Seating Policy

Our policy divides passengers into three groups – those who can choose their seat at check-in, those who will be allocated a seat before check-in opens, and finally those who can choose their seat when they make their booking.

Who can choose their seat at the time of booking?

• Customers who have booked in F, A, J, C, W, Y ;
• All customers who travel in FIRST;
• Customers travelling on a corporate dealt ticket, using a BACCI code (please see further instruction below);
• Premier, Gold and Silver Executive Club members and oneworld equivalents;*
• Customers travelling with infants

Agencies that have British Airways dealt corporate clients should make sure that they include the BACCI code in the booking, using the following GDS entries:

• Amadeus: SK DTID BA-Client Code
• SABRE/Worldspan: 3OSI BA DTID.Client Code
• Galileo: SI.BA*DTID.Client Code

 
*It is important that you enter the Executive Club or any of the oneworld equivalent numbers in your PNR so that you can access the seat map at the time of booking. Alternatively your customer will be able to access the seat map via Manage My Booking on ba.com.

These customers will be able to choose their seat at the time of booking and change their seat at any time until they have checked in. However, Silver cardholders and oneworld Sapphire cardholders, customers travelling on a corporate dealt ticket, using a BACCI code and customers holding a booking in W and Y will only be able to book Preferred Exit Row** seats in World Traveller and World Traveller Plus between 10 and 4 days before departure. These seats must be requested online, via Manage my Booking / MMB cul-de-sac on ba.com, and a fee of £50, $75 or €60 (or local curreny equivalent) will apply.

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Content:

Paid Seating

Prices

Exit row seats

Refunds

Paid seating booking process for Travel Trade from 09 February 2010

Passengers booked with other carriers (eff. 29 October 2009)

Additional needs customers and those travelling with infants

Group Bookings (PNRs with 10 or more passengers)

Online Check-in

Steps to access British Airways seating

Paid Seating Questions and Answers

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Paid Seating

For bookings made from 07 October 2009, general paid seating can be requested by most customers from time of booking up until online check-in opens -24 hours before their flight, subject to availability.

Paid seating is not available on flights operated by BA Cityflyer, those operated by any British Airways franchisee or alliance airline, or any flight operated by a codeshare partner.

General seating aims to allow customers to pre-assign seats together in advance of online check in. Therefore when purchasing General seating, seat allocations must be purchased for all passengers in the booking.

Non-preferred Exit Row* & Preferred Exit Row Seating**
We recognize that not all passengers will be suitable, nor wish, to sit in a Non-preferred Exit Row or Preferred Exit Row seat. Therefore, individual passengers in a booking can choose to pre-assign Non-preferred Exit Row or Preferred Exit Row seating.

Note: All passengers in a booking will need to purchase seating but the seats need not be of the same type.

Certain customers are not eligible for paid seating, for example Skyflyers Solo (children travelling alone) and those customers travelling as part of a specialised group.

Agents and customers should request and pay for General/Non-preferred Exit Row and Preferred Exit Row seating online, via Manage My Booking / MMB Cul-de-sac on ba.com.

In order to facilitate a paid seating request British Airways will add a keyword and MCO into the booking. An MIS sector will also be added. There will be no change to the ownership of the booking.

If you delete the keyword, the MCO details or the MIS sector your customer will loose access to paid seating and will be unable to claim a refund if one becomes due.

Please note: All bookings must be ticketed in advance of the passenger or agent contacting British Airways to pay for seat allocation.

British Airways contact centres will advise passengers who are unticketed, or who haven't been split from a group/allocation PNR, that their bookings are not eligible for paid-seating. However, they will not instruct the passenger to contact their agent to resolve the booking, unless asked.

Prices

Cabin	Paid seating charge*
	GBP	USD	EUR
Domestics	£10	$15	€12
Euro Traveller	£10	$15	€12
Club Europe	£20	$30	€25
World Traveller	£20	$30	€25
World Traveller Plus	£25	$38	€30
Club World	£60	$90	€70
World Traveller Exit Row Seats	£50	$75	€60
World Traveller Plus Exit Row Seats	£50	$75	€60

*Charges are per person and per sector

Prices quoted are correct as at 09 February 2010 and are subject to change. This fee will be converted into the local currency where applicable.

