Foreign carriers are insulting consumers worse than US carriers.
For all that Americans in the travel industry and frequent travelers regularly complain about US carriers, the fact remains that sometimes foreign carriers are insulting consumers with everything from draconian change fees or fare rules to additional fees.
British Airways has been a mixed bag for years. The airline has been especially difficult with change fees and regulations. Some examples are tickets that need to be reissued with new dates at the time of cancellation. BA also has penalties that apply not per trip, but per segment of a roundtrip.
And it was a sad day when they closed their US travel agency help desk and moved it to India.
For preferred high volume travel agencies, BA has had one wonderful perk.
For many years that made travel agents, top operators, and travelers happy, BA had a wonderful perk — free seat assignments for almost all fare types.
This perk made British Airways an easier sell. Quite frankly, for many travel agents who work for preferred agencies, including me, it was like magic. Compared to airlines like Lufthansa and Air France, to name two foreign carriers, it was the perk that worked. Lufthansa and Air France would only assign seats free of charge in advance for business class tickets. (Yes, no advance seat assignments in Premium Economy-Mid Class, without maybe $70-100 extra fee.)
And, sorry, but “free seat assignments at online check-in” basically means passengers will be lucky to get a window in the very back of the plane. They might get an aisle. And good luck getting seats together.
British Airways, however, has now decided to eliminate that perk that worked. Not only did they get rid of the coach-mid class seat assignment perk for their preferred partners, they have now eliminated it in business class. Only the highest unrestricted fares get seat assignments. First class fliers, on the handful of routes where it is still offered, still get free seats, even with a “discounted” fare. Why are they insulting consumers including some who are paying thousands for their tickets?
Major corporations with contracts get elite perks.
There are some exceptions, because clients of major corporations with contracts with British Airways receive this perk. Elite level frequent fliers get seat assignments — to a point. For example, bronze status, equivalent to American’s Aadvantage Gold, means travelers can get seats seven days in advance. Higher levels may be able to get seats at time of booking.
But yes, this means that most travelers — not just those who spend a few thousand on premium economy — don’t get advance seat assignments for free. It can also be those who spend $5,000 or $10,000 on discount business class.
The family situation barely makes a difference. It’s bad business and it’s insulting.
I booked a mother and daughter to India in discount business class this week for summer travel. The mother is going for work but paying for her daughter’s ticket. Even then, with a young child, British Airways says as of April 2, 2024, they will make sure no child under 12 is by themselves, but seats will be assigned only shortly before online check-in. And if it’s a family of four, the carrier only promises to make sure one adult is with each child. A family may be separated.
This rule applies to all classes. So if a family of four books a summer trip to europe, each child will be next to one adult. But in economy with 3-4-3 configurations there is a high likelihood that one parent and one child will each be seated in middle seats together in the center of the plane and who knows how many rows apart. Hardly a good situation. (For anyone, as sometimes siblings can entertain each other on the plane. For starters. And what if both kids want to be near mom? Etc. I see unhappy children and tantrums ahead.)
Now yes, parents can prepay for seats together, but this can add several hundred dollars just to get seats on transatlantic flights. Let alone connections within Europe or for flights beyond London to Africia or India.
And the costs go up with business class. Look, it’s not as if someone paying $5,000 for a ticket probably can’t afford to pay for seats. But with the above example, it would have cost almost $500 per person for seats on each of four flights. And that’s insulting.
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Janice Hough is a California-based travel agent a travel blogger and a part-time comedy writer. A frequent flier herself, she’s been doing battle with airlines, hotels, and other travel companies for over three decades. Besides writing for Travelers United, Janice has a humor blog at Leftcoastsportsbabe.com (Warning, the political and sports humor therein does not represent the views of anyone but herself.)
