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How likely is British Airways to seat you apart if you don’t pay for seat selection?

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Paying for seat selection when flying has become the norm over the last decade or so. It isn’t even questioned any longer in Economy, although few airlines have gone as far as British Airways to charge for every seat in Business Class.

Are you wasting your money?

Since British Airways introduced Club Suite, we have argued that you are throwing your money away by paying for seat selection in Business. There are no ‘bad’ seats with Club Suite and the high level of privacy means that you can’t communicate easily with those around you. I’d argue that you have more money than sense if you pay £400 return to reserve two adjacent Club Suite seats.

will British Airways seat you apart

Down the back, of course, it’s a different matter.

There are basically two approaches that an airline can take:

  • do its best to allocate adjacent seats to people on the same ticket, as long as a suitable block is available at check in
  • deliberately split up passengers on the same ticket to teach them a lesson and ensure that they pay next time

Which? magazine has just published the results of a survey of over 8,000 of its subscribers. The results are interesting.

Which? asked a question along the lines of ‘Assuming that you didn’t pay for seat selection, were you allocated seats next to your travel companions at check in?’.

In case you are thinking that family trips may skew the results, remember that parents have no legal right to be seated next to their children. The only requirement is that children are seated no more than one seat row away from their parents.

will British Airways seat you apart

Here are the results:

  • British Airways – 94%
  • easyJet – 93%
  • Jet2 – 90%
  • Ryanair – 66%
  • Wizz Air – 61%

The results are intriguing.

It seems that you are wasting your money, even in Economy, if you pay for seat selection on British Airways. There is a 94% chance that you will be seated with your ticketed companions anyway.

More impressively, the same goes for easyJet and Jet2.

To be honest, even the results for Ryanair and Wizz Air are not bad. Is it worth paying the often-crazy seat selection fees knowing that your chance of being together is still two out of three?

There are other reasons for paying for a seat, of course. On long haul you may have a preference for a window block rather than a centre block (or vice versa for a family of four). You may prefer to be near the front, or away from the loos, or on an emergency exit row with added leg room. Excluding these reasons, you might as well keep your money in your pocket.

You can read the full Which? report here.

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Comments (117)

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

  • Chris says:
    18 Jun18 June 11:21

    Travelling Premium Economy today and for the first time at check in on the dot I was split up from my husband. Guess we just got unlucky.

    • jjoohhnn says:
      19 Jun19 June 13:55

      The smaller cabin here makes it more likely that you will get split up.

  • Smid says:
    18 Jun18 June 11:42

    It used to be very important in Club World, but it isn’t now (assuming you’re Club Suite). CE and on short flights, you’ll be stuck down the back and be last for drink and food, and they are often veeeryyyy slow).

    • jjoohhnn says:
      19 Jun19 June 13:57

      It used to be the case that food service would start from the rear of the cabin in CE on flights inbound to LHR. Not sure if that is still the case.

  • Billy says:
    18 Jun18 June 11:51

    Don’t forget If you are travelling with an infant under 2 you get free seat allocation from the date of booking as long as you are travelling in a party of less than 9.

    We booked club Europe for 4 and couldn’t understand why we had free seats straight away until I found this nugget of info. The little pickle doing his bit bar 10% of Avios required form BA

  • Nick says:
    18 Jun18 June 12:15

    Over the past 15 years or so, when on business, I’ve been bumped up by BA cabin crew, BOS-LHR, from Club to First, on at least seven occasions, when family seating has been involved. Bring it on!

  • BlueThroughCrimp says:
    18 Jun18 June 12:16

    Even being a solo traveller I’ll pay for a window seat in Club Suite. It’s worth it for me as it’s the best IFE you can get.

    I kept an eye on the seat plans using Expert Flyer in the months before my A350 CS flight and was noticeable how quickly the window seats filled before the middles.

    Two weeks out there was only 4 window seats free and 2 blocked while 20 middles were still free. When TS kicked in, it was 3 windows, and 14 middles free, additionally 5 middles blocked.

    All CS seats are equal, but some are more equal than others.

    • Gordon says:
      18 Jun18 June 12:27

      The front bassinet seats are blocked until I think 24 hours before departure, So these should become available, if there is no pax with babies, But I’ve seen them empty on a flight and people asking the crew if they can change seats, As in my case in J, PUJ to LGW last month….

    • Tom says:
      18 Jun18 June 14:52

      Surely all CS seats have the same IFE?

      • BlueThroughCrimp says:
        18 Jun18 June 14:54

        Looking out the window is my In Flight Entertainment.

      • Gordon says:
        18 Jun18 June 15:04

        Yes they do, But in the front seats you won’t have anyone in front of you reclining their seat into your face if you are watching the IFE! or even worse when you are eating….

  • Nick says:
    18 Jun18 June 12:48

    On the BA 747-400 upper deck Club World seats, I was always more than happy to pay for seat 64A, my favourate seat, by far, for numerous Transatlantic & Middle East flights, for many years, over the past 20 years, or so.

  • TimM says:
    18 Jun18 June 12:56

    I will add that if travelling with a disabled passenger requiring assistance, seats are allocated together at the time of booking or shortly thereafter.

    The assistance provided varies massively by airport. It took us almost 3 hrs just to change terminals in Madrid recently but that is for another discussion – one I hope HfP will bring up.

  • Harry T says:
    18 Jun18 June 13:05

    I really can’t believe people still pay for seat selection when flying Club Suite – Rob is correct to say that it’s a waste of money. My girlfriend and I sit behind each other in window seats in CS (although we don’t need to pay for seat selection these days).

    • BlueThroughCrimp says:
      18 Jun18 June 13:25

      So you have status, but still choose window seats and beside each other, but can’t see why status-less people might want the same…

      Paying for seat selection is a hell of a lot easier and probably cheaper than TP runs.

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

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