EZAir/British Airways/seat selection

We have booked our Sept. flight to Heathrow through EZAir. For the Dallas to Boston, and at cruise end, Ft. Lauderdale to Dallas, legs, we are on American, and I was able to request seat selections. For the Boston to Heathrow, we fly British Airways. They won't let me request seat selections until we are paid in full and ticketed, which happens often. Our final payment balance is due June 27, and I'll make that payment a few days prior. Will we shortly thereafter be ticketed? Or is there a delay in Princess getting the payment to BA? Thanks for any info. :)

We have booked our Sept. flight to Heathrow through EZAir. For the Dallas to Boston, and at cruise end, Ft. Lauderdale to Dallas, legs, we are on American, and I was able to request seat selections. For the Boston to Heathrow, we fly British Airways. They won't let me request seat selections until we are paid in full and ticketed, which happens often. Our final payment balance is due June 27, and I'll make that payment a few days prior. Will we shortly thereafter be ticketed? Or is there a delay in Princess getting the payment to BA? Thanks for any info. :)

Princess usually releases the tickets to the airline about 45 days before the cruise. You can call BA with your record locator to see if reserve your seats.

We have booked our Sept. flight to Heathrow through EZAir. For the Dallas to Boston, and at cruise end, Ft. Lauderdale to Dallas, legs, we are on American, and I was able to request seat selections. For the Boston to Heathrow, we fly British Airways. They won't let me request seat selections until we are paid in full and ticketed, which happens often. Our final payment balance is due June 27, and I'll make that payment a few days prior. Will we shortly thereafter be ticketed? Or is there a delay in Princess getting the payment to BA? Thanks for any info. :)

Small sidenote - BA does not have free seat selection for any class of seat except First, or if you have higher status in their (or equivalent) frequent flyer program... So, be prepared to pay for your seat selection if choosing it prior to online check-in. Price varies by cabin category..... Just don't want you to be caught off-guard when your ticket is confirmed and ticketed and seats aren't available for free.

I have a BA flight booked in September. I was able to choose my seats in the world traveler plus cabin on the BA site with no extra charge.

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If it's Flexible airfare, it'll be ticketed at the 45 day mark from departure. If it's Restricted, it would be ticketed now, and you'd have to pay in full now. Personally, it's not worth it to me to have to wait until 45 days out to choose my seats for intl flights when the good seats may be long gone. With Flex airfare, you can pay early and request that Princess finalize your airfare early, but just know that means it immediately becomes non-refundable. If I were you, I'd make the airfare non-refundable at final payment time, so you can potentially secure better seats.

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I was able to choose my BA seats over a month before final payment on my June 2016 BI cruise. BA also wants your passport info.

I was able to choose my BA seats over a month before final payment on my June 2016 BI cruise. BA also wants your passport info.

We've only used BA for travel from the UK to the continent, and for cattle class tickets seat selection is not available until online check-in unless one pays extra.

If you're interested in early ticketing of a flexible booking for the purpose of seat selection, Princess requires submission of the attached form and payment. Email or fax it to Princess or your TA for processing.

Flexible_Early_Ticketing_Request-Princess.pdf

I really appreciate all the good info. I think I have a clearer picture of the process. Thanks as always to CC cruisers. :)

I have a BA flight booked in September. I was able to choose my seats in the world traveler plus cabin on the BA site with no extra charge.

 

Guess there are different rules for non-UK bookings.

Unless we are at Silver /Gold level in the BA Executive Club we have to pay around $80 per sector (and $100 upper deck on a 747) to reserve business class seats on BA flights operated by BA aircraft, though we do not have to pay if we are on a BA flight operated by AA.

World Traveller plus and World Traveller seat selection is less costly.

Emergency Exit row (extra legroom) seats (they only exist in WT) attract a premium but do not appear as available to anyone other than BA Executive Club Gold until 14 days (to the second) before scheduled departure time.

I was formerly a, UK based, VP of a US company and responsible for its UK operations and we probably had two or three members of staff crossing the Atlantic every week.

What was very interesting was that our US operations had a deal with BA whereby my fellow VP's (all US citizens) were classed as CIP's with BA and were always upgraded, but couldn't get a similar deal with American. As a result, all the US based staff used BA.

On the other hand our UK operations had a deal with American whereby we got volume related discounts for all our bookings on American whilst I had a personal CIP (automatic upgrade) deal. As a result the UK based staff always flew American.

So it does not surprise me at all that US citizens get free seat selection on BA when we do not and I emphasise that I am not disputing anything anyone from the US has said.

I am simply warning folks to be aware that the rules may not be consistent across the two countries and you may need to consider where the contributor lives when reading contributions to this tread.

Guess there are different rules for non-UK bookings.

