airberlin topbonus - $18 charge for seat assignment on award ticket, AA clueless!

bought 2 award tix with AA miles for son and his GF. SFO-MIA(AA)-TXL-STR(AB).
However AA changed their schedule and had to rebook for the day ahead with a better routing SFO-DUS-STR(all AB). When I called AB to try to get better seats for the 2 very tall travelers, AB agent said I had to pay US$18 each segment to get a confirmed seat assignment.
In other words, the seats that AA gave them at booking would be lost 24 hours before departure if I didn't fork over cash to confirm them. No AA aagent seems to know about this!

Has anyone else had this experience?

seat reservation is not part of the fare. (same as AA) unless the pax traveling have OW saphire or emerald, you must pay for seat reservation. else u can check in online (i think 48h before departure) and get the (availible) seats for free.

When I used AA miles for an AB flight MIA-TXL, I was automatically reserved a seat by AB's computer system. But I have OW status. Apparently, the OP's son and GF do not. Just as AA charges for food and checked luggage on their domestic flights (while AB offers a free snack and one free bag check), I suppose AB can charge for advance seat assignements ;).

AB charges for seat assignment too, so this should not be any surprise. Free seat reservation for status customers only.

I have never flown on AB, but may be doing so on an AA award ticket next winter. If I do not purchase a seat assignment in advance for $18, at what point will I be assigned a seat?

AB charges for seat assignment too, so this should not be any surprise. Free seat reservation for status customers only.

You can get a free seat assignment in business, or on a Y-only flight connecting to a J flight. At least I could, on a AA award MUC-DUS-LAX in Y/J.

I'm flying RT from SFO to Italy via DUS booked in economy saver on AB using AA miles. Upon request the AA rep assigned seats on the transatlantic flights when I booked the trip. I have no special status with AA.

I'm flying RT from SFO to Italy via DUS booked in economy saver on AB using AA miles. Upon request the AA rep assigned seats on the transatlantic flights when I booked the trip. I have no special status with AA.

Thank you, Armus. That's helpful information for me to have. I'm hoping to take Iberia for the flight to Europe, and AB on the return. This, of course, will depend on award availability.

I booked a frequent flyer award from AA to fly Air Berlin 2 days ago.
AA "RESERVED " my seats . When i got the email showing the booking from AA
I didn;t see any seats assigned . I call AA and they said they were indeed "RESERVED" and gave me the Air Berlin record locator to check with AB.
I called AB. Since I do not have elite status there a 15 euro fee for a long haul
seat. Yes, they said it was "RESERVED" but you have to pay to guarantee you
get those seats since the those seats are released so many days or hours before the flight.
He suggested getting to the airport 3 hours ahead to get the best chance at the best
seats that were left unreserved.
He said we would be given 2 seats together when we checked in
I am travelling with someone and the seat configuration is 2-4-2
and wanted to sit in the 2 on the sides.
So I paid the 15 euros for the seats so i can sit together with the person
I am traveling with..
Does anyone know what the checked baggage allowance is , is there 1 free checked bag. He also told me that you are only allowed 18 lbs as a carry on allowance.

I'm flying RT from SFO to Italy via DUS booked in economy saver on AB using AA miles. Upon request the AA rep assigned seats on the transatlantic flights when I booked the trip. I have no special status with AA.

The same happened to me when I booked the award tix from AA. HOWEVER, those assignments are not valid until you pay AB directly. You have to call and give them a credit card to confirm the seat assignments made by AA.

re: Baggage allowance for award tickets. Their website is very confusing about fees, so I called today to find out the real story.

Carryon is only 6kg, which is very little

Checked bags over 23kg, you do not want to do!!
1st checked bag = free up to 23kg
2nd bag, $70 each
3rd , 4th etc. $140 each

VERY HIGH BAG FEES!
over 23kg and under 30kg = 100EUR per bag!

If you want to carry your household buy their service card and you get extra free luggage and free seat reservation.

AB charges for seat assignment too, so this should not be any surprise. Free seat reservation for status customers only.

Agree. Had same experience but resolved it.

buy their service cardfor 119€
http://www.airberlin.com/site/tb/program/cardoverview.php?LANG=eng&cardType=service

for 119€
http://www.airberlin.com/site/tb/program/cardoverview.php?LANG=eng&cardType=service

True:

•Free seat reservations for you and an adult travelling companion, as well as children (under the age of 12) travelling with you
•Free Check-in the evening before departure for you and an adult travelling companion including accompanying children under the age of 12
•Discount of € 10 medium-haul/ € 15 long-haul on XL seats for you and an adult travelling companion
•Additional free baggage allowance! Card holders can check in more baggage free of charge »
•One additional item of sports equipment » up to 32 kg with prior registration free of charge (e.g. bicycle or surfboard)
•Annual fee of € 119


And a surfboard bag is very useful if you want the take your entire household with you on a trip. The card gives you 55 kg of extra luggage. In the old days of LTU, I had there DUS-PMI fly-as-much-as-you-can card and the luggage allowance was very useful when building a house on the island.

Is there anywhere to see available seats? I have tried looking around and got the impression you have to phone in for seat assignments....? I realize you have to pay a fee.

I am going to LHR and trying to decide between AB (economy) w/AA miles or and UA (where I would get E+ in economy). It is less miles for the AB itin but I hate to commit without seeing how 'packed' the flight might be (LAX-TXL)...

Thx ^

Is there anywhere to see available seats? I have tried looking around and got the impression you have to phone in for seat assignments....? I realize you have to pay a fee.

When I booked an AA award ticket on AB, I could not see the seat map on airberlin.com. I could, however, see it on ExpertFlyer (subscription service) and it was a great help when I eventually called AB to select seats. I did not pay anything for the selection of (exit row) seats, but I changed the FF# to my (then active) AB Gold number before the call.

When I booked an AA award ticket on AB, I could not see the seat map on airberlin.com. I could, however, see it on ExpertFlyer (subscription service) and it was a great help when I eventually called AB to select seats. I did not pay anything for the selection of (exit row) seats, but I changed the FF# to my (then active) AB Gold number before the call.Thanks! I hadn't tried EF. I was mistaