#927802 by catsilversword
25 Oct 2016, 11:45
Hi,

Will be taking a flight in a few days' time with the Dark Side -we're booked into club world, but I was wondering whether to ask bout an upgrade in the day. I suspect that it would be out of reach, but do BA even offer those in the same way VS does?

Also - I know their lounge (Gatwick) is currently closed, so it'll be a case of using the No 1 lounge. Anyone had experience of this? I know it'll be nowhere near a clubhouse, so am not expecting too much.
#927806 by gumshoe
25 Oct 2016, 13:08
Yes they do - they're known as AUPs (Airport upgrades) - just ask at check in.

There's a long thread on Flyertalk tracking AUP prices so might be worth checking that. I doubt you'd get much change out of £500 per person per leg though and FWIW I don't think it's worth it, particularly given the lounge situation at LGW. You still get a flat bed and perfectly decent food & drink in Club, and save a lot of money.

If you're flying before Jan 25th you will indeed have to use the No.1 Lounge - the normal one if flying Club or the slightly nicer Clubrooms if in First. The offer is the same - limited food, free bar (except champagne - £8 a glass) but the Clubrooms should be quieter. The main lounge can get horrendously busy.
#927809 by tontybear
25 Oct 2016, 13:25
If you check MMB BA will sometimes offer POUG (pro active i.e. in advance) upgrades.

What BA does not do (unlike VS) is offer on the day miles upgrades.

It also depends what route you are flying as not all BA planes have F.
#927819 by catsilversword
25 Oct 2016, 15:53
Thanks!

I did look, a few times, on MMB, but when I tried to look at upgrades, it came up every time with an error message! Mileage upgrade on the day isn't in the frame, I have nowhere near enough miles! Flight is to Tampa, so no idea how if that route would have Fs. Will c heck out the BA flyer thread though, and thanks again.

I was also looking st choosing seats before online check-in. £83 each, each way!!!!! Pick me up from the floor....
#927820 by tontybear
25 Oct 2016, 16:07
No F on LGW flights to TPA (which is why your likely getting the error)

And if you can stand another flyer talk thread of rants there is one about the seat charges and how iniquitous they are etc
#927831 by gumshoe
25 Oct 2016, 17:23
catsilversword wrote:I was also looking st choosing seats before online check-in. £83 each, each way!!!!! Pick me up from the floor....


Those with BA silver status or above get free seat selection at time of booking, and of those who don't plenty will pay to secure the more private window seats. It's entirely possible that if you leave it to T-24 you'll struggle to find two seats together - though at least it's easy to keep track of seat availability via MMB.
#927833 by catsilversword
25 Oct 2016, 18:32
I just had a look, the diagram suggests there are only two available seats. Nowhere near each other either, so it looks as though we can ask if we can be moved or sit apart for the flight. What a shambles.
#927836 by gumshoe
25 Oct 2016, 19:04
BA has recently (and not without problems) brought in a new system called Theoretical Seating.

It's very complicated but essentially it means the seat map you see will differ according to your status.

If you're gold you'll see a much wider choice of seats than someone who's silver, who in turn will have more choice than someone who's bronze and so on.

The upshot is if you have no status you're at the bottom of the pile and will get a very limited choice of seats - even if you're willing to pay £83.

You may find when OLCI opens at T-24 that more seats that had been reserved for those with status open up. Or you may not. It may seem unfair and, as you say, a shambles but the bottom line is BA wants to look after its highest spending and most loyal customers. Those with low or no status - however much they've paid for their ticket - are ultimately of little worth to it.
#927837 by catsilversword
25 Oct 2016, 19:13
Thanks for the explanation gumshoe. it's such a load of rubbish though. Each time we fly with BA - and it isn't often - I find myself disappointed in the product. I used to think the journey was part of a holiday, but suspect this isn't going to be the case!
#927886 by TimCrawley
26 Oct 2016, 21:37
Thanks for the explanation gumshoe.
+1 to that

I don't use the Dark Side too much these days so no status any longer - but bagged a very nice deal for 3 of us in CW on the LGW-ANU route at the end of November. However, the £93 each per seat booking in each direction on that route wasn't at all tempting given the awful seats showing at time of booking (bad enough that pot-luck and all sitting separately wouldn't be much worse than the best available showing).

However, when I looked tonight more seat possibilities have opened up with close to a month to go until the outward leg .... still not enough to tempt me, but almost, as no window seats so based on the helpful guide from gumshoe I think I'll now keep an eye on it as I would pay it for my friends if any of the window+aisle combos comes up nearer to the time (sadly have to pay the £93 for all 3 though as one booking so can't even save the £93 by not being bothered where I sit).

Certainly if prices in BA CW and VS UC are close I tend to go VS even if they are a few £ more because of the CH, general VS experience (though I'm quite happy with BA just prefer VS) and the VS UC free seat booking is either a bonus saving or brings the price down nicely below BA ..... this time, however, the price difference was thousands per person for the ideal travel dates I wanted so I'm being a bit churlish grumbling at all.

Thanks for raising the topic catsilverworld and for the other useful info tontybear!
#927888 by honey lamb
26 Oct 2016, 22:53
gumshoe wrote:BA has recently (and not without problems) brought in a new system called Theoretical Seating.

It's very complicated but essentially it means the seat map you see will differ according to your status.

If you're gold you'll see a much wider choice of seats than someone who's silver, who in turn will have more choice than someone who's bronze and so on.

The upshot is if you have no status you're at the bottom of the pile and will get a very limited choice of seats - even if you're willing to pay £83.

You may find when OLCI opens at T-24 that more seats that had been reserved for those with status open up. Or you may not. It may seem unfair and, as you say, a shambles but the bottom line is BA wants to look after its highest spending and most loyal customers. Those with low or no status - however much they've paid for their ticket - are ultimately of little worth to it.

