termsandconditions

mainline.martin · 2 January 2019 at 6:15PM

I can categorically tell you that the seats I originally booked by seat number on the diagram were the seat numbers on the aircraft by we flew on and were were emergency exit seats and they had extra legroom. I saw people sitting in the seats I booked by number and paid for and they were the seat numbers I originally booked.

So no matter how you try and explain it, BA charged me an additional cost for those seats, sold them to someone else at the same premium rate I paid and moved us to seats that cost 30% less to pre-book.

silvercar · 2 January 2019 at 6:29PM

".... We appreciate your support as a Blue member of our Executive Club. ...."

:rotfl::rotfl:

Blue is the lowest level of the executive club, you become a blue member just by registering, you don't even need to step on a plane.

They've issued you a standard reply.

The scale argument does not stand up to scrutiny as the seat pitch at emergency exits are always more than standard pitch.

I'm not sure this is always true. I use http://thebasource.com/seatmaps.html that is usually accurate and tells you the positives and negatives of each seat.

It may be that there was a change of aircraft that necessitated a seat change.

In your place I would post on https://www.flyertalk.com/forum/british-airways-executive-club-446/ where the BA experts hang out.

It may be that you will need to pursue this further, possibly consider a court action if you genuinely didn't get what you booked.

silvercar · 2 January 2019 at 6:34PM

mainline.martin wrote: »

I can categorically tell you that the seats I originally booked by seat number on the diagram were the seat numbers on the aircraft by we flew on and were were emergency exit seats and they had extra legroom. I saw people sitting in the seats I booked by number and paid for and they were the seat numbers I originally booked.

So no matter how you try and explain it, BA charged me an additional cost for those seats, sold them to someone else at the same premium rate I paid and moved us to seats that cost 30% less to pre-book.

You don't know whether they charged other people what you paid - they could have been occupied by staff members either on official travel (eg travelling to your destination because they would be working the return leg) or a discounted staff perk seat, or they could have been booked by higher tier members of their frequent flyer programme entitled to book seats for free. They may even have been allocated to people for security reasons.

So where as there may be legitimacy in saying you didn't get what you paid for, you cannot say with any authority what others paid for those seats, if anything.

jackieblack · 2 January 2019 at 6:58PM

From BA website:

https://www.britishairways.com/en-gb/information/seating/paid-seating-terms

Exit row seats

Exit row seat requests are available in our economy (Euro Traveller), business (Club Europe), economy (World Traveller) and premium-economy (World Traveller Plus). Exit row seats available through online check-in are only available to economy (World Traveller) customers.
Exit row seats are situated either next to or immediately behind the exit door.
In the unlikely event of an evacuation we will expect you to assist in the opening of the emergency door. For this reason you must be a non-disabled person (12 years and over) in full fitness and able to understand printed or verbal instructions given in English. You must be willing, as well as able, to assist in the case of an emergency evacuation. When requesting an exit row seat we will ask you to verify you meet these requirements.
Exit row seats will only be available if all passengers in the booking meet the requirements to sit in an exit row seat.
We have the sole discretion to determine whether you meet the requirements to sit in an exit row seat. If you do not meet these requirements, we will assign you an alternative seat. The additional amount paid for an exit row seat will be forfeited and will not be refunded.
If after the date of requesting an exit row seat you become unable to fulfil the requirements to sit in an exit row seat, please contact us. If you purchased your seat, you will be eligible to apply for a refund if you contact us at least 48 hours before your flight.

Changes to seats

On British Airways marketed and operated flights, you may change your seat at any time, and pay the difference in price where applicable. If you change your seat to one of a lower price, we will not refund the difference. You cannot make changes to your paid seating on flights marketed by other carriers.
We cannot guarantee a paid seat request as we may need to change it for operational, safety or security reasons, even after boarding the aircraft.
In the event that we have to change your seat we will endeavour to seat you in a suitable alternative. We will look to seat your party together in the first instance, and then if possible in your choice of window seat, middle seat or aisle seat. If you have paid for an exit row seat we will look to seat you in another exit row seat. If you are not completely satisfied with your replacement seat you can apply for a refund.
Seats are not transferable to any other passengers.

Refunds

You will not receive a refund for paid seating if you cancel your flight, are involuntarily upgraded or do not meet the requirements to sit in the seat type you have selected.
On British Airways marketedhttps://www.britishairways.com/en-gb/information/seating/paid-seating-terms and operated flights, if, in accordance with your ticket type, you choose to move to a different flight, you will be entitled to choose an equivalent seat on your new flight. However, if an equivalent seat is not available, the difference paid will be forfeited and will not be refunded.
On flights marketed by other carriers, if you choose to move to a different flight, you will not be entitled to choose an equivalent seat on the new flight and you will not be entitled to a refund.
You can apply for a refund up until 14 days after the last flight in your itinerary.
Please submit your refund application online using the Seating refund form. We cannot process refund applications at the airport or on board.
Unless otherwise stated, we will only make a refund to the credit card used to pay for the pre-assigned seating, or in the case of Avios payment, to the Executive Club Member’s Avios account.

That seems to indicate that, provided you both meet all the requirements for sitting in exit row seats, you were entitled to a refund, but needed to apply within 14 days of your return.

mainline.martin wrote: »

I did receive emails from BA in July 2018 to say they had changed my seating allocation but I presumed they had just moved us to another emergency exit seat on a like for like basis. If not I was expecting a refund, the refund never came, so I remained confident we were still seated in a like for like basis.

I think this was a mistake

richardw · 2 January 2019 at 7:34PM

BA has numerous B772 aircraft with different seating arrangements, they swap them about a lot and reserved seats often change.
It’s classic BA incompetence.

malkie76 · 2 January 2019 at 9:07PM

Might help if you post the seats you booked, and the actual seats you flew in.
The ‘best’ exit row seats are usually only reseverable by Golds in advance of the flight, so I’m surprised you managed to get 8.

EssexExile · 2 January 2019 at 9:32PM

mainline.martin wrote: »

...but I presumed they had just moved us to another emergency exit seat on a like for like basis...

That's where you went wrong I'm afraid, you should've gone online & checked.

I had the same thing except they didn't bother to email me when they changed the seats, strange because they did email me to tell me I'd changed them. Crazy airline.

British Airways Extra leg room seats

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