BA changing pre-booked seats at check in

[rob_f_1]

Anyone else had issues recently with BA changing their pre-booked (pre-paid) seats at check in?

My whole party was moved from 2A, 2C, 2D to row 5 on Venice to London a couple of weeks ago (and my friends travelling on separate booking on same flight put into row 2…?!); and now today as soon as check in opened for LGW-Malta I was moved from pre-booked 2F to 6A… I managed to move myself back to 2F, so I don’t know what on earth is going on.

A BA systems issue maybe? Not sure if it’s just me?

[Richie]

It has happened to me.
It is mainly due to plane swaps.
BAEF do swap in A321s for A320s and vice versa.

[NorthernLass]

Not at check in, but I have LGW-OPO booked as part of a BAH and have been moved out of my prized row 2 seat (which is the bulkhead seat on that aircraft) twice now! The first time I managed to grab it back but now I’m relegated to row 5. I think there must be a BA Gold who keeps turfing me out!

[TGLoyalty]

No one can turf you out of a seat especially not Golds.

The only time it can happen is when a VIP is flying and they need an adjacent seat for security etc

It’s just bad BA IT not switching seats correctly when they do plane swaps or for CE when they change how many rows there are for CE.

For long haul it can be that they seat has gone tech but then someone ends up back in it because it’s fixed or is happy with the TV not working or just staff etc.

[BA Flyer IHG Stayer]

If you paid for the seats then claim a refund.

[AndrewT]

A Gold can’t eject someone from an occupied seat, or if they can I’ve been missing out on lots of fun 😀, but there have been strange things going on recently.

On three different A319 flights in recent months (but never on a larger number of A32x’s) I’ve repeatedly lost an exit seat and been left with no allocated seat at all. No aircraft change, no curtain move, nothing obvious, all exit seats left empty (and swiftly reselected).

[JDB]

There appear sometimes to be aircraft changes which then revert to the original quite rapidly as I see this from multiple aircraft change and seat notifications from ExpertFlyer. The original change can sometimes dislodge pre-allocated seating and any subsequent reversion doesn’t reinstate it so a seat might be moved or no pre-allocation at all.

[TooPoorToBeHere]

There is a long thread on Flyertalk about this issue, which seems to be affecting a lot of people.

Booked seats are being changed for a lot of people without any notifications being sent.

Check your bookings.

[Niall]

I have had countless emails from BA advising of a seat change due to operational reasons in the last year at least. Every time I check there has been no aircraft change, at least not type – a321 (LGW – TFS). I’ve had 6 since May!

Annoyingly the email says:

‘We have done our best to ensure that the new seats you have been allocated are of the same type as your original seats or a suitable alternative where this has not been possible.’

But they haven’t in a very long time actually allocated me to another seat. The seat I had originally selected is often still available. And when they did pick a new seat for me last year I went from an over wing exit seat to the last row aisle seat by the loo.

I definitely think there is at least one bug in the system.

[SamG]

There is some kind of weird issue affecting row 2 (Heathrow and Gatwick) . I keep getting kicked out of row 2 repeatedly and I can see on other flights I’ve got alerts on that it happens to them too. Either I get moved to 5 or just no seat at all. Sometimes get an email and Sometimes not. Most annoying!

[JDB]

It appears that on some flights they are now blocking both rows 1 and 2 for Gold and above. When they do it retrospectively it automatically bounces non compliant pre-allocated seat requests.

[SamG]

Interesting! I can move back into row 2 (silver) but doesn’t always stick, though I did fly there eventually last week after reseating myself multiple times

I’ve given up on some flights with the family at Xmas as after it bounced us out it wanted 10 more quid to put the non status booking back into row 2 – so could also be related to the pricing being changed perhaps.

[rob_f_1]

Thanks all – doesn’t seem to be just me then.

Flighty doesn’t show any equipment changes having happened (though it could be wrong) and like I say, seems weird that the seat was still available and they moved me out of it. Haven’t claimed compensation as was able to select the same seat again straight away, but I have sent a complaint asking why it keeps happening + will comment here if/when I get a response.

In 3F on way back so will see if same happens again, or if it’s just a Row 2 thing!

[zapato1060]

No aircraft change and our seats were changed. Person had asked at check-in counter if there family could sit in our seats with their wishes being granted. I felt obliged to create a polite fuss on the plane and in a complaint afterwards for absolute out of order treatment.

[Deek]

Coincidentally this happened to me last night, kicked out of exit row with an email saying due to operational reasons etc new seats had been reallocated to us. Went to MMB and same aircraft type, no seats had been allocated to us, and the same exit row seats were still available. Go BA.

[rob_f_1]

Not even an email received here. No communications at all, just seat changed at the last minute without informing me.

[Alan H]

I’ve had it on a long haul flight recently when we were in row 1. Seats confirmed in boarding passes at check in and then when we try and board the aircraft it doesn’t allow us through and the gate attendant has to allocate another couple of seats. Very annoying and frustrating, particularly when I can see from my new seats that the seats are occupied and so clearly nothing wrong with them.

[rob_f_1]

Update: no such issues on way back when booked in row 3. So maybe it is a row 2 thing?! (Has happened three times in a row when I booked row 2)

[NorthernLass]

I’m now on my 3rd seat kicking out for my OPO-LGW next month. Now in row 9 after starting in row 2!

[MrWhite]

That’s terrible @NorthernLass. Are you unable to move yourself back?

[NorthernLass]

I had been moved to *no* seat, and by the time I realised, the whole cabin was booked up back to row 9 (though that is marked as a single seat in an exit row, so maybe a silver lining!). I do keep checking every couple of weeks but I’ve numerous forward bookings so it gets a bit time-consuming! It’s a 2 hour flight so should still get fed.

[rob_f_1]

That’s really bad @northernlass and Alan H. I’ve emailed BA asking if they can explain what’s going on, but no reply yet. Will comment if they get back to me.

[NorthernLass]

I did mention it in my email to BAH when I contacted them about my cancellation the other day but they just replied that it was “an operational issue”!
Might whack in a separate complaint if I get time.