 

Unless we are at Silver /Gold level in the BA Executive Club we have to pay around $80 per sector (and $100 upper deck on a 747) to reserve business class seats on BA flights operated by BA aircraft, though we do not have to pay if we are on a BA flight operated by AA.

 

World Traveller plus and World Traveller seat selection is less costly.

 

Emergency Exit row (extra legroom) seats (they only exist in WT) attract a premium but do not appear as available to anyone other than BA Executive Club Gold until 14 days (to the second) before scheduled departure time.

 

I was formerly a, UK based, VP of a US company and responsible for its UK operations and we probably had two or three members of staff crossing the Atlantic every week.

 

What was very interesting was that our US operations had a deal with BA whereby my fellow VP's (all US citizens) were classed as CIP's with BA and were always upgraded, but couldn't get a similar deal with American. As a result, all the US based staff used BA.

 

On the other hand our UK operations had a deal with American whereby we got volume related discounts for all our bookings on American whilst I had a personal CIP (automatic upgrade) deal. As a result the UK based staff always flew American.

 

So it does not surprise me at all that US citizens get free seat selection on BA when we do not and I emphasise that I am not disputing anything anyone from the US has said.

 

I am simply warning folks to be aware that the rules may not be consistent across the two countries and you may need to consider where the contributor lives when reading contributions to this tread.

It's not US Citizens who get free seat selection on BA. Maybe those booking on a US BA website but I doubt it, as it hasn't been so for a few years now.. Those with equivalent higger status in partner FF programs get advance seat selection just like booking from the UK...

Fo quirks hapoen? Sure...Sometimes there's a workaround when booking through the AA site. And often when booking from Iberia's site.. Odd, yes..but there sometimes...

If earlier flyers got free seat assignment in advance of online check-in in World Traveller or WT+ or even business with no fee - good for them. It's unusual since about 2010 or so when BA started charging for seat selection for all but First or high level FF members or partners...

It's just something to be aware of with many European airlines - advance seat selection is not free...

Guess there are different rules for non-UK bookings.

 

Unless we are at Silver /Gold level in the BA Executive Club we have to pay around $80 per sector (and $100 upper deck on a 747) to reserve business class seats on BA flights operated by BA aircraft, though we do not have to pay if we are on a BA flight operated by AA.

 

World Traveller plus and World Traveller seat selection is less costly.

 

Emergency Exit row (extra legroom) seats (they only exist in WT) attract a premium but do not appear as available to anyone other than BA Executive Club Gold until 14 days (to the second) before scheduled departure time.

 

I was formerly a, UK based, VP of a US company and responsible for its UK operations and we probably had two or three members of staff crossing the Atlantic every week.

 

What was very interesting was that our US operations had a deal with BA whereby my fellow VP's (all US citizens) were classed as CIP's with BA and were always upgraded, but couldn't get a similar deal with American. As a result, all the US based staff used BA.

 

On the other hand our UK operations had a deal with American whereby we got volume related discounts for all our bookings on American whilst I had a personal CIP (automatic upgrade) deal. As a result the UK based staff always flew American.

 

So it does not surprise me at all that US citizens get free seat selection on BA when we do not and I emphasise that I am not disputing anything anyone from the US has said.

 

I am simply warning folks to be aware that the rules may not be consistent across the two countries and you may need to consider where the contributor lives when reading contributions to this tread.

Exit row rules changed a little while ago. You can now book them and pay for them when you book your flight. I have exit row booked for Crete next May - no BA status

I just went to BA.com, manage booking, and used the airline confirmation number (flexible fare) that was listed in my booking confirmation. I chose my World Traveler seats on 2/23/16, made final payment 3/29/16 for my BI cruise 6/13/16. I hold no status in any airline and there was no charge to do this. My flight didn't change and neither did my seats for going or the return.

They may be cattle class tickets but BA is my only choice for non-stop service to the UK from Phoenix.

We have booked our Sept. flight to Heathrow through EZAir. For the Dallas to Boston, and at cruise end, Ft. Lauderdale to Dallas, legs, we are on American, and I was able to request seat selections. For the Boston to Heathrow, we fly British Airways. They won't let me request seat selections until we are paid in full and ticketed, which happens often. Our final payment balance is due June 27, and I'll make that payment a few days prior. Will we shortly thereafter be ticketed? Or is there a delay in Princess getting the payment to BA? Thanks for any info. :)

I am astounded by the different responses you received. I have always gotten my seat assignment right after I booked; no matter how far out my flight was. That's what happened on my non stop round trip flight to Heathrow for my trip last May.

