HI Pat , looking at the last 2 months on http://www.thebasource.com on the flight tracker menu they have used the 3 class 777-200 with 24 seats in WTP , 3 rows of 2-4-2 , if I remember rightly you were going in September and on trying a dummy booking to PUJ in sept trying to book 1st it's not avaiable , so it will be the 3 class
The G-VII series are 40 J 24 WTP and 219 Y ,it is possible you could be on a G -YMM series which have a layout of 48J 24 WTP 203 Y , so either plane series it will be 24 seats in your cabin .
Having sat in the last row of CW I had a quick peek at the WTP seats and thought they looked quite nice and roomy , the daytime flight leaving around midday is not a bad time for a good arrival time in the Caribbean and should be a pleasant flight , as always returning from the Caribbean it's going to be a bit tougher with the time difference to be made up , but hopefully a nice relaxing drink followed an evening meal should mean a good rest or snooze in a more comfortable seat .
Hope that helps , any more info please feel free to ask .

Hi Andy,

Thanks once again for the info ... very helpful:-)

Am actually annoyed with Hayes and Jarvis/BA. As said above booked yesterday via Thomson store (holiday is with H&J) Thomson specifically checked for me that upon booking the holiday I would receive the allocator number enabling me to book seats within 24hrs, which they confirmed to be correct. Now transpires, that unless I pay the full price of the flights now, I will have to wait until the balance of the holiday is due on the 29th June before having access to booking them. Given that we have paid already paid to upgrade to WTP and we still have to pay an additional £168 to secure seat numbers with BA (which is already included if booking through Virgin and Thomson) I think it is an absolute liberty.

Thomson are trying to resolve this for me via H&J and will be awaiting a further call from them tomorrow. We already have another holiday booked with H&J (Mexico in June) and unless they sort this issue out for me, I won't be booking with either H&J nor BA again ... will wait and see what transpires tomorrow.

Regards,
Pat

I think I sort of understand your predictament , I have only booked flights or flights and hotel through BA directly , I have an upcoming package booked directly through BA ( flight & hotel ) I just had to pay the deposit at time of booking and could then pay off the balance through MMB , just finally paid balance the other day 10 weeks before departure , I was able to choose my seats straightaway both ways ( I have silver status ) which helps but I assume you pay for this if no FF status , did you look at the price of booking a package through BA ?

Just had a quick check on BA and average WTP price is 750 pp and around 1200 pp for most hotels incl flight for 1 week AI , of course you would still have to pay if you wanted to select your seat , I assume that's what the 168 is for , but if booked through BA as a package you wouldn't have to pay the full flight price just to then select your seats .
Hope you get it all sorted out !!

http://www.britishairways.com/travel/paid-seating-terms/public/en_gb

Found this link , It looks like if you book direct with BA you can select your seat ( paid or not ) but if booked though an agent it looks not likely unless they get your ticket number ?

Hi Andy,

Yes, I did check the price out with BA prior to booking the package through H&J, but they came out more expensive. We paid £3614 (flight and hotel for 14 nights) and if I recall correctly BA was working out about £3,800. Yes the £168 is for booking the seat numbers, although it states £30 pp each way on the BA website!! We are looking at booking 2 window seat and apparently they are more expensive that booking seat in the middle row.

Thanks for the link ... will take a look.

When you refer to ticket number, do you mean the Allocator number ... as H&J have already supplied me with this number?

Kind regards,
Pat

It said on the link I gave that if your agent has your ticket number you can then book your seats , that's how I read it ? I know I get an e ticket number like 125-************ and also a booking ref no 6 numbers or letters that allows you to go into MMB
I'm not sure how much seats cost to pre book , I ve never paid for that just took pot luck until I reached silver and can now book them when I make the booking ( I guess that is a decent privilege ) I was also able to book my sisters and partners seats because they were on the same booking I didn't know window seas cost more ? I know that BA have an extra 100 of their sale prices for packages at the moment as they sent me an email today although that is route specific .
Hope you can sort it all out , and enjoy your flight , the BA crews at LGW are really nice , it's a more laid back service than from LHR IMO
If you need any info about the North Terminal at LGW let me know as my wife works there , in fact I might be flying from there early September but probably to Jersey , not quite the Caribbean !

Hi Andy ... once again many thanks, help much appreciated:-)

OK, going by what you have said, the Allocator number is the 6 digit number/letters which I have, but not the ticket number. Will relay this through to Thomson tomorrow who in turn can contact H&J.

Never flown from LHR before, but have flown North/South Terminals many times. Jersey (very nice) .. took my late father there about 15 years ago and had a lovely holiday, and was lucky enough to fly out of London City which is on our doorstep.

Will let you know how I get on regarding the seats, although tbh I'm not holing my breath!!

Kind regards,
Pat

https://www.britishairways.com/travel/home/public/en_gb

If you click on the above link and click the manage my booking tab , fill in booking reference ( 6 character ref?) and last name it should go into your booking , expand the + on your flight and it should come up with options like change/ view your seat , see if you can select it ????
I've only used LCY once , liked the take off My sister lives just round the corner ( Plaistow ) !!
Hope everything works out ok
All the best , Andy,

Hi Andy,

I've tried that link using the Allocator code and while it will let me access our flight details it won't give me access to booking the seats:-(

We are in Romford (about 20 min from City Airport depending on traffic!) so not far from Plaistow.