Exit row seats

Premier or Gold Executive Club cardholders (& oneworld® equivalents), are still eligible to request Exit Row seating for themselves and any companion(s) without charge at the time of booking. However, the TCP (complete party) and the TOGT keyword process should now be used to request the seat for the companion(s) whether they are in either the same booking or on a separate PNR. To request seating for TCP eligible bookings, click here and follow the guidelines

• In addition, customers wishing to request an exit seat in World Traveller or World Traveller Plus can do so from 10 days to 4 days before their flight, subject to availability.
  Exit row seats are situated either next to or immediately behind the emergency exit door. In the unlikely event of an evacuation customers will be expected to assist in the opening of the emergency door.
  

CAA Requirements for sitting in exit rows:
In accordance with CAA requirements, the following categories of customers cannot be allocated an exit seat.

• Customers who are either substantially blind or substantially deaf, to the extent that they might not readily assimilate printed or verbal instructions given.
• Customers who are unable to understand and carry out instructions given in English.
• Customers who are unable to reach, open, lift and throw out the exit door in an emergency.
• Customers who because of physical stature, age or sickness have difficulty in moving quickly.
• Children under 12 (whether accompanied or not) and infants.
• Customers who are travelling with anyone who would require their assistance in the event of an emergency.

When requesting an exit seat customers will be asked to verify their eligibility.

British Airways has the sole discretion to determine whether a customer meets the requirements to sit in an exit seat. If the customer does not meet the requirements, they will be assigned an alternative seat. The additional amount paid for an exit seat will be forfeited and will not be refunded.

If after the date of requesting an exit seat customers become unable to fulfil the requirements to sit in an emergency exit seat then they should contact British Airways. They will be eligible to apply for a refund if they contact British Airways at least 48 hours before their flight.

Exit seats can be pre-assigned at a cost of £50 or $75 €60 per person per sector. This fee will be converted into the local currency (other than the US/UK/EU).

Prices quoted are correct as at 09 February 2010 and are subject to change. This fee will be converted into the local currency where applicable.

Refunds

• A paid seat request cannot be guaranteed, as it may need to be changed for operational, safety or security reasons, even after boarding the aircraft.
• In the event that British Airways has to change a customer’s seat, British Airways will endeavour to seat them in a suitable alternative. (British Airways will look to seat the party together in the first instance, and then if possible in their choice of window seat, middle seat or aisle seat. If customers have paid for an exit seat British Airways will look to seat them in another exit seat.)
• If British Airways are unable to offer then a suitable alternative seat as set out above they are eligible to apply for a refund.
• Customers have 14 days after the last flight in their itinerary to apply for a refund.
• Refund applications should be submitted online at ba.com/paidseating. Paid seating is non-refundable in all other circumstances.

Paid seating booking process for Trade from 09 February 2010

Agents and customers should request and pay for General/Non-preferred* and Preferred Exit Row seating online, via Manage My Booking / MMB Cul-de-sac on ba.com.

BA Contact Centres
From 19th January 2010 Agents and customers should call their local BA contact centre only in the following circumstances:

• To make changes to existing paid seating requests, for example following a change in itinerary.
• To upgrade an existing General/Non-preferred Exit Row seat, which they have paid for, to a Preferred Exit Row seat.

Note: In early 2010 we will extending ba.com capability further; so that Agents and customers can service paid seating changes themselves. Will communicate more details about this nearer the time.

How to pay for seating online using ba.com

With effect from 19th January 2010 Agents and customers should request and pay for General, Non-preferred and Preferred Exit Row seating online, via Manage My Booking / MMB Cul-de-sac on ba.com. Agents and customers should retrieve their bookings in MMB where, if eligible, they will be able to view the seating plans for their flights, choose their seats and securely pay online.

Please note:

The paid seating receipt will be emailed to the email address held in the passenger’s PNR. Where the booking has been made through the Trade it is up to the agent to ensure that the correct email address is in the passenger’s PNR. When purchasing General, Non-preferred & Preferred Exit Row seating online on ba.com there is an option to provide an additional email address and the paid seating receipt will then be emailed to both addresses.

Please see Paid Seating Questions and Answers for instructions how to pay to service an existing paid seating request at BA Contact Centres.

*Non-preferred Exit Row Seats
These are seats that are immediately next to, or behind, the exit door area on the aircraft. Passengers occupying these seats are expected to assist the crew in the event of an emergency evacuation and must comply with certain CAA requirements in order to purchase them. These seats may not necessarily provide additional legroom or personal space. They are priced, selected and sold in exactly the same way as General seating and are available in Club World (main deck only), Club Europe, Euro Traveller and Domestic cabins.

