Family of 4 in CW - auto allocated seats

Old Jun 23, 2017, 12:03 am
  #1  
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Family of 4 in CW - auto allocated seats

Hi all

I have successfully redeemed 2x 2-4-1 vouchers for us a family of 4 going to BOM. We are all under 1 PNR

I have no status and we are due to fly in Dec 2017.

At present the Cabin is wide open. I really don't want to pay £64 each for a seat. I understand BA will ensure 1 adult and 1 child are next to each other at the very least.

I guess it depends on the load, but does anyone have any experience of seats assigned by BA in this scenario. No exact answer i knkw, but in peoples experience are we likely to get a row of 4, or could 2 of us be in row 10 and the other 2 in row 15?

Appreciate any thoughts.
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Old Jun 23, 2017, 12:21 am
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Originally Posted by rtid
Hi all

I have successfully redeemed 2x 2-4-1 vouchers for us a family of 4 going to BOM. We are all under 1 PNR

I have no status and we are due to fly in Dec 2017.

At present the Cabin is wide open. I really don't want to pay £64 each for a seat. I understand BA will ensure 1 adult and 1 child are next to each other at the very least.

I guess it depends on the load, but does anyone have any experience of seats assigned by BA in this scenario. No exact answer i knkw, but in peoples experience are we likely to get a row of 4, or could 2 of us be in row 10 and the other 2 in row 15?

Appreciate any thoughts.
It depends how old your children are, but £64 per seat may be worth it to secure window pairs. Window seats in CW have superior privacy and of course a great view. Maybe keep an eye on the seat map and get ready to pay if it starts looking tight.
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Old Jun 23, 2017, 12:51 am
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You will be allocated seats from whatevers left around 3 days before departure. Expect two sets of middle seats as a likely option- whether they are near to each other will just depend on what's available - they may be in adjacent rows but maybe not
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Old Jun 23, 2017, 1:12 am
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I wouldn't pay for seat allocation in this scenario. You'll have two sets of two seats allocated to you regardless. Once seated you'll feel separated from the other two in your party regardless of where they are seated (well almost )..
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Old Jun 23, 2017, 1:21 am
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Originally Posted by rtid
I guess it depends on the load, but does anyone have any experience of seats assigned by BA in this scenario. No exact answer i knkw, but in peoples experience are we likely to get a row of 4, or could 2 of us be in row 10 and the other 2 in row 15?
You are quite right that it depends on the load. BOM is a good mix of single, couple and family travellers, which would normally help, because it will give a range of seating options. So Theoretical Seating (more information via the Dashboard) will normally keep you together, along with any manual intervention to keep children by an adult. TS would normally seek to give you a block of 4, in one row, in the middle section of the cabin. So unless there was something like the 747 Upper Deck in contention, I would not bother to pay for seating, certainly at this stage and assuming you are all on one booking. If you are fairly flexible about what is acceptable then I'd leave it to TS plus the manual process. If not then consider paying up at T-8 days or T-6 days (Ruby cardholders can select at T-7). It's possible you may get that Ruby status by then anyway.
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Old Jun 23, 2017, 2:48 am
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Pay to allocate seats for the children?

In this scenario is it possible to pay for two allocated seats for the kids and then assume the parents will be allocated neighboring seats?
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Old Jun 23, 2017, 2:52 am
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Originally Posted by rtid
or could 2 of us be in row 10 and the other 2 in row 15?
It's possible but depends on loading.

My past experience of family travel (2 adults, 2 kids) was that we sometimes allocated aisle and center seats in two different rows but we have always managed to change this at 7 days prior due to Bronze status (but now we are silver so have the free run of the cabin)

You have to bear in mind that BA consider aisle and center (yin-yang) to be seated together (and not just companion seats in the middle). This is a more effective use of space as it means that more couples can be seated together overall.

Last edited by BrianWBrazil; Jun 23, 2017 at 3:09 am
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Old Jun 23, 2017, 3:30 am
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Originally Posted by Dambus
In this scenario is it possible to pay for two allocated seats for the kids and then assume the parents will be allocated neighboring seats?
No, I don't think that's possible.
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Old Jun 23, 2017, 3:36 am
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Originally Posted by Tiger_lily
No, I don't think that's possible.
Correct - its all or none on one booking.
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Old Jun 23, 2017, 3:40 am
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Originally Posted by Dambus
In this scenario is it possible to pay for two allocated seats for the kids and then assume the parents will be allocated neighboring seats?
I may be wrong, but I don't think you can elect to pay for seats for a subset of passengers on a single PNR. And if you split the children onto a separate PNR they would effectively become unacompanied minors.

Edit: Too late...
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Old Jun 23, 2017, 3:57 am
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Originally Posted by corporate-wage-slave
...TS would normally seek to give you a block of 4, in one row, in the middle section of the cabin. So unless there was something like the 747 Upper Deck in contention, I would not bother to pay for seating, certainly at this stage and assuming you are all on one booking. If you are fairly flexible about what is acceptable then I'd leave it to TS plus the manual process. If not then consider paying up at T-8 days or T-6 days (Ruby cardholders can select at T-7). It's possible you may get that Ruby status by then anyway.
To add to this, consider paying if window seats are important to you or your children.
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Old Jun 23, 2017, 4:34 am
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Before I had silver status BA always seemed to seat the four of us in the centre four seats in club world. It didn't vary for us. I have a disability so was always able to ring and check with BA which seats had been assigned, and then could have changed them if required.
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Old Jun 23, 2017, 5:23 am
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To add, I've flown multiple times with my 4 and 1 year old daughters, in CW and CE, and have been allocated seats many rows apart which BA have refused to do anything about it. Has always resulted in cabin crew sorting it, which has annoyed me no end.
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Old Nov 22, 2017, 1:32 am
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Originally Posted by corporate-wage-slave
You are quite right that it depends on the load. BOM is a good mix of single, couple and family travellers, which would normally help, because it will give a range of seating options. So Theoretical Seating (more information via the Dashboard) will normally keep you together, along with any manual intervention to keep children by an adult. TS would normally seek to give you a block of 4, in one row, in the middle section of the cabin. So unless there was something like the 747 Upper Deck in contention, I would not bother to pay for seating, certainly at this stage and assuming you are all on one booking. If you are fairly flexible about what is acceptable then I'd leave it to TS plus the manual process. If not then consider paying up at T-8 days or T-6 days (Ruby cardholders can select at T-7). It's possible you may get that Ruby status by then anyway.
what happens if most passengers have paid for and selected their seats in advance, leaving single sets everywhere in CW T-24 hours?

do passengers who have paid or their seats then get moved to accommodate at least 1 chlld with 1 adult?

i am flying next month (2 adults and 2 children) all under 1 PNR in CW. current load is below, as its a day flight we'd like to be near each other, ideally i would like one of the middle rows (13 or 14).

would anyone pay 300 GBP to secure seats?



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Old Nov 22, 2017, 1:36 am
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Originally Posted by rtid
would anyone pay 300 GBP to secure seats?



Because that is the cost of the transaction? and they want the product?
Why must everything be free?
Certainly the airline is entitled to find profit where they can.
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