One of the published benefits of Silver Status is being able to select seats at the time of booking. I have always found this hugely valuable, as it means that I can I usually get extra leg room seats.

I had booked them for our outbound to Copenhagen to start our trip to San Francisco in the summer. We decided that we would spend some more time there before we flew to America and, as the positioning flights were booked using Avios on a RFS, it only cost £35 to change then. I refrained from booking into Club Europe, thinking that I would be able to get more leg room in EuroTraveller. I was disappointed when I couldn’t, but thought nothing of it.

A few days later, I booked a return domestic to Aberdeen, thinking that I would be able to select the exit row but, again, it was not available.

The British Airways website is, in my opinion, fairly clear about what Silver card holders can and cannot select in advance;

LHR – CPH and LHR – ABZ are not long haul, so I therefore think I should be able to select the exit row.

I have been in touch with the BA Twitter team, who said that it is only Gold card holders who can select the exit row seats. I pointed them to the screenshot above, and they came back saying that it wasn’t very clear and that they would pass it onto their IT team but, as far as they were aware, it has always been the case that these are reserved for Golds. I thought that it was just Row 1, but what do I know?!

I got my Silver card in August 2015 and have booked and flown 9 sectors since; every single one I have been able to select the exit row if I wanted it. The Twitter team also said that it was only Row 1 and exit rows that were not available; anything else would be fine. Which is odd, as I can only choose from Row 7 onwards as you can see below.

I am hopeful that this will be resolved or that I will be able to get the exit row when booking opens. The Twitter team has promised that they will book it for me at T-14days when they are open, and I wait with baited breath to see if it happens.