One World Sapphire benefits with BA? Not much it seems

BA looking after the £'s!I received a last minute request to meet with a client in London last week.  Looking at Skycanner, it seemed that an EasyJet / BA combo from Edinburgh to Gatwick was the cheapest that matched the times I needed.  There was a BA option (returning from Heathrow) for an extra £16, which seemed to make sense – my EasyJet Plus membership recently ran out and I expect I would have spent that much on Speedy Boarding.

I booked my flights with BA and added my Cathay Pacific Gold card details.  This is One World Sapphire, which is equivalent to Silver Exec Club.  I should have lounge access along with the ability to select my seats at the time of booking free of charge along with using business check-in counters.

Once the booking was complete I was prompted to select my seats.  I was surprised to see how many empty seats were available so close to departure but then remembered that you need to pay £10 to select a seat in advance.  Clearly not many passengers want to do this for a flight that takes just over an hour.

I could see several seats free in rows 1 – 12… but I every time I selected them and saved the page, I was presented with an error.  Eventually I called BA – not because I am that precious about my seat but because of the principal; I should be able to select any free seat.

I waited.  And waited.  And waited a bit more.  After almost 16 minutes (!) I was connected to an Advisor.  After checking with his supervisor, he informed me that I couldn’t select these seats until 24 hours before departure…unless I paid £10 per seat!!! The best seat the Advisor could assign to me (free of charge) was in row 12!  Why market free seat selection as a benefit of One World status if it’s a lie?  The whole point of this benefit is to select the seats at the time of booking.

I logged in 24 hours before departure and managed to select the seats that I wanted free of charge anyway but the whole experience disappoints me hugely.

BA – I would love to hear your side of the story – why couldn’t I select the seats I wanted?  Is this policy or did I speak to a poorly trained Advisor?  Why should you charge me for a benefit I am entitled to?  I promise I will publish any response in full.


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