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Is there any way of knowing if BA has blocked the seat next to me because of my Silver status or if it’s a real passenger that has booked it? I took the window in an exit row, later I saw that someone had taken the aisle and the middle seat was showing as free. I fly tomorrow evening and the middle seat is now booked, I presume it’s a passenger that has taken it but I don’t know if it’s the system greying out the seat adjacent to mine due to my Silver status. I expect a light load, probably no more than 70% full, if that, it certainly won’t be a busy flight.
When I rebooked myself to a window in an ordinary row, the middle seat in the exit row I vacated remained greyed out; I thought there was a chance it would become free again if I vacated the window indicating this was a phantom passenger but it might take time for the IT to catch up.
I just found it odd that someone would select a middle seat in an exit row when most of the seats on the plane are still available.
http://www.expertflyer.com will show you if a seat is blocked or occupied.
Exit rows are nearly always full because of the extra leg room! I would never count on one of those being empty, certainly not for Silver. Gold, maybe.
Thanks all. I agree about the popularity of exit rows, I assumed it was a real passenger that fancied the extra legroom, especially with today’s tight legroom in other rows.
I just checked Expert Flyer, great tip, thank you! It shows the seat as ‘blocked’ as opposed to ‘occupied’. Both the middle seat in the exit row where I was formerly seated, as well as the middle in row 4 where I’ve now plonked myself are ‘blocked’. Confusingly, I can book the middle seat that’s supposedly blocked next to me… Most seats are in fact ‘blocked’ yet I can freely book them when I look at the seat map on the BA app. We’re more than 24 hours before the flight if this makes any difference.
In the airline world 70% load isn’t regarded as being ‘light’ or ‘not busy’ !
In anycase looking at the seat map is useless because a significant number of passengers don’t actually select a seat until they
BA will only try and block the adjacent seat for Golds and even then it isn’t guarenteed for them let alone silvers
BA will only try and block the adjacent seat for Golds and even then it isn’t guarenteed for them let alone silvers
Utter tripe! The number of times the seat next to me has been blocked as a silver – including 2C on Cityflyer to Scotland when I got 2D – and even heading back from Europe in Y just after New Year on busy flights – has really surprised me. And I know it’s not the “other” passenger as either the whole row has been free or i’ve put someone from my party in A, me in C and then bingo, B gets blocked out.
I’m sure they’ll release that seat before they do the same for a gold with a seat blocked next to them, but 100% they do this for us lowly silver card holders, too.
That was my understanding too, that the algo tries to keep the adjacent seat free, unless the load is such that they have to press it into service and there’s a hierachy whereby Silver members are first to lose their adjacent seat, then Golds and so on. I’ve ‘usually’ had a seat free next to me when flying as a Silver, exceptions have been either sell out flights or when I’ve booked really late and therefore I’m late to the seat selection party.
Course, it’s impossible to be sure why the adjacent is empty. Is it deliberate or merely coincidental.
If I understand it correctly Expert Flyer is of most use after OLCI opens and other passengers have had a chance to pick seats, then, if the seat adjacent is still showing as ‘blocked’ and not ‘occupied’ that means it’s because BA is keeping it free?
Are they really not going to sell an exit row seat to keep it empty for a Silver? I’ve never seen this, but then again I’ve mostly been flying at peak times up till now so maybe I will notice a difference in future ..!
BA will only try and block the adjacent seat for Golds and even then it isn’t guarenteed for them let alone silvers
Utter tripe! The number of times the seat next to me has been blocked as a silver – including 2C on Cityflyer to Scotland when I got 2D – and even heading back from Europe in Y just after New Year on busy flights – has really surprised me. And I know it’s not the “other” passenger as either the whole row has been free or i’ve put someone from my party in A, me in C and then bingo, B gets blocked out.
I’m sure they’ll release that seat before they do the same for a gold with a seat blocked next to them, but 100% they do this for us lowly silver card holders, too.
It’s not ‘utter tripe’ at all.
BA does not guarentee an empty seat for golds let alone silvers
If it’s been empty for you then great but thats more good luck than a guarentee!
Are they really not going to sell an exit row seat to keep it empty for a Silver?
The middle seat was showing as ‘blocked’ but not ‘occupied’ in Expert Flyer, so either the algo was keeping it empty for me, or there was a Gold member in the aisle seat. Or blocked for an operational reason.
