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Effective 03 June 2008 for departures from 06 June 2008
British Airways has reviewed the seat product for Groups customers and a new policy that provides a more effective and improved seating proposition is now available for our travel partners in Europe.
Customers who are travelling together as a group/party (eg. School party, orchestra, laboratory and would like to have seats booked and allocated together are referred to as ‘Homogenous’ Groups.
The remaining group customers are referred to as ‘Non-homogenous’ (eg. Tour operators).
British Airways recognise that ‘Non-homogenous’ Groups are unlikely to show up at the airport and travel together as a group and therefore have different needs in terms of seating. However both types of groups have great interests to be pre-seated. ‘Non-homogenous’ Groups have also a strong need to be able to use the Check In Kiosks (CIK) now available at more than 46 airports worldwide.
What does this mean?
· ‘Homogenous Groups’ of 40 or less passengers made by travel partners have the option of obtaining block seating prior to departure.
· Seats can be allocated between –7 days and –72 hours prior to departure.
· At –72hrs prior departure all seat maps are transferred to the airport check-in mode and no changes can be done in any local BA office or at the airport.
· By following this procedure, if travelling from London Heathrow Terminal 5 our staff at groups check-in area zone G will be notified of the ‘Homogenous Group’ and a desk made available to ease check-in formalities.
· Travel partners making ‘Non-homogenous Groups’ bookings have instead the option to access the seat map and pre-assign seats 4 days prior of each flight. The process will also allow the use of our Check In Kiosks (CIK), 96 of which are available at our new London Heathrow Terminal 5.
The process in a nutshell‘Homogenous Groups’
1. At the time of booking you, the travel partner will queue the PNR to NICBA0102/50C1 (this queue is valid for all countries).
2. A robotic will validate the Groups PNR for essential criteria and add a time review for seating (OP) which will Q place the booking immediately, for action at a date (= departure –7 days).
3. On the specific date (= departure –7 days) a robotic will read the Q and conduct the following actions:
a) Validate the presence of an authenticated IATA Number, a valid class of group travel and a live itinerary where seat allocation is permitted
b) Add NGST keyword for block names
c) Remove seating OP time limit
d) Q PNR to owner
Upon entering all names in the booking you will be able to allocate specific seat numbers to the named passengers.
Note: At –72hrs all un-named seats allocations will be released from the block. If passengers are named but not allocated a seat number the remaining individuals will be seated automatically in alphabetical order.
‘Non-homogenous Groups’
1. At the time of booking you, the travel partner will queue the PNR to MANBA08NH/87C3 (this queue is valid for all countries).
2. A robotic will validate the Groups PNR for essential criteria and add a time review for seating (OP) which will Q place the booking immediately, for action at a date (= departure –4 days) for each eligible flight in the itinerary.
3. On the specific date (= departure –4 days) a robotic will read the Q and conduct the following actions:
a) Validate the presence of an authenticated IATA Number, a valid class of group travel and a live itinerary where seat allocation is permitted
b) Add GSST keyword to allow opening the seat map
c) Remove seating OP time limit
d) Q PNR to owner
Upon entering all names in the booking you will be able to allocate specific seat numbers to the named passengers choosing from a normal seat map.
Note: The seat allocation needs to be repeated for each eligible flight in the itinerary at –4 days before departure of each flight.
Questions & Answers
Q1. Can we request a seating block for ‘Homogenous Groups’ by sending the PNR to a specific queue?
Yes, in Europe the trade need to send the PNR to queue NICBA0102/50C1 making sure that the following information is inserted:
- AP IATA 1234567
- HK status
- Correct booking classes (G, I, T, A)
- BA flight number
If this information is not correct or incomplete, the robotic will queue back the PNR to the queue 0 of the OID of the trade booking. The PNR will show: “Seating rules failed”. You need to correct/complete the PNR, delete the “Seating rules failed” remark and queue it again to NICBA0102/50C1.