Yesterday I booked a flight via British Air/American Airlines (the first leg by American to Dallas) and I selected seating for both airlines on the EZ Air site. My flight is to Paris from Denver is scheduled next August. After I selected the seats, I logged in at American and saw my selections. Then I logged in at British Air and I see the seats I selected for the second leg.

Specifics: On britishairways.com, go to Manage My Booking, enter your airline confirmation provided by Princess for the BA flight (you'll probably have one for each airline) and your last name. Go down the page (below the Passengers tab) and you should see your flight(s) listed. Click on the + sign and scroll down to seating. Under the heading Seating, if you picked your seats on EZ Air, as I did, you'll see "Your allocated seats are: 34D, 34H" (that's what mine shows) and if you haven't, you can pick them here.

It's amazing how experiences differ in the cruising world. There is great information on Cruise Critic, there's a lot of speculation, a lot of things that have changed since the responder had his experience, a lot of misunderstood hearsay, and a lot of stuff that just isn't true.

Good luck - hope your experience is like mine.

arrice2-I have done that several times. On the domestic legs of the flights, which are with AA, my seat selections show. But when I select seats for the transAtlantic portion, which is with BA, I get continually the message "online seat selection not available at this time." Also the seating chart shows no seats selected for the whole cabin. Not one. I called Princess several days ago. She said keep trying. I called BA. He said I have to be ticketed, and said that doesn't happen until full payment. As you said, there are lots of varied experiences. I'll keep trying and keep calling. We don't fly until Sept., so hopefully I'll be successful by then. Many thanks to everyone for the input and sharing of info.

http://www.britishairways.com/en-gb/information/seating/reserving-your-seat

This is what we see on the UK version of the BA website and hopefully the link will take those of you working from a US IP address to the same page we go to.

If it does, try clicking on the tabs to expand the information on 'Do I have to pay?' and 'How much will it cost?'

As I said, just like we get different versions of the Princess website depending on our IP address, we may get different information when accessing the US version of the BA.com website.

Has anyone booked EZ air BUSINESS CLASS from SFO to LHR? Just wondering if there was any worthwhile savings as opposed to going through AARP and The British Air visa which would give me 15% off.

I have a BA flight booked in September. I was able to choose my seats in the world traveler plus cabin on the BA site with no extra charge.

 

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Good to know! Thanks😊

Good to know! Thanks

Just to point out, many things could have altered since that post in Nov 2016 ;).

We have a ‘cruise package’ booked to South America including BA flights. In order to book plane seats (we also wanted to upgrade to the premium as it’s such a long flight), we had to pay the whole cost of the flights as soon as they were released (non refundable but if anything happens we could claim on travel insurance). Our TA took payment for the flights and within about 30 mins, he’d contacted me with the booking reference so we could then book the seats we wanted.

We had to pay for the privilege of booking seats, but I get stressed not knowing where I’m sitting so it’s worth it to me. I checked on the BA website a few days later and most of the premium seats had been booked, so I was really glad we’d booked them when we did.

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this thread is 2016 so op has already flown

Just to point out, many things could have altered since that post in Nov 2016 ;).

BA charge to select seats in every class EXCEPT First.

We always fly business class and book through BA.

However when flying to and from the US we always select AA codeshare flights, thereby saving around £300 ($400) in seat selection costs.

Indeed this December we fly to Tokyo and return from Shanghai and WOULD YOU BELIEVE, the way I made the booking, the additional cost to fly First Class, and select our flights free of charge, rather than fly Business class was less than Business Class seat reservation costs - plus:

we get access to the Concorde lounge with waiter service for breakfast,

have a special line at security which avoids having to use the supposed Fast Track line at Heathrow,

get to select our own time for onboard dining

enjoy premium (normally $160 per bottle) champagne during the flight

and

Mrs CM will get her nails done FOC in the Elementis Spa.

Absolute no brainier!!

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BA charge to select seats in every class EXCEPT First.

We always fly business class and book through BA.

 

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I know, which is why I pointed it out ;). We book via AA and haven’t had to pay for their business class seats but have had to for seat selection on the return BA flights :mad:.

Question re EZAir Seat Selection on US airlines: If we book on either United, Delta or AA on a flight from Montreal to LAX, (so a stop in the US on the way), and going with the cheaper Flex fare, would I be able to select our seats at the time of booking but still not pay for the tickets until the final payment is due? Getting decent seats is important to us, and we usually pay the small fee when we book with our usual Air Canada, but I'm finding the concept of seat selection on EZAir, with all its "Pay Later" and "Easy Changes" a bit confusing.

Thanks for any advice.

I can only confirm that on Delta I was able to select my seats using flex fare almost a 8 months in advance. The seats stayed the same even with a number of flight time changes and a price reduction. I was also able to check my reservation on Deltas website. It linked with my frequent flyer # and showed my seat selection.