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The mystery of 63A ….

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One of the coolest things about flying Club World on British Airways is the ability to sit “upstairs” if you are on a Boeing 747.

Frankly, the Boeing 777 layout in Club World resembles a dormitory or a TV shot of a sports centre using for local residents after their houses get flooded!  Eight across seating is not pretty, even with a flat bed.

Upstairs, though, you have just 20 seats, with five rows of 2 x 2.  It is as near to flying on a private jet as most people will get.

BA 747 retirement nose to nose

Club World flyers without status have therefore been keen to pay BA’s outrageous seat selection fee in order to grab an upstairs seat – even though it means paying £80 per person, per leg.

A couple of weeks ago, though, some people started getting emails from BA saying that they were being evicted from the Club World upper deck seats they had paid for!

An explanation of sorts has now appeared:

There have been 2 key changes made to upper deck paid seating on our 747 aircraft

1. Change of seats protected for paid seating

The seats available for paid upper deck seating have been changed from 63JK 64ABJK to 63ABJK 64AB, because of this some customers may have received an email to advise of a seating change. Please reassure customers that they will be given their seat choice as this will be corrected manually for them.

2. Removal of day of week restrictions

Following feedback we have removed the restriction where paid seating was only offered on routes on specific days, as such you should be able to book upper deck on any day as long as the seats are available.

What is doesn’t say, of course, is why they have stopped selling reservations for 64J and 64K.  Especially as 64K is seen as the one of the best seats upstairs, due to the additional leg room and storage space and the feeling of privacy it offers.

The answer appears to be that 64J and 64K have been added to the seats which are restricted to Gold and Silver Executive Club members.  Why, of course, BA could not have let people who ALREADY paid for these seats stay in them, or given that a straightforward answer as to why, is known only to them ….


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Comments (4)

This article is closed to new comments. Feel free to ask your question in the HfP forums.

  • flyer says:

    Should it say 777 or 747? There’s no upper deck on 777s of course.

    • Raffles says:

      I was trying to say that the 747 upstairs is a great improvement on the 777!

  • CSmith says:

    64A and 64K upstairs are my preferred seats…for the reasons you give and the simple happiness of not having to artfully step over someone’s feet to get to the aisle… Though even now at BAEC Gold I’m not sure to get them unless I’ve booked well in advanced…they’re just too darn desirable…

  • g2-c74d428b3fe4991fc2f2089b312fa3f9 says:

    Interesting that quote says:

    “Please reassure customers that they will be given their seat choice as this will be corrected manually for them.”

    …because they wouldn’t do it for me.

    I was booted from 64JK to 64AB (oh the injustice!! lol), but they won’t move me back, even though the seats are vacant both ways.

This article is closed to new comments. Feel free to ask your question in the HfP forums.

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