British Airways Seat Booking Costs Please.

[Mr Tom Morrow]

Originally Posted by Pussycat Doll

I think we paid about £336 to book our seats in Club at Christmas, that's 2 adults both ways. I was shocked, hubby went ballistic!

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PD. I have to say I will never pay that just for seat requests sorry.

[Lizzim]

Originally Posted by Mr Tom Morrow

PD. I have to say I will never pay that just for seat requests sorry.

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We've paid £576 for 7 seats (return) for our August trip. Painful but necessary as we have 5 new travellers with us who want to be together...

[Mr Tom Morrow]

Originally Posted by Lizzim

We've paid £576 for 7 seats (return) for our August trip. Painful but necessary as we have 5 new travellers with us who want to be together...

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So £41 per person each way? Shocking. Not you, but the airline I mean.

[Madfish]

Originally Posted by Mr Tom Morrow

So £41 per person each way? Shocking. Not you, but the airline I mean.

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I'm sure they set the price at a level people will pay. The system is better for those with status who may book late so they can still get decent seats.

For those unhappy with paying for seats, do what I did to save the £450. Spend £1000 to do a TP run, get status and then book seats for free at time of booking. 😀

Over the last couple of years we have saved this money a few times and I got an enjoyable trip away into the bargain.

[Stevelovesfl]

Originally Posted by Madfish

I'm sure they set the price at a level people will pay. The system is better for those with status who may book late so they can still get decent seats.

For those unhappy with paying for seats, do what I did to save the £450. Spend £1000 to do a TP run, get status and then book seats for free at time of booking. 😀

Over the last couple of years we have saved this money a few times and I got an enjoyable trip away into the bargain.

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Where did you do your TP run, I'm considering doing this to make silver?

[Peko]

Originally Posted by Stevelovesfl

Where did you do your TP run, I'm considering doing this to make silver?

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Over the last few years, the most popular TP runs with BA have been to the USA, Hawaii being a particular favourite for those trying to get to Gold in one trip. Put aside some time and have a read of this thread on FlyerTalk

flyertalk/forum/briti...r-thread.html#

The days of more or less getting to Gold in one massive multi-flight trip for £1000 are fading somewhat, a combination of the weak pound, a reduction in the TPs awarded for AA domestic First and no need for BA to try and put Aer Lingus under financial pressure now that IAG owns it.

However, Silver can be achieved with less convoluted efforts, either one long haul return (with a couple of connections) or a few well chosen shorter trips in Europe (assuming business class in all cases, of course). More than you might ever want to know about it in the above-linked thread.

[Peko]

Originally Posted by Mr Tom Morrow

I had a feeling that seat costs were high but not this high. Mmm, drawing board again I think as by early next week the Virgin flights

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With BA, if you are someone who likes to secure seats in advance, you simply have to factor it into the ticket price when researching. They are the biggest industry outlier among legacy carriers in premium cabins with this practice, though it's creeping in on other airlines too.

Recently, the BA seat pricing has got more complex/sophisticated (depending on your point of view) and they are pricing differently for different rows in each cabin. The links you've had upthread are good guides, but if you know your dates, just get on BA.com and do a dummy booking, you get offered the seat selection and can see the seatmap with prices before you have to pay for the ticket.

[scooby99]

Originally Posted by Madfish

I'm sure they set the price at a level people will pay. The system is better for those with status who may book late so they can still get decent seats.

For those unhappy with paying for seats, do what I did to save the £450. Spend £1000 to do a TP run, get status and then book seats for free at time of booking. 😀

Over the last couple of years we have saved this money a few times and I got an enjoyable trip away into the bargain.

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+1
Although I was only slightly short of retaining silver, so did 2 quick flights to MAN & JER, spent 2 hours in each!
£180 meant I retained silver & the ability to book all my seats at the point of booking; with 3-4 CW US flights booked a year, it was well worth it.

[Lizzim]

Originally Posted by Mr Tom Morrow

So £41 per person each way? Shocking. Not you, but the airline I mean.

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Yep that's the average. Seats in the middle are cheaper and the further back the seats get cheaper, but we wanted near the front (of economy) and window seats to help keep the kids occupied...!

[Madfish]

Originally Posted by Peko

Over the last few years, the most popular TP runs with BA have been to the USA, Hawaii being a particular favourite for those trying to get to Gold in one trip. Put aside some time and have a read of this thread on FlyerTalk

flyertalk/forum/briti...r-thread.html#

The days of more or less getting to Gold in one massive multi-flight trip for £1000 are fading somewhat, a combination of the weak pound, a reduction in the TPs awarded for AA domestic First and no need for BA to try and put Aer Lingus under financial pressure now that IAG owns it.

However, Silver can be achieved with less convoluted efforts, either one long haul return (with a couple of connections) or a few well chosen shorter trips in Europe (assuming business class in all cases, of course). More than you might ever want to know about it in the above-linked thread.

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Yes, sadly the days of getting gold in one hop are now over. Or at least in terms of not paying a ridiculous amount. What used to be 1500TPs is now only 1080TPs (when counting AA domestic first being reduced from 210 to 140 and the same for LCY/JFK.)

Silver, on the other hand is still readily available.

However HNL is so last year now! It is seen as a long slog in not great seats. Plus the lack of good ex-EU flights.

My run was to LAS. Earned 900TPs for £1k roughly but that was pre-devaluation.