BA Cape Town Seating

[Trixiebell06]

Hi , so we was straight on it last night logging to check in for our holiday of a life time Business Class to South Africa which should have been before Covid .
There are 2 adults and one child & to our dismay we’re all split up , my husband seems to be seated a little way from us . While I understand to guarantee seating together we’d have to pay extra it’s something that we can’t stretch anywhere near financially .

We tried to click & change the seating but all the seats had greyed out 😢

Are there actually seats in between you as sometimes with business class there's not certain seats?

My daughter is in front of me in window aisles & my husband is somewhere completely different
While I realise that Business isn’t configured for families it would have been nice to have been a bit closer together

What is the plane type? Often in Business in the more modern planes the seats are more like individual capsules anyway, with no contact with neighbours except the middle rows. If you don’t know you can go on Seatguru and have a look - might not be as bad as you think.

(Irrelevant but does BA really charge extra to choose seats even in Business?? That’s terrible.)

Yep. I no longer fly BA. cancelled flights, and then hidden costs in business. I think last time it was something ridiculous like £180 each way to reserve seats next to each other. The central two seats are a bit ‘love seat’ and the last time I refused to give them any more money to choose the seat, the stranger next to me decided to trade with my DD lest I mouth breathed all over him on the way to the Middle East 😂 fingers crossed that the air hostess can sort something for you. Have a lovely time!

Ask again at the check in desk whether they can seat you together on the day. But yep, BA charges for seat selection before check in - and in business class, a lot of the passengers will be Exec Club members who can choose seats for free either at time of booking, or 7 days before. Hence most seats being taken already.

😱That’s a shocking price. OP if either you or your husband are in the middle seats it shouldn’t be a problem to get the person next to you to swap with DD. The window seats are much more private and thus desirable for solo travellers. Or people wanting to avoid their kids - looking at you DH

Thankyou for your reply , I agree about the seating , I have seen the seating plan it was amazing how all the seats greyed out as we checked in we was too slow to press the change seat option.
BA charge anything between £87 to £101 each person in business to reserve a seat it’s scandalous

Thankyou all for your replies advice , we are a bit gutted but we are going at long last and my dd is so excited

We fly BA business regularly (indeed, last night). They hold certain seats and then release them just before the date of travel. Particularly the front rows which are reserved for gold card passengers.

I went to book two of my families' seats a week before and there wasn't a single available seat in business. When we called, BA said not to worry and there'd be plenty of room. Thankfully they were right and a couple of days before, six or so sears were released to reserve.

It really irritates me that BA charge non gold card business passengers to book seats. Sufficiently that I don't book seats on principle as it's £800 for transatlantic flights for four. You can use Avios to reserve seats if you have any.

I've flown business to South Africa but in the old cabin type. In all honesty, the pods were pretty self contained so weren't great for socialising in any case. My kids were happy watching films and eating, despite me wanting to chat to them.

I know it's annoying but, unless you pay, it's a waiting game and BA aren't usually accommodating in terms of changing seating over the phone if you haven't paid to reserve them.

Sorry, just reread and you've checked in so ignore the irrelevant bits of my post! I'd try at the check in desk when you drop your bags.

I managed to speak to BA the seats are all full so I guess we’ll just have to go with a flow
I might ask the airport

I think you have been unlucky that it wax full at 24 hour check in. We’ve just been upgraded to silver so have checked in for a Sept flight but before that we always found 2 seats together. If you get lots of silver and above on a flight or people who will pay, there’s not much you can do. Fairly close is good enough though in my view. You really should sleep!

Actually do ask if anyone will move. Some adults might not want a child with no parent next to them and would swap to get a getter seat. Pod seats make talking more difficult.

Better seat!!!!

Couldn’t change seats , the queue for business was long & slow , this is something that we’re not used to we usually sail through check in and security . I saw one man wheeling his suitcases through 1st class which was totally empty 🤣

There are way more business seats than first class seats. We’ve never seen long queues for business bag drop at T5 Heathrow. It’s always been smooth for us. Even recently.

We have travelled business a few times before covid through Gatwick and have never encountered long queues it’s been a breeze .

However the queue at Heathrow this week to check in was fairly long and very slow . A lot of customers were complaining .

The lounge wasn’t anything to write home about and was so busy we had a job finding somewhere to sit .

On board the plane my dd and I were seated a long distance away from my hubby , ok as one lady said it’s impossible to socialise in the pods which is true but it’s nice to be close .

I have to say the staff were friendly and obliging & served a nice dinner and breakfast the following morning . My only gripe was the control on my seat lost power the morning we landed which had to be manually adjusted to the upright position , just as well it didn’t happen the night before . I guess it’s just one of those things .