On a recent British Airways flight from Marseille to London, my wife and I were allocated seats 23B and 23E – so were separated. We imagined that these were the only seats remaining when we came to check in – but another couple had been allocated 23C and 23F.
We were able to reseat ourselves, but there was clearly no reason why BA should not have allocated adjacent seats to both couples.
When passengers check in online they can change their seats in return for a not insubstantial fee. Is BA cynically trying to increase revenue by separating groups of passengers? This may not be important for older married couples like us, but for family groups it could be a real issue. We were told of a family of four which had been given separate seats.
Prior to takeoff there was some commotion at the rear of the plane which I believe was caused by separated passengers trying to reseat themselves.
BA cannot claim that this was a system problem on this one flight – my wife and I had also been separated on the outward flight. RI, Chorleywood, Herts
We can understand that this might have been rather irritating, but as you say, you were able to reseat yourselves with relative ease.
It is annoying how airlines now have a business model whereby they offer cheap tickets initially, then try to extract money by selling seating and hold baggage as optional extras. But we don’t think there is anything seriously questionable about BA’s specific policy on this, which is not a lot different to many other airlines.
On some flights, particularly when not full, there are issues around weight dispersal throughout the cabin, which could determine how seats are allocated. BA explained that the other customers in your row had pre-booked their seats, and had all booked individual tickets (although one appears to have been a couple). As they were Executive Club members they were automatically given their seating preference, ie, window or aisle seats, as instructed. This meant that you and your wife were put in the middle seats.
BA passengers are able to pay to choose their seats from the point of booking – this is free to “gold” and “silver” members, and to “bronze” members seven days ahead of the flight. Everyone else can check in 24 hours before a flight and choose their seat for free.
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