If the information is correct, the PNR will be sent back confirmed with a seating block at –7 days prior to departure to the originator.
Q2. What happens after I queue the group PNR?
From date of booking up until 8 days prior to departure (or 5 days for ‘Non-homogenous’ Groups) nothing will happen unless the PNR is missing any information or is incorrect. In that case, you will receive it back for correction to your queue 0. The error message inserted in the PNR will be “Seating rules failed”. This remark needs to be removed from the PNR before you re-queue it to NICBA0102/50C1 for ‘Homogenous’ Groups (or MANBA08NH/87C3 for ‘Non-homogenous’ Groups).
If the PNR is correct nothing will happen until – 7 days prior to departure when you will receive the seating block for ‘Homogenous’ Groups (or –4 days prior to departure of each flight to access to the seat map for ‘Non-homogenous’ Groups).
Q3. How many passengers can be seated under the new policy?
‘Homogenous’ Groups
The new policy allows the booking agent to request allocated “block” seating for each group booking between 10 and 40 passengers.
‘Non-homogenous’ Groups
The new policy allows the booking agent to request seats for groups of any size
Q4. What happens if my ‘Homogenous’ group is larger than 40?
The maximum group size for pre-seating is 40 so if there are larger groups they need to be split into multiples of 40.
Q5. What happens if block seating for a ‘Homogenous’ Group is not requested?
The group will continue to be offered seating at check-in. However, groups travelling from London Heathrow Terminal 5 could not find the check-in facility at Area G appropriately manned and therefore could experience lengthy queues.
… and what happens if pre-seating for a ‘Non-homogenous’ Group is not requested?
The group will continue to be offered seating at check-in, but currently cannot use the Check In Kiosks (CIK) and therefore could potentially experience lengthy queues.
Q6. What do I need to do when I receive the seating block?
You will receive the seating block at –7 days and it will be available for you until –72 hours prior to departure. A NGST keyword will be inserted by the robotic and remark will be added to the PNR: “Groups seating block assigned- individual seat allocation required before –72 hrs”.
The block will be available from –7 days until –72 hour prior to departure by entering SMG (+segment number for Amadeus users). A mini map for the block will appear and you can assign seats to specific passengers with the usual seating entries.
For ‘Non-homogenous’ Groups you will receive the booking at –4.5 days before departure of each segment. A GSST keyword will be inserted by the robotic and remark will be added to the PNR: “SEATMAP WILL OPEN AT -4.5 DAYS FOR BA flight/date. PLEASE PREASSIGN YOUR SEATS”. Seats for ‘Non-homogenous’ Groups can then be assigned using your normal CRS seating entries.
Q7. Do I have to assign seats to all passengers? What happens if I do not do so?
If you have not allocated all seats within the block at –72 hours prior to departure, the robotic will automatically assign any remaining seats alphabetically. This is a completely automatic process and the alphabetical seat allocation by the robotic cannot be changed or edited in the local BA office or at the airport.
Nothing will happen for ‘Non-homogenous’ Groups. Passengers will still be offered seating at check in but possibly experiencing queues.
Q8. Will I get a seat block if I queue a PNR less than 7 days prior to departure?
If you queue a ’Homogenous’ Group PNR for block seating at –5 days prior to departure and it contains all the right information, you will receive a seating block if seats are still available. However, you will have less time to seat all names in the PNR.
IMPORTANT: If a ’Homogenous’ group booking is sent less than 7 days prior to departure and it is rejected, no seat block will be available even if the PNR is corrected and re-queued. The following remark will be displayed in the PNR: “Group block seating not available for all requested segments”.
Q9. What happens if no names are inserted in the PNR?
If the booking is not fully named at –72 hours prior to departure, the seating block for a ’Homogenous’ Group will be lost and seating will only be assigned at check-in. Similarly, for ‘Non-homogenous’ Group, seats cannot be assigned to unnamed travellers.
Q10. What happens if a Premier, Gold or Silver Executive Card holder is travelling?
