BA seat advice

SteveUK

Member
Original Poster
Hi All;

Wondering whether to pay to book seats now for our April ‘22 trip. BA are charging around £40 per seat at the moment, and whilst I know this is annoying, I don’t want to wait and find it significantly increases. I’m also nervous about not booking and finding we are split up on the flight (2 adult, 2 kids, 12&6).

The aircraft is showing as A350, and I wondered if anybody had advice or experience. Is it better to be nearer the back or the front etc? I was thinking of back row, or closer to the rear. Nearer to toilets etc. The other tricky point is how to make 4 seats work best in a 3-3-3 cabin.

Any thoughts would be welcome.
 

Weather_Lady

Well-Known Member
I'm afraid I can't speak to BA specifically, although you might check some of the websites like seatguru that assess the "best" and "worst" seats in different types of aircraft. Here's their map of your plane: https://www.seatguru.com/airlines/British_Airways/British_Airways_Airbus_A350-1000.php If I were you, I'd probably aim for the center section near the bank of restrooms -- not too close to them, of course, but within a few rows. The center of the plane also tends to have the smoothest ride. I'm not sure what BA's usual disembarkation procedure is: you could also choose seats with an eye toward getting off the plane quickly at the gate. There are few things more crazy-making than waiting to get off a plane: somehow, everyone ahead of me seems to turn into a brain-damaged sloth, as they attempt to make their way off of the aircraft in as slow and inefficient a manner as possible. Maybe that's just my luck though. ;)

My family often flies on JetBlue on A320s, which are a 3-3 configuration. We've tried different things, and what's ended up working best for us is to have one parent and both kids on one side in the A-B-C seats with the parent on the aisle, and the other parent just across the aisle in the D seat (inches away, really). That way, nobody outside the family has to be bothered or climbed-across if one of us gets up to use the restroom, the kids aren't sitting beside any strangers and can both easily see out a window (and control the shade), and the adults are still next to one another and can converse or pass things between them as needed.
 
Last edited:

SteveUK

Member
Original Poster
I'm afraid I can't speak to BA specifically, although you might check some of the websites like seatguru that assess the "best" and "worst" seats in different types of aircraft. Here's their map of your plane: https://www.seatguru.com/airlines/British_Airways/British_Airways_Airbus_A350-1000.php If I were you, I'd probably aim for the center section near the bank of restrooms -- not too close to them, of course, but within a few rows. The center of the plane also tends to have the smoothest ride. I'm not sure what BA's usual disembarkation procedure is: you could also choose seats with an eye toward getting off the plane quickly at the gate. There are few things more crazy-making than waiting to get off a plane: somehow, everyone ahead of me seems to turn into a brain-damaged sloth, as they attempt to make their way off of the aircraft in as slow and inefficient a manner as possible. Maybe that's just my luck though. ;)

My family often flies on JetBlue on A320s, which are a 3-3 configuration. We've tried different things, and what's ended up working best for us is to have one parent and both kids on one side in the A-B-C seats with the parent on the aisle, and the other parent just across the aisle in the D seat (inches away, really). That way, nobody outside the family has to be bothered if anyone needs to use the restroom, the kids aren't sitting beside any strangers and can both easily see out a window, and the adults are still next to one another and can converse or pass things between them as needed.
Thanks, some really good advice!
 

skypilot2922

Well-Known Member
On a A350 with BA I'd go for premium economy better seats and boarding order, You board after first and business and deboard after business and you are in front of plane with a bit roomier seats
 

skypilot2922

Well-Known Member
I'm afraid I can't speak to BA specifically, although you might check some of the websites like seatguru that assess the "best" and "worst" seats in different types of aircraft. Here's their map of your plane: https://www.seatguru.com/airlines/British_Airways/British_Airways_Airbus_A350-1000.php If I were you, I'd probably aim for the center section near the bank of restrooms -- not too close to them, of course, but within a few rows. The center of the plane also tends to have the smoothest ride. I'm not sure what BA's usual disembarkation procedure is: you could also choose seats with an eye toward getting off the plane quickly at the gate. There are few things more crazy-making than waiting to get off a plane: somehow, everyone ahead of me seems to turn into a brain-damaged sloth, as they attempt to make their way off of the aircraft in as slow and inefficient a manner as possible. Maybe that's just my luck though. ;)

My family often flies on JetBlue on A320s, which are a 3-3 configuration. We've tried different things, and what's ended up working best for us is to have one parent and both kids on one side in the A-B-C seats with the parent on the aisle, and the other parent just across the aisle in the D seat (inches away, really). That way, nobody outside the family has to be bothered or climbed-across if one of us gets up to use the restroom, the kids aren't sitting beside any strangers and can both easily see out a window (and control the shade), and the adults are still next to one another and can converse or pass things between them as needed.

Smoothest ride is always closest to wings on a passenger airliner as the center of gravity for the plane is approximately there so if you imaging the plane suspended on a pivot on an imaginary skyhook all the planes motions are begin around the center of gravity. The only time it's not the smoothest riding part of aircraft is during landing as all the weight is put on the landing gear which happens to be inline with the center of gravity once again.
 

zapple

Well-Known Member
You want to be as close to the front as possible, you’ll get off the plane faster. You don’t want to be in the back because the galleys are loud and bright and people hang around back there. Same with the central toilets as to drawing a crowd and traffic as people are constantly up and down, so if you want some peace you should try for a couple rows away from the toilets.

My ideal seats for economy on that plane would be in rows 31-34, it’s like you’re in a mini-cabin, almost like premium economy and it will be quieter in there. Or row 30 if you like bulkhead seats, but I prefer to have underseat storage.
 

Register on WDWMAGIC. This sidebar will go away, and you'll see fewer ads.

Back
Top Bottom