Reserving your seat in advance

Travelling in First

Seats in our First cabin are always free to reserve from the time of booking.

Executive Club Members

As a Member of the Executive Club oneworld^® frequent flyer you are able to reserve seats at different stages, depending on your tier.

*You must be travelling on the booking (or in the case of Gold Members, one of the bookings) for these benefits to apply. They apply to British Airways flights only and are not available on group rate bookings. On some occasions, exit rows seats on short haul flights may not be available in advance due to operational reasons.

Flexible and semi-flexible tickets

Tickets with increased flexibility allow you to make certain changes to the date and time of your flight. They also include free seat selection:

• Flexible fares (Plus Flex) allow you to reserve seats for free from the time of booking.
• Semi-flexible fares (Plus) allow you to reserve seats for free from 48 hours before departure.

You choose your flexibility when you buy your flights. If you’re not sure what type of ticket you have, you can follow the instructions under 'How to reserve your seat' and we'll tell you whether you have to pay or not.

Make sure your family sits together

To get the best choice of seats and make sure your family sits together, it’s best to reserve your seats in advance, for which you might have to pay.

If you don’t reserve your seats in advance, we’ll do our best to seat your family together a few days before your flight departs. However, the seat selection may be limited at that time and your seats may be split across different rows or the aisle. We will make sure each child under 12 years sits next to an adult from your booking but children over 12 years are booked as an adult in our system and may sit separately.

Seats are free when you travel with an infant, (under 2 years) who won't be travelling in a seat of their own. You can choose a seat for you and everyone in your booking, free of charge, as soon as you've made your booking (except for bookings of over 9 people). Subject to availability, one person in your booking and the infant will be able to reserve a carrycot/seat position. The remainder of your party will be able to select other seats for free.

Disability assistance

There's no charge for reserving your seat if you have a specific seating requirement because of your disability. In most cases, you can select your seat using Manage My Booking but sometimes you may need to contact us, e.g. for some types of developmental impairment.

This is what you need to do:

1. Book your flight.
2. Let us know about your travel needs at least 48 hours before your flight departs. Go to Manage My Booking and click on 'Seating' within the flight details section.
3. Select your seat. If you need any help, please contact us.

Find out about disability assistance

Groups of more than nine people

When you travel as a group, we’ll allocate your seats free of charge. While we will try to seat your group together, we cannot always guarantee it, particularly if your group travel is split across separate bookings.
To ensure your group is seated together, or if you would like specific seats, you can pay to reserve your seats in advance (for groups booked in the UK and Ireland only). Please contact us for more information.

How much will it cost?

• You can pay to reserve your seats in advance with cash or Avios**. Prices vary depending on the type of seat and the cabin you are travelling in. Prices can be found when making your booking or in Manage My Booking.
• Bulkhead seats are usually reserved for customers with a disability, or those travelling with an infant (under 2 years) as this is where the fold-down cot tables are positioned, so it may not be possible to reserve these seats.

View seat maps

** Payment with Avios is only available for British Airways operated flights.

Payments at the airport

Like many airlines, we are unable to accept cash payments at many of the airports we operate from, including London Heathrow, Gatwick and North America. Please check with a member of our staff at the airport to find out if options are available for converting cash to a payment card.

Pay with Avios

You can now use your Avios to pay and reserve seats in advance via Manage My Booking, with full or part payment options available. This new benefit gives you more options to spend your Avios and is available for British Airways operated flights.

Of course, as an Executive Club Bronze, Silver or Gold Member you can reserve seats for free in many instances. For more Terms and Conditions.

Changes and refunds

If you’ve paid to reserve a seat, and we're unable to offer you that seat or a suitable alternative when you board your flight, you can claim a refund.

More about seating changes and refunds

Full Terms and Conditions on paid seating

Terms and Conditions

Availability

• All paid seating is subject to availability at the time of request.
• Paid seating is available on all British Airways mainline operated flights and on British Airways operated flights marketed by other carriers. It is not available on flights operated by any British Airways franchisee and some flights operated by codeshare partners.
• Paid seating is available in the economy (Euro Traveller), business (Club Europe), economy (World Traveller), premium-economy (World Traveller Plus) and business (Club World) (some upper deck seats only).
• Paid seating for twin seats may be available Boeing 747, Boeing 777 and Airbus A380 aircraft types.
• You must purchase paid seating for all passengers in a booking, except when purchasing an exit row seat through online check-in (not available for group bookings).
• Paid seating for group customers (bookings containing more than 9 passengers) is only available where the reservation has been made directly with British Airways Group Sales. Group customers who have made their reservation through a travel agent or tour operator can currently not book paid seating. Payment with Avios is currently not available for group customers.
• If you are travelling on a cruise or packaged holiday and have not yet received confirmation of your ticket number from your agent (unticketed passengers), you cannot choose seats in advance.

Exit row seats

• Exit row seat requests are available in our economy (Euro Traveller), business (Club Europe), economy (World Traveller) and premium-economy (World Traveller Plus). Exit row seats available through online check-in are only available to economy (World Traveller) customers.
• Exit row seats are situated either next to or immediately behind the exit door.
• In the unlikely event of an evacuation we will expect you to assist in the opening of the emergency door. For this reason you must be a non-disabled person (12 years and over) in full fitness and able to understand printed or verbal instructions given in English. You must be willing, as well as able, to assist in the case of an emergency evacuation. When requesting an exit row seat we will ask you to verify you meet these requirements.
• Exit row seats will only be available if all passengers in the booking meet the requirements to sit in an exit row seat.
• We have the sole discretion to determine whether you meet the requirements to sit in an exit row seat. If you do not meet these requirements, we will assign you an alternative seat. The additional amount paid for an exit row seat will be forfeited and will not be refunded.
• If after the date of requesting an exit row seat you become unable to fulfil the requirements to sit in an exit row seat, please contact us. If you purchased your seat, you will be eligible to apply for a refund if you contact us at least 48 hours before your flight.