**Preferred Exit Row Seats
These are exit row seats in the World Traveller and World Traveller Plus cabins. They are classed as ‘preferred’ seats because in most cases they provide additional personal space. We charge a premium for these seats and they are priced, selected and sold separately from General seating.

Passengers booked with other carriers

On Thursday 29th October 2009 we made some enhancements to the paid seating proposition we announced on 7th October 2009. The following changes will enable the trade to offer paid seating to more customers and will simplify the payment process.

Passengers who are booked on British Airways services, but ticketed on other carrier's paper (for example 081 / QF tickets), will now be able to buy seating for the British Airways sectors in their itinerary.

Agents should call their usual BA contact number. 

Additional needs customers and those travelling with infants

Some of our customers need to be seated early because they have special seating requirements.

Customers with additional needs and those travelling with infants will also be able to choose their seat online at the time of booking.
**Remember to introduce the appropriate keyword in your PNR eg. INF, etc…

Unaccompanied minors and some specialised groups need to be seated before check-in opens. This will take place approximately 3 days prior to departure.

We will also endeavour to sit customers travelling with young children (aged 2-11 years) together at this time, if they have not already chosen our paid seating option.

For more information about seating for customers with additional needs please see Paid Seating Question & Answers

Group Bookings (PNRs with 10 or more passengers)

British Airways automatically allocates seating to group and allocation bookings, free of charge, from 7 days before departure.
However, there may be occasions when passengers within a larger group or allocation (for example, IT or cruise bookings) wish to pre-assign their seats in advance of this time, either for additional peace of mind or because they are not aware they are part of a group booking. In these instances the trade agent will need to split the individual passengers from the main PNR into a separate booking before paid-seating can be requested.

Online Check-in

Most customers will be able to choose their seat from all those that are available when check-in opens. This is 24 hours before departure of the flight online at ba.com.

Steps to access British Airways seating

Before making any seat map- or advance seat request entry, you must:

1. If applicable add the relevant keyword or information into the booking;
2. At "end transaction" this will then transmit the information to the BA Amadeus PNR and provided it is in the correct format, you will then be able to access seating functionality. If the information has been correctly sent to the BA Amadeus PNR, any request for a seat made after "end transaction" will be successfully provided if there are seats available. Any request made before "end transaction" (i.e. when the information has not been stored in the BA Amadeus PNR) will not work.
3. If you are booking a customer in one of the eligible booking classes (F, A, J, C, W, Y) or if they are an eligible cardholder you will be able to view the seat map from the PNR as normal.

Please note, for all customers other than Premier and Gold Cardholders, exit seats in World Traveller and World Traveller Plus can be purchased online.

For all other customers who are eligible for seating at time of booking you can either make a generic seat request or, if you wish to view the seat-map prior to making a seat request, you can do so by using the “long entry” format from outside the PNR. This can be done using the cabin class (J/C/W/Y) instead of the selling class. This will then allow you to see what seats are available in that cabin. Specific seat(s) can then be requested using the normal entry, and provided the customer is able to select a seat at time of booking, the request will result in a seat number in the PNR.

Examples of the “long entries” required to view a seat map 

GDS
Sabre/Abacus/Infini	4G*BAFlight No.ClassDateCity Codes. e.g. 4G*BA117Y25JANLHRJFK
Galileo	SA*BAFlight No.ClassDateCity Codes e.g. SA*BA117Y20FEBLHRJFK
Apollo	9V/BAFlight No.ClassDateBoardpoint e.g. 9V/BA117Y20FEBLHR
Worldspan	@BA@4FlightNoCabinDateBoardpointOffpoint e.g. @BA@4175J10APRLHRJFK  or 4FlightNoCabinDateBoardpointOffpoint-BA e.g. 4175J10APRLHRJFK-BA
Axess	AC/BAFlight No.ClassDateCity Codes e.g. AC/BA005Y01FEBLHRNRT

If you are still unable to access seating for an eligible customer:

1. Check if passenger is eligible for seating.

2. Check relevant information has been added correctly and that the PNR has been "End Transacted" already.

3. Check if there are seats available (the flight/cabin may be full) by using the long entry to view the seat map as above.

4. If you have completed these checks and are still unable to access seating, please raise a fault with your GDS helpdesk in the normal way so that they can investigate and pass on to BA if necessary.