Kind regards,
Pat

Oh , that's annoying !!! Hope you can get a result through Thomson / H&J / BA somehow especially when you're paying for it !!!!

Hi Andy,

Yes, I know!! Looks like the thing that is holding me back from booking my seat numbers is the 'ticket number' ... will give Thomson a call tomorrow and ask them to get onto H&J.

Had I know that I wouldn't have access to booking my seats straight after booking I would just have stuck with Thomson as, although I would have still had to wait until 90 days before being able to access our seats, their PE cabin is a lot bigger so wouldn't have been such an issue for me. Will wait and see what tomorrow brings??

Thanks again for your help:-)

Pat

Hi Pat,

Firstly, sorry to hear of your problem. I assume that you have read the BA T&C that states

•All unticketed passengers, e.g. those travelling on a cruise or packaged holiday who have not yet received confirmation of their ticket numbers from their Agent, are not eligible to choose seats in advance. Paid seating is not available on flights operated by any BA franchisee, or some flights operated by codeshare partners.

I am surprised that you are having a problem with H&J - We have used them several times (though never for BA flights) and always directly from the web (They are part of TUI just like Thomson).

We booked our next holiday, for March 2015, on 31 October 2014, paying just a deposit. We immediately received our PNR from which we were able to get our e-ticket numbers and reserve seats.

We have never had a problem waiting for full payment to be made - although we have had problems with BA reservations (not from H&J) in the past.

BA are never the easiest people people to deal with and once left my wife and I stranded at Schipol after flying in from Cambodia via Bangkok, for almost 3 hours during business class flight as their transfer desk was closed (late afternoon). The BA lounge wouldn't admit us without boarding card, despite having an e-ticket receipt, (rules is rules) and the gate would only issue the boarding card when it opened (about 1 hour before flight) and then only if we went through to final departures.

My wife now refuses to fly BA

Best of luck
Peter

Hi PeteB,

Unfortunately, I never read the BA T&C's until after the booking was made which Andy kindly pointed out to me:-( Will teach me now not to take H&J at their word, which they have admitted giving the incorrect info to Thomson!

Kind regards,
Pat

The T&Cs that were in the link were kindly highlighted by PeteB which do explain your problem Pat ,
But very annoying that people who do holiday/flight stuff for a living can't give you the correct info when " enthusiastic amateurs "on a holiday forum can find the relevant info reasonably easy ?
Nothing wrong on your part for taking the word of a professional , isn't that the point , that you go to a professional expert who would know these things as its in their line of business ! They expect us to read the T&Cs , but haven't read an airlines T&Cs themselves and admitted giving the wrong info , oh well sorry

On the brighter side , I would think if you get onto the MMB on the 29 th June when the final balance has been paid you should be able to get seats that are suitable for you , if certain seats are blocked out then always take another look again at 72 hours before departure as any seats held for status fliers are released then if they haven't been taken , don't wait till 24hour checkin to find out ( I've managed to get row 1 seats that are reserved for gold only ) by doing this

Hi Andy,

Received a call from Thomson late this afternoon ... transpires that H&J have admitted that they were in the wrong with the info they supplied regarding access to booking seat numbers.

The bottom line is .... H&J are prepared to offer us a full refund, OR, if we are prepared to pay the remainder of the cost of the flights they will provide us with the ticket numbers enabling us to book our seat numbers within 24hrs OR we take our chances and wait until we pay the balance of the holiday on 29th June enabling us to book seat numbers then.

I did ask them, should we decide to accept full refund and rebook with BA (flights/hotel still available) would we then be able to book our seats straight away? They told me not necessarily, but would depend on the cost of the seat??

The holiday is available 2 days earlier through Thomson which wouldn't be a problem, but price jumps by nearly £500!!

Having spoken to my husband this evening, we have decided to just go ahead and keep the holiday with H&J and pay the remainder of the cost of the flights to enable us to book the seat numbers straight away.

On another note we also had issues last year when flying to Mexico with Thomson. Booked PE with the Dreamliner. when the DL was grounded I contacted Thomson stating that I wasn't bothered whether we flew on the DL or not, I just wanted a guarantee that if the DL wasn't up and running by the time we were due to fly, that they would still guarantee our PE seats on the alternative aircraft ... they wouldn't give us this guarantee and we walked away with a loss of £500 and rebooked with Virgin.

Might sound as if I'm being very picky, but I would not fly long haul in Economy, and being a bit of a nervous flyer prefer to book a window seat.

Kind regards,
Pat

[quote="]

I did ask them, should we decide to accept full refund and rebook with BA (flights/hotel still available) would we then be able to book our seats straight away? They told me not necessarily, but would depend on the cost of the seat??

Might sound as if I'm being very picky, but I would not fly long haul in Economy, and being a bit of a nervous flyer prefer to book a window seat.

Kind regards,
Pat