Changes to seats

• On British Airways marketed and operated flights, you may change your seat at any time, and pay the difference in price where applicable. If you change your seat to one of a lower price, we will not refund the difference. You cannot make changes to your paid seating on flights marketed by other carriers.
• We cannot guarantee a paid seat request as we may need to change it for operational, safety or security reasons, even after boarding the aircraft.
• In the event that we have to change your seat we will endeavour to seat you in a suitable alternative. We will look to seat your party together in the first instance, and then if possible in your choice of window seat, middle seat or aisle seat. If you have paid for an exit row seat we will look to seat you in another exit row seat. If you are not completely satisfied with your replacement seat you can apply for a refund.
• Seats are not transferable to any other passengers.

Refunds

• You will not receive a refund for paid seating if you cancel your flight, are involuntarily upgraded or do not meet the requirements to sit in the seat type you have selected.
• On British Airways marketed and operated flights, if, in accordance with your ticket type, you choose to move to a different flight, you will be entitled to choose an equivalent seat on your new flight. However, if an equivalent seat is not available, the difference paid will be forfeited and will not be refunded.
• On flights marketed by other carriers, if you choose to move to a different flight, you will not be entitled to choose an equivalent seat on the new flight and you will not be entitled to a refund.
• You can apply for a refund up until 30 days after the last flight in your itinerary.
• Please submit your refund application online using the Seating refund form. We cannot process refund applications at the airport or on board.
• Unless otherwise stated, we will only make a refund to the credit card used to pay for the pre-assigned seating, or in the case of Avios payment, to the Executive Club Member’s Avios account.

Using Avios as payment for seat selection

• Executive Club Members can use their Avios to pay in full or part payment of the total price of selecting their preferred seat on British Airways operated flights made in ‘Manage My Booking’ on ba.com or by calling a British Airways Contact Centre.
• Bookings made with this payment option will be subject to the standard commercial Seating Policy associated with the seat selected.
• All seats selected must be eligible for Avios full or part payment for it to be applied to the booking.
• The Avios payment rates are defined in a fixed set of currencies. If more than one Avios payment option is available, it is not possible to change the price option chosen once a booking has been made.
• The Avios payable will depend on the cabin class, route selected and the number of people on the booking, this will be clearly displayed on the booking page.
• British Airways reserves the right to alter the applicable Avios payment rates at any time in its sole and absolute discretion, but this will not apply to bookings already made.
• When a Member pays for seat selection using Avios, the Member must make the relevant payment for the seat. The Avios will be debited from the Member’s Executive Club account, for each passenger on the booking.
• When Avios have been used as full or part payment, the Avios will be refundable only where the booking is refundable, please refer to the refund section of the Commercial seating policy for more information.
• When seat selection is made using Avios as full or part payment for a member who is either on the Household Account or the Family and Friends List, the Avios points will be taken from each Member’s Avios points balance in the proportion to the size of each Household Account Members’ Avios points balance. Members of a Household Account can make Avios full or part-payment seat bookings for people outside of the Household Account.
• Avios payment may not be used in conjunction with any other promotional offers, unless expressly stated otherwise.
• Members do not earn Avios and Tier Points on paid seating selection.
• Avios as payment for seat selection is not available on bookings made through Concur.
• Avios as payment for seat selection is not available on group bookings.

Additional personal space and safety

If you would like the seat next to you to be kept free for additional personal space, you can buy it as an extra seat for comfort.

You will need to buy yourself an extra seat for comfort if:

• you're travelling in economy and need more space to easily fasten your seatbelt for take-off, landing or during periods of turbulence
  or
• you're unable to fully lower both armrests of your seat as it is a safety requirement to have a fully lowered armrest between each passenger during take-off, landing and turbulence.

We can provide you with an extension seatbelt, if you should need it.

Please note:

• An extra seat does not give additional seat width – see our seat dimensions guide on this page for the minimum seat widths on our aircraft.
• On most of our long haul aircraft, the armrests in the economy cabin do not fold away into the seat back completely. They stop at an angle of 45 degrees when lifted and cannot be raised further.
• There must be a fully lowered armrest between each passenger during take-off, landing and turbulence.
• Armrests are fixed in our First, business (Club World) and premium economy (World Traveller Plus) cabins and cannot be raised or lowered.
• You cannot buy an extra seat for comfort at the bulkhead or on an exit row.
• You will not be able to buy an extra seat on a British Airways operated flight if your journey includes a flight operated by another airline.

Extra seat for an item

The item must be within the size and weight limits to be carried in the cabin, otherwise it will need to be checked into the hold.

How to book

• Please contact us (or your travel agent) to make a booking for an extra seat as this type of booking cannot be made online.
• If you arrive at the airport and haven't booked an extra seat in advance, please speak to a British Airways representative. If there are seats available in the cabin you are travelling in, you may be able to buy an extra seat.
• At many airports, including London Heathrow, Gatwick and North America, you can only pay using a card. Please check with a member of our staff at the airport to find out if options are available for converting cash to a payment card.

Seat dimensions and information