Exit row seats are expensive but I can’t imagine someone electing to pay good money for a middle seat before OLCI opens at T-24 hours.When my husband who is silver flew out the other day the seat was blocked but a crew member sat there as their jumpseat was broken.
How accurate is Expert Flyer anyway?
This is down to a module called Theoretical Seating in the dispatch control system, which kicks in at T-72 hours to benefit primarily gold and silver members, with typically much more impact on gold because of the lower number and the combination with other restrictions (e.g. row 1).
So yes, if the flight is not full it will restrict which seats are available to lower status members up to and including online check-in.
As noted above, it is unlikely to benefit much in the exit row as there will usually be an equal or higher status member who will choose that row, and they will often open these up to bronze members or to others for payment anyway.
From reading about experiences of it, it is most apparent in lighter loaded long haul economy flights where there is space for it to work.
However, most flights are so busy these days I am not sure how much it really does!
100% in my experience. If you change your own seat Expert Flyer reflects it immediately.
I’ve had blocked exit seats next to me as Gold several times. A check in agent can always override blocks of course, should they choose to.
I’ve been a gold for many years and have never had the seat blocked for me on BA , on QR and CX yes .. I’ve asked at check in before with BA and they always say there not allowed too
If it is blocked maybe your just lucky .. I doubt it’s due to your ba status ..
My last flight to Hong Kong and back … travelling alone.. the row of 3 was all occupied hiwever row behind empty !!!!
I’m silver flying to Egypt next week. My seat is confirmed as 2A. Looking at Expert Flyer all the other free seats in the cabin are marked as available except for the one next to me which is marked “P” which in the key says “Priority Only. This seat has not been assigned to a passenger, however it can only be assigned to a passenger with a certain elite status designated by the airline” I guess this means only people with status can sit next to me which is quite nice lol. I wonder what level of status this is?
100% in my experience. If you change your own seat Expert Flyer reflects it immediately.
That’s my experience also across all airlines where I’ve used it. Of course, I can’t tell whether block Vs occupied is accurate unless it’s a seat occupied on our booking but I’ve no reason to believe it isn’t accurate.
I’ve been a gold for many years and have never had the seat blocked for me on BA , on QR and CX yes .. I’ve asked at check in before with BA and they always say there not allowed too
If it is blocked maybe your just lucky .. I doubt it’s due to your ba status ..
My last flight to Hong Kong and back … travelling alone.. the row of 3 was all occupied hiwever row behind empty !!!!
Odd, for the last few years I’ve usually had the adjacent seat kept free.
Perhaps TS is more effective on shorthaul? Flying in CE I’ve almost always had three seats to myself. Even on flights ACE<>LGW with large/busy CE cabins I usually have 1A-1C to myself.
How accurate is Expert Flyer anyway?
On BA, up until T-72 it is accurate as it is directly pulling the reservations seat map.
After that you will likely see some inconsistencies between available/blocked seats on Expertflyer vs what you see on the OLCI seat map. An occupied seat will still show accurately.
I wouldn’t say there are inconsistencies as such, different people will always see different views of available seats. There are several types of seat block and Expert Flyer only shows blocked or not. CE Row 1 is always blocked before T-72, but available to Gold, bassinet seats are blocked but available to those with an infant on their booking.
After TS kicks in around T-72 there will typically be seats blocked next to status holders which are unavailable to most but still available to those with equal or higher status. Expert Flyer is consistently showing the most restrictive view. In theory it does support the concept of showing ‘Premium’ seats but I rarely see that appearing on BA flights.
There are options to tell it you have status with different airlines and enter FF numbers, but I tried that a couple of times and it made no difference (again with BA, other airlines may be different).
I flew to BUD yesterday evening and the middle seat in row 4 on a 319 was empty. As I predicted it was about 70% full. What was quite noticeable was that the rear third of the plane seemed to be packed in like sardines whereas the rows further forward had considerably more free seats. There’s clearly an algo at work obliging certain categories of passenger to be seated towards the rear of the cabin (no status? cheap fare buckets?).
Oddly once OLCI was open Expert Flyer was showing the middle seat as ‘occupied’ rather than ‘blocked’, I assumed someone was going to be sitting there but the agent confirmed during bag drop that wasn’t the case.
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