BA A380 Seat Changes

[ukaskew]

Does anyone know if BA are changing/upgrading the seating in their A380s? I’m off to Hong Kong in November (in World Traveller) and paid a fair bit to reserve a window seat on the top deck (where there are only two seats, so less people to bother if I get up) for both there and back. I had an email from BA this morning advising me that I’ve been moved due to operational requirements, they’ve moved me downstairs into a row of 3 (which I’m sure was a cheaper seat than I paid for). There is no longer an option to change to the upper deck at all, but their seating plans still show a World Traveller section at the back of the top deck.

I did ring BA this morning, they basically sent me round in circles and didn’t have an answer.

[Mr Pointy]

ukaskew said:

Does anyone know if BA are changing/upgrading the seating in their A380s? I’m off to Hong Kong in November (in World Traveller) and paid a fair bit to reserve a window seat on the top deck (where there are only two seats, so less people to bother if I get up) for both there and back. I had an email from BA this morning advising me that I’ve been moved due to operational requirements, they’ve moved me downstairs into a row of 3 (which I’m sure was a cheaper seat than I paid for). There is no longer an option to change to the upper deck at all, but their seating plans still show a World Traveller section at the back of the top deck.

I did ring BA this morning, they basically sent me round in circles and didn’t have an answer.

I'd be really pissed off about that. Upstairs economy is much better than being downstairs - much quieter & better service. Are you a loyalty club member? You may have been bumped if not.

[smack]

There are no changes happening to BA's A380's configuration.

But, there are 2 flights to HKG per day and BA appeared to have swapped around the A380 and B777-300ER's over winter - the early flight BA31 which currently (and has been for the last few years) is A380, and the later flight BA27 a B77W, and they have swapped the planes around on the system for winter.

If you are happy with the later departure time, call up and ask to be moved to the later flight to get back on the A380.

[ukaskew]

I knew PH would come through! Amazed BA couldn't tell me that. I picked specifically for the A380 so will try and change.

[texaxile]

Just something that is intriguing me a bit, is that why BA has 2 HKG-LHR departures within 30 or so mins of each other (BA28 and BA32)?.

We flew BA28 last night and landed at LHR 0500 this morning, the family seated near to us were also on the late inbound PAL flight from Manila we were on (delayed due to late inbound and a lightning alert) but were booked on BA32, just missed the check in closure but managed to get booked on BA28.

Also a big thanks to the Ground crew at HKG who met us from our plane, escorted us to the Transit desk, and then took us to the gate via security. The people in Hong kong really do have their act together and were super efficient. BA CC were also fantastic and we actually managed to make BA28 with time to spare.

[ukaskew]

texaxile said:

Just something that is intriguing me a bit, is that why BA has 2 HKG-LHR departures within 30 or so mins of each other (BA28 and BA32)?.

Restricted late night flights out of HKG and restricted night arrivals at LHR presumably makes those flight times pretty sensible given the flight time and time zones. Good for business too I guess as you aren't really losing any time. Leave work in Hong Kong on Wednesday and be in the office in London first thing Thursday. If they can fill two planes I guess it makes sense to fly both at the popular time.

[texaxile]

Ahhh....Good point, The flight was busy, Biz and the premium economy were full (as we walked through to our wooden bench seats bolted on the wing).

[Triple7]

BA sends a 777/747 on most A380 routes.The A380 carries more passengers, but that means more bags, so not much, if any space for cargo.

[ukaskew]

I got one reserved seat refunded (outward journey) but oddly not the other, even though the identical thing has happened to both flights.

I've not had much fun contacting them so I'll ask here in advance, do I have a chance of changing to the A380 flights without incurring charges? I'm a bog standard Economy flyer with no status to speak of.

[Kenty]

Triple7 said:

BA sends a 777/747 on most A380 routes.The A380 carries more passengers, but that means more bags, so not much, if any space for cargo.

Not quite right, an A380 can carry 7000kg of cargo when full of passengers, a 747 about 5300kg.

[alangla]

ukaskew said:

I got one reserved seat refunded (outward journey) but oddly not the other, even though the identical thing has happened to both flights.

I've not had much fun contacting them so I'll ask here in advance, do I have a chance of changing to the A380 flights without incurring charges? I'm a bog standard Economy flyer with no status to speak of.

I had the disappearing upstairs seat thing happen when I was coming back on the A380 from Washington last year - initially they swapped the plane to a 747 and my paid-for seat disappeared, they then wanted an extra £5 or something to sit in a double seat under the tail. Various phone calls later, I eventually got hold of someone in a UK service centre who, after a very long time trying to force the booking into their system, managed to get it booked for me with no additional charge. On the day the 747 was swapped for a 777, so the seat evaporated again. BA ended up refunding the seat reservation charge.

In short - try different numbers until it's answered in the UK - you might have more luck with sales/new booking phone numbers rather than customer service or executive club numbers. If you can find anything that starts 0191 then try that - it's likely to go to the Newcastle service centre.