Viewing Seat Availability before purchase

[SusanSeattle]

I am looking at buying tickets on British Airways for a trip next spring.
As far as I can tell, they don't show me what seats are available until after I purchase my tickets. Is there any way around this?

 

[SusanSeattle]

Well, I answered my own question. When I tried to do the booking again, Seat Selection showed up. I don't know why it didn't the first time.

 

[Cameron]

I have a ticket on American (seat chosen at booking), connecting on British (have to login to their site) and can select my seat (business class) in advance if I pay $28! If I wait until the day before, it's free. Now, I don't know if this is because I'm on a frequent flier ticket. I'd never seen a charge to preselect a seat before. Also, that option didn't show up until two weeks before my trip (flying next week). My ticket was booked on American.

Last year, I booked on British, and was able to preselect my seat, at the time of ticketing, without this charge.

 

[GailS]

I recently booked frequent flier tickets on Air France and there was also a charge to select seats ahead of time (at about the same cost as yours).

 

[Kathy]

I think it's a new thing... paying to pre-select your seat. Or if you book the lowest economy fare (and you're not a premium flyer), it's not included.

 

[JustTravel]

British Airways has been charging a fee unless you have silver status or above for a few years now including club world, cash or miles. Seat selection is free 24 hours before the flight.

 

[Tim W]

I flew BA back in May, to Cape Town. Even though you need to pay to reserve seats, there was nothing available on an ailse or window, in a 747 , with 10 days to go.

 

[SusanSeattle]

I knew I would have to pay for seats, what I wanted was to see the seat availability and prices before I booked, so that I could compare the costs to a Delta flight. It's annoying that this is so opaque.

The flights times on BA were much better than the others we were looking at & total price ended up being close, so we just went with BA.

 

[Cameron]

I'm flying Club/business, but since I'm on American FF miles, I guess there's a fee to select a seat. I purchased my Club class ticket last year with BA, and was allowed to select my seat at the same time.

 

[JustTravel]

I think are you are right, Cameron. I just checked our next two bookings in club world. The next one was purchased with cash: the long haul to LHR costs $116 to select a seat, but the short flight to Venice is free at booking. The second booking is with miles/avios: both long and short legs cost to select seats at booking.

 

[SMJ]

I booked using FF miles for a ticket to Europe, leaving soon.
I could prebook (and pay) for a specific seat on the return from Munich to Canada, but couldn't on the outward flight from here to Frankfurt.
I phoned Air Canada and was told to call Lufthansa, as they are code share flights.
After about 10 calls on 10 different days to 10 different people at Lufthansa, I finally talked a poor girl into booking me an aisle seat.
I haven't paid, and looking at seat maps now, the plane is full; so I'm really hoping I'll get my aisle seat.
I'm checking my booking every few days, and the same seat is still showing as mine, so keeping my fingers crossed.
I have terrible knees, and a middle seat would be a less than great option for me.
I'm sure I'll pay for the seat at the airport.
Not happy with having to pay to select a seat full stop!!!

 

[Andrew]

When we booked an award trip on American nine months in advance, on the transatlantic overnight segment all seats on the side (the window-aisle pairs) were "Preferred," costing $93 per seat with standard legroom. One complication was that, after booking this, I was given temporary Platinum Pro status "on us" and, even though I would no longer have the status at the time of the flight, I could have selected those seats while having the status at no charge and it would have stuck if there weren't a schedule or aircraft change. Another complication is that we've needed to change the dates at the last minute, and it isn't clear if they're crediting correctly what we've already paid if we select similar seats for the new flights. I do appreciate that we aren't being charged for changing the flight dates.

 

[Cameron]

I just checked my flight from London HR to Rome again and decided that I have enough to handle 24 hours in advance, and due to time difference and my departure time, I paid the $28 for my Club/Business seat. I'm flying for less than $100 in business class on my FF miles, so okay. Peace of mind.

 

[Cameron]

Well, I paid for my seat on September 4. This morning, British Airways sent me an email saying their customer data was breached! I called my credit card company, but they can't guarantee a replacement before I fly out, so they told me to take my credit card with me on my trip and they'll deal with it, if there's a breach.

Dear Customer,

From 22:58 BST 21 August 2018 until 21:45 BST 5 September 2018 inclusive, the personal and financial details of customers making or changing bookings at ba.com, and on our app were compromised. The stolen data did not include travel or passport information.

The breach has been resolved and our website is working normally.

We’re deeply sorry, but you may have been affected. We recommend that you contact your bank or credit card provider and follow their recommended advice.

We take the protection of your personal information very seriously. Please accept our deepest apologies for the worry and inconvenience that this criminal activity has caused.

 

[SusanSeattle]

Isn't this frustrating, I got hit by this as well.

 

[Pauline]

Well, I answered my own question. When I tried to do the booking again, Seat Selection showed up. I don't know why it didn't the first time.

I haven’t found this option. I booked our flights to Israel in premium economy planning to purchase seats in a row of two but could only see a available seats after booking and all those seats were gone. Next time I will see if I can find a way to see seats before booking, like you did.