Hmm! I'm currently Bronze which will expire within the next couple of weeks. I've booked flights in CW in January to SCL which is a new route. Quite frankly, I hate CW where you have to climb over someone's legs to go to the loo etc., but I do love a window seat but as I booked ex-AMS at a price which is less than half the price of a flight ex-DUB/ORK/LHR, I was happy to pay for seating if it was available. The map was wide open and I was able to get one of the window seats where there is direct access to the aisle for €94 for both legs, no problem. I'm happy!
#927967 by catsilversword
29 Oct 2016, 20:17
Now I'm properly confused. Did online check in today and it duly came up with a choice of available seats - 2e and 2f! Which are first class seats, but my bookings is CW..... some kind of software glitch? Th sit asked me to confirm acceptance of the seats....
#927969 by hiljil
29 Oct 2016, 21:38
Sometimes the 777 to Tampa is a 4 class plane and some lucky people get to sit in the First Class cabin but without the actual First Class menu, service etc. But just being in the 1st class seat is a treat.

If you are one of those lucky ones - enjoy ! :-D
#927970 by catsilversword
29 Oct 2016, 21:51
I certainly won't be complaining if that turns out to be the case! Keep thinking it's probably wrong though - if there were any op-ups, wouldn't that generally only happen at the airport?

Can you clarify what you mean about sitting in a first class seat , without the service and menu - how does that work, would staff give you a different menu? Seems a bit complicated for staff to have to do!
#927971 by hiljil
29 Oct 2016, 22:01
I mean that the First Class cabin seats are used but but not as First Class on this particular flight. The people in them have the CW menu and drinks as they have been selected to move from the CW cabin . All the times I've seen it happen people have found out at online check in that they've been moved not when they get to the airport.

It does look like tomorrow's Tampa flight is a 777 with the 4 class cabins.
#927982 by hiljil
30 Oct 2016, 13:04
Have a great flight. Do let us know if you have the First Class seats, please !
#928000 by TimCrawley
30 Oct 2016, 22:44
sadly have to pay the £93 for all 3 though as one booking so can't even save the £93 by not being bothered where I sit


Checked again today and price has dropped from £93 to £77 per seat on our LGW-ANU trip .... for the return leg the window seats have now become available (and quite a few - so maybe I'll wait another week to see if price drops further then nab them) but still no window seats on the outward so not too keen to pay for any seats on that yet.

The seating plan for our ANU-LGW in December seems to have now changed to the "777-200 3 class (without first) rows 1-11 layout" while the LGW-ANU leg is still on the "777-200 (with First) rows 10-15" so maybe a faint chance on that leg of that "First seats but with CW food/drink" that Catsilverworld has hopefully bagged. The LGW<->ANU route doesn't normally run with a First cabin as far as I can see so even if we're not among the lucky ones to get First there could at least be a better chance of a CW window seat or 3 showing up in the next week or two if they bump up some of their status customers 'early'.

It's certainly further confirmation of what Gumshoe and Tontybear were saying, thanks Hiljil for the info you added..... enjoy your flight to TPA Catsilverworld!
#928007 by Hamster
31 Oct 2016, 13:35
TimCrawley theoretical seating kicks in at T-72hrs, so you should see the same seat maps as below this far out?

ba215728th.tiff
BA2157 28th nov
ba215728th.tiff (251.57 KiB) Viewed 12736 times


BA2156 20th.tiff
BA 2156 20th Dec
BA2156 20th.tiff (161.73 KiB) Viewed 12736 times
#928035 by Smid
31 Oct 2016, 18:10
Seat booking was the original reason why I did my first TP run to get Silver. I did DUB-LCY-JFK-LAS and back, to get 700 odd points and silver.

It cost £1100 quid to book. It earned me 30K avios, which I value at around £450 (and boosted avios in the future). We'd got a 2 for 1 and a Hawaii flight booked further, so at the 75 quid per leg, it saved us a total of £600 on booking fees). So technically it was £50 and my time. Sure there were hotels involved in JFK (about 80 odd quid) and LAS (actually about £100 for three days, Harrahs and Main street station downtown), but I regard that as a much more fun way of getting the seats booked for me!
#928055 by TimCrawley
31 Oct 2016, 21:11
Hi Hamster, thanks for posting those seat maps - that is indeed what I'm seeing in MMB.

A day or two after making the booking I looked on MMB to see what seats were available and neither flight had any window seats at all available (even for the £93 price being asked then). But when I checked back again on 26th October a load of window seats (A / K) had appeared for booking on the return leg as now shown by you plus, although no window seats, there were some aisle (B / J) that had now appeared available on the outward leg. I suppose no window seats will show up for booking on the outward leg right up until T-72 and/or T-24 unless some folks rebook off the flight or I drop lucky and they also now change that flight from a "777-200 3 class (without first) rows 1-11 layout" to a "777-200 (with First) rows 10-15" and bump up in advance some status passengers from CW to First with CW service? Guess I'll just check back every couple of days to see if either availability improves or the price per seat continues to drop from £93 to £77 to £cheap :-)

Hope the seat selection on VS UC remains free!
#928057 by catsilversword
31 Oct 2016, 21:19
hiljil wrote:Have a great flight. Do let us know if you have the First Class seats, please !


We did have first class seats! One of the cabin crew was saying they were operating it as a three class flight, I can't help but wonder why that happens, and how often. Is it because nobody bought first class at all, which would be a surorise
#928058 by catsilversword
31 Oct 2016, 21:23
Sorry, screen froze before I could finish the above post!

Anyway - great to experience the first class seats, lots of room and loved the bigger to screen size. Can't say I found them as comfortable though as VS UC!
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