Available seat choices on British Airways flights

score:7

Accepted answer

I was left wondering how all those unreserved seats got reserved so quickly

British Airways uses a tool called "Theoretical Seating" which automatically starts blocking seats 72 hours before departure. The seats are not allocated at this time, but your view of the seat map will be different depending on your value as a customer to British Airways.

British Airways are not actually offering all the currently available seats to those passengers eligible to reserve a seat at that time.

Correct. If you are a British Airways Gold (or Premier) Executive Club member flying multiple times per month, typically on last minute full flex fares, you will still have an open choice of seats (except those which are actually allocated). If you are an infrequent customer purchasing the lowest possible ticket many months in advance, it is likely your seat choice will be restricted to a few middle seats near the back.

The purpose is, the most valuable passengers (i.e., repeat customers who are paying the highest fares) often purchase their tickets only a few hours before departure. The airline wants to offer them a good choice of seats.

The public seat map doesn't distinguish between blocked seats (which are empty but not available), broken seats, and actually allocated seats. (This is true in general for every airline, but I think only a handful of airlines are using Theoretical Seating.)

For a person willing to pay for seats, the airline is happy to give them a wider choice. The airline also proactively blocks seats besides Gold and Silver customers to give them more space, if capacity allows.

We can use a tool like ExpertFlyer to get a better picture of what the seats of a particular flight look like.

Here is the first flight of the day to Amsterdam tomorrow. - indicates a taken seat, whereas X indicates a blocked seat. This actually is a busy flight.

Departing LHR on 06/07/18 for AMS
Flying BA flight 428 in Economy

    A   B       D   E   F       J   K   
12  W   -   -       -   X   -       -   -   W   
13  W   -   -       -   X   -       X   -   W   
14  W   -   -       -   -   -       -   -   W   
15  W   -   -       -   -   -       -   -   W   
16  W   -   -       -   X   -       X   -   W   
17  W   X   -       -   X   -       -   -   W   
18  W   -   X       -   -   -       -   -   W   
        A   B       D   E   F       J   K   


        A   B       D   E   F       J   K   
19  W   -   -       -   -   -       -   -   W   
20  W   -   -       -   -   X       -   -   W   
21  W   -   -       X   -   -       -   -   W   
22  W   -   X       -   -   -       -   -   W   
23  W   -   -       -   -   -       -   -   W   
24      -   -       X   X   X       -   -       
25      -   -       -   -   X       -   -       
26      -   -       -   -   -       -   -       
        A   B       D   E   F       J   K   


        A   B       D   E   F       J   K   
27  E   -   -       -   -   -       -   -   E   
28      -   -       X   X   -       -   -       
29      -   -       -   -   -       -   -       
30      -   -       -   -   -       -   -       
31      -   -       -   -   -       -   -       
32      -   X       H   -   H       X   -       
33      -   -       -   -   H       X   -       
34      -   -       -   -   H       -   -       
35      -   -       X   X   X       X   X       
36      -   -       H   -   -       -   -       
37      +   -       -   +   -       -   -       
38      -   -       -   X   X       -   -       
39      -   X       H   -   -                   
40                  -   -   -       L   L       
41  E               -   -   -               E   
        A   B       D   E   F       J   K   




Seats
Premium Only             P                        
Available                +                        
Handicap-Accessible      H                        
Paid & Premium           #                        
Occupied                 -                        
Blocked                  X                        
Lavatory                 L                        
Paid                     $                        

Location
Exit Row                 E                        
Wing                     W                        
Upper Deck               U

It is also true that certain business heavy shorthaul flights don't tend to sell many seats until about 72 hours before departure.

Upvote:1

...or British Airways are not actually offering all the currently available seats to those passengers eligible to reserve a seat at that time.

I suspect this to be the case. They will reserve some of the premium seats to sell at the counter or to offer to premium customers.

They don't always fill those premium seats. I am unsure about British Airways policy, but sometimes you are allowed to move to open seats after taking off. You simply ask the flight attendant to change seats (if the seat is available). I think(?) for international flights, you have strict assigned seating but on domestic flights, you can take open seats after take off. My experience is that British Airways isn't always very helpful.

Some European flights (non British Airways, like Air France) aren't worth the seat upgrades at all because the planes can be very empty and flights are so short.

I know I was on an Air France flight and some Russian boxers were allowed to move to premium economy seats, for free. I was a little shocked, as I wanted those seats and had been traveling over 24 hours longer than those guys.

It seems it's up to the staff on the plane to make the decisions, but British Airways is rather strict and may not allow it at all. They seem to be very focused on turning a profit, and not really offering us their best.

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