Questions and Answers

Hi Lucky,

I just took advantage of the 40% Avios bonus from AMEX membership rewards (MR) card and booked biz class tickets on BA. Reading your blog everyday, I knew what I was in for with the frivolous BA surcharges; however I was shocked when I went to go pick my business class seats and realized it was an additional $125+ per seat.

I was thinking about a workaround; the Hilton Aspire card mentioned in a recent blog of yours. I was wondering if I could use the Hilton aspire travel credit to pay for this outrageous fee? Have you or any other readers been able to use this credit for seat selection fees? Thanks!

John

[QUOTE=”skv-j, post: 66289, member: 5945″]Hi Lucky,

I just took advantage of the 40% Avios bonus from AMEX membership rewards (MR) card and booked biz class tickets on BA. Reading your blog everyday, I knew what I was in for with the frivolous BA surcharges; however I was shocked when I went to go pick my business class seats and realized it was an additional $125+ per seat.

I was thinking about a workaround; the Hilton Aspire card mentioned in a recent blog of yours. I was wondering if I could use the Hilton aspire travel credit to pay for this outrageous fee? Have you or any other readers been able to use this credit for seat selection fees? Thanks!

John[/QUOTE]

Hi John,

if you selected BA as your airline for the credits, then seat fees should be covered by the credit. You may want to check the Amex Miles forum on FlyerTalk for specifics – some people report different results. I’ve had different results for taxes and fees on award tickets in the same week – one allowed, one not. I was able to call in and have it manually credited. If yours is not credited, call Amex. Save a screenshot when you select the seat and pay for it.

And I agree, when you buy biz class, $125 is absolutely ridiculous to select a seat. But that’s unbundling for you….

If you have even the lowest status with ANY OneWorld Alliance airlines e.g. AA Gold (Oneworld Ruby), you can select your seat FREE one week before departure. I have just done that for our upcoming trip. All passengers on the same reservation can select the seats free. I had to call BA, but they did it without any problem. I would never pay $120 extra for a seat.

Thanks for the response!