New way to book your seat

BA Press Release 22/11/06

British Airways is to introduce changes to the way air travellers select 
and book their seats from December 5, 2006.   The new guidelines are 
designed to simplify the process of choosing a seat and give all customers 
more transparency and control of the seating options available on their 
flight.  

The best way to secure the seat of choice will be by using the on-line 
check-in facility on ba.com from 24 hours before the flight departs.  The 
earlier a customer checks-in the greater choice of seats they will have. 
Once a seat has been chosen it will not be changed, subject only to rare 
operational requirements. 

Customers departing on flights from 5 December will have substantially more 
seats available to choose from at the time of check-in.   All seats on the 
aircraft, that have not been pre-assigned, will be offered for a customer 
to select. 

To make more seats available at the time of check-in the airline is 
reducing the number of seats that can be pre-assigned.  This option will be 
limited to specific groups of travellers, for example, families with young 
children, First class flyers, Gold and Silver Executive Club members and 
those holding fully flexible tickets across all cabins.

The airline remains committed to offering seat selection free of charge for 
all its customers.

Tiffany Hall, head of Marketing and Distribution, said: "We recognise that 
our customers want to choose where they sit on the aircraft during their 
flight and we want to give people the control to make this selection 
themselves during the check-in process. 

"With the popularity of on-line check-in growing we have seen an 
opportunity to improve our global seating procedures and provide customers 
with a simple, clear and dynamic way to choose the best seat available.  By 
checking-in, selecting their seat, and printing their boarding pass on-line 
customers can arrive at the airport with peace of mind that they can 
proceed straight to the boarding gate with no need to queue to check-in.

"Making travel easier and more streamlined for air travellers is the 
cornerstone of our vision for Terminal 5 and we believe these changes 
announced today will help to achieve this ahead of our move in 2008."

To assist air travellers in choosing a seat the airline has improved its 
aircraft seat maps on ba.com, which display up to the minute seat 
availability for each flight. The maps will now display emergency exit 
seats and highlight the position of the toilets, infant cots and the crew 
galley areas.

Customers travelling with infants (aged under two years) will be able to 
book their seat when they purchase their ticket and those travelling with 
children aged between two and eleven inclusive will be allocated seats 
together up to three days before departure.  Unaccompanied minors will also 
be pre-assigned a seat for their journey.
 
Gold and Silver Executive Club members, First class customers and those 
holding fully flexible tickets will be able to book their seat at the time 
of purchase and change their choice up until they check-in and print their 
boarding pass.

For full details of the new seating policy please visit www.ba.com/seating.

ends

21 November, 2006       121/AM/06


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