If a Premier, Gold or Silver EC card holder is travelling you can allocate a seat to the card holder at the time of booking as long as the passenger’s name is in the booking and the Executive Club profile has been added. Please be aware that this can only be done if the booking has not been queued to NICBA0102/50C1 for block seating (or MANBA08NH/87C3 for ‘Non-homogenous’ Groups) - once it has, the facility to allocate a seat to applicable Executive Club card holders will not be available.
You are able to split off PNRs for eligible customers, who are able to choose their own seat at time of booking.
Q11. Must we put the IATA number in the AP?
Yes, it is compulsory. Otherwise the robotic will send you back the PNR rejected to for correction.
The format is: AP IATA 7 digits IATA number.
Q12. What happens if the itinerary changes after I queued the group PNR?
If the PNR has been queued to the robotic before the 7 days from departure (or 4.5 days for ‘Non-homogenous’ Groups) and the itinerary has been changed the PNR needs to be resent to queue and the robotic will process the PNR change.
Q13. Does the system work on franchise operated flights?
The new group seating process works with BA flight numbers whether operated by a franchise or a subsidiary. However, it does not work on code-shares.
Q14. Will the entries for allocation of seats be exactly the same as those used for individual PNRs?
Yes. You can access the seating block for ‘Homogenous’ Groups) with SMG plus the segment number. Within the block, and for ‘Non-homogenous’ Groups the entries are the same as in individual PNRs (ST…). Please refer to CRS entries provided in the left hand side menu.
Q15. Will the robotic send me for ‘Homogenous’ Groups the mini seat map for the first sector only?
No. At –7 days before departure, the robotic will send you the PNR with the mini seat maps for all the sectors in the PNR if they are BA flight numbers. Code-shares will not show the seat map. However ‘Non-homogenous’ Groups bookings will be queued to the travel partner 4.5 days before departure of each flight and pre-seating will be allowed for that flight only.
Q16. After I sent the PNR to NICBA0102/50C1, is there a way of stopping the group seating request?
Yes. If you need to stop the block seating being allocated to your PNR delete the OP time limit that appears after you first queued the PNR to NICBA0102/50C1 or MANBA08NH/87C3.
Q17. Will passengers be able to change their seats once allocated?
Once the seats are allocated and sent to the airport check-in system at –72 hours no seat changes are possible. The local BA office or the airport will not be able to change a seat for a passenger.
Q18. What happens if we name change after the individual has been given a seat number from the group block (before –72hrs) or from a seat map for ‘Non-homogenous’ Groups?
If a passenger name is updated the new passenger will be allocated the same seat number.
If a passenger name is cancelled with the save space option the seat number will be released from the group block and the new passenger name will not have a seat allocated.
Once the seating has moved over to check in (-72hrs) we are unable to amend seat numbers.
Q19. What do I need to do if the PNR I sent to NICBA0102/50C1 for ‘Homogenous’ Groups or to MANBA08NH/87C3 for ‘Non-homogenous’ Groups is rejected?
If you receive a rejected PNR onto your queue 0 it is because the format of the entries used are incorrect or information is missing. Please check PNR checklist provided.
A “Seating rules failed” remark appears in the PNR which needs to be removed before re-queueing the PNR.
Correct or complete the information and re-queue the PNR. If it is correct you will receive a confirmation to your local queue 0 (at –7 days before departure for ‘Homogenous’ Groups or –4.5 days before departure of each flight for ‘Non-homogenous’ Groups) with some seating remarks and keywords. Just enter SMG+segment to retrieve mini seat map for ‘Homogenous’ Groups and normal seating entries for ‘Non-homogenous’ Groups.
If a PNR is queued less than 7 day prior to departure and it is rejected, please do not queue it again as a seat block will never be provided. The following error remark will appear: “Group block seating not available for all requested segments”.
Q20. What happens if you are a Galileo or Worldspan agent?
You will need to register in Speedbird Club and request group access using the Group Access Request Form. | 
