scottinaz

I will be travelling from DUS to LAX in August on an AA business class award ticket and have assumed the restrictions on seat assignment will not impact me. However I tried to get a seat assignment from the AB site and cannot find a means of doing so. Under Booking I can select Seat Reservation which takes me to a page that asks me for my last name and booking number. When I enter them I get my reservation details but no means to request a seat assignment.
Is this just because my flight is so far in the future or am I missing something/
thanks

Frequent_Flyer1

You should definitely be able to select seats, no worries. There are no restrictions with regards to seat assignments in business class. After login on AB you should be able to click on "additional services" and there the seat assignments should come up. Sometimes this doesn't work and you need to call.

scottinaz

I cannot select Additional Services, the text says "If you wish to book any additional services, please contact the airberlin Service Center »". I did not login since I do not have an AB account but rather entered my last name and booking number. Perhaps I need an AB account so I can actually login.

scottinaz

Even after registering for an AB account and logging in I still cannot select the Additional Services for my flight. Since it is over 8 months until my flight perhaps there is a limit on the time before the flight you can request seat assignments and order meals.

OWBA

Update: My seat reservation by phone through the BA call centre did not stick either. However, I did the online check-in at the AB web site as soon as they opened (30 hours before the flight) and got a seat at the bulkhead at no extra cost that way.

Now to see whether they'll be serving free meals. Tried reserving a meal through the Qatar web site as suggested earlier in this thread, but it didn't stick.

gkl

I also made the experience that the AB website can be quite difficult to book additional services when the flight was not booked directly with AB. As you still have a lot of time, I suggest emailing the service-center with your desired seat and they should be able to respond within a reasonable time (which can anyway take some days/weeks given their mediocre service level). Especially window-seats offer a lot of privacy and are not that plenty.

Wollstonecraft

The meal reservations (in my case for vegetarian meals) I have made through the Qatar website always worked out. Even coming from outstations such as RSW. But these were always for longhaul flights, and for the shorthaul flights the Qatar site always returned a message saying the request cannot be confirmed.

They are not "free" meals, they are vegetarian replacements for the regular meals offered on longhaul routes.

Travelomania

My family and I will be on an AB flight TXL to ORD tomorrow, but I'm only able to select seats for the amount of €54 or €84 for XL seats p/p respectively
Obviously, the selected seats through the QR website a while back are gone.
Perhaps we should consider ourselves lucky so far that we don't have to pay for checked baggage, drinks and a meal yet ?

Update:
Of course, web check-in to the USA not available.
Although we were late, all went fine at airport check-in and we all got XL seats assigned.
Departure delayed by an hour, without any announcement.
Front cabin seemed nearly empty.
Did not notice this on my prior AB flights - or any flights ever for that matter - but the coffee served on this flight was "delicious" Nescafé - instant coffee.
Yikes !

Frequent_Flyer1

As promised, an update from my side concerning the seating-issue for a flight tomorrow. So far was only able to preselect seats in row 12 onwards. Used the app for check-in and had the same experience as harri. Rows 1-4 were now available. No problem in selecting 1D and getting the boarding pass.

Some Interesting observations:

• Had a separate booking for two family members on the same flight (OW Sapphire status holder and a status-less member). For them only rows 14 onwards showed available. So it either seems that OW Sapphire members are not granted the same seat selection as OW Emeralds at check-in or that the status-less passengers prohibits the status-member from this ("technically spoken" ). So curious to know if harri's partner had status? Because if not this means that AB clearly distinguishes between the various status levels and Emeralds can pass on their benefits to other passsengers in the same booking whereas Sapphire passengers can not.
• Fast Track at Security is not granted for Sapphire Status Members (which is in line with OW regulation, so just as an information)
• Pre-Boarding is also only granted to the status member and not available to other passengers in the same booking (in contrast to BA).

headingwest

What was the route please?

Up until December I always travelled with my partner and as oneworld Sapphire (BA Silver) me and my partner were always granted Fast Track security and pre-boarding.

Frequent_Flyer1

Yeah, was surprised too. The route in question was ZRH-TXL. On the way back (TXL-ZRH), Fast Track security was granted but not pre-boarding according to the boarding pass. Furthermore, for this flight Web Check-In did let them choose seats in row 1-4 (in contrast to the first flight)!?

OWBA

Having completed my Avios redemption ZRH-FNC as an Emerald, here are some observations:

- Fast track security was granted in both ZRH and FNC, even though neither airport shows up for this being available on the Oneworld website.
- Seat reservation was not available at booking. Tried through the Qatar site as suggested in this thread, and it didn't stick; then tried calling BA to make the reservation, and that didn't stick either.
- AB web check-in opens 30 hours before the flight (not 24 hours like with BA), and I was able to secure a seat at the bulkhead for free by checking in as soon as it opened, which offers considerably better legroom than most other seats. However, they seem to have a knack for putting families with babies there (sitting next to one both inbound and outbound), so proceed with caution.
- Meal reservation through Qatar didn't stick, though I was given a free hot meal on the outbound flight. Had to pay for my meal on the inbound flight though.
- There is no Oneworld accessible lounge in FNC. Was able to get into the TAP navigator lounge for 30€ though. Not great, but probably worth it.

All in all, it's a pretty sweet redemption value (20k Avios and 57$ for ZRH-FNC return), but not an airline I would consider flying on a paid ticket. There is definitely a distinct "budget airline" feel to the whole thing.

scottishpoet

I am a but confused,

I have a KRK to TXL coming up at the end of the week

I am OneWorld Sapphire through my BAEC Silver status

The AB website says AB status holders at Gold and Platinum (OW Sapphire and Emerald I think) get seats for free

When I select seats I am being told I need to pay XXPLN depending on the seat I choose

Should I be able to select seats for free or not?

seawolf

AB website is defective for non AB frequent flyers. Give them a call.

atxtraveler

So my question is this... if we do pay for the seat upgrade, does that change the booking class? Would I then be able to earn more than the 25% American Airlines EQMs for booking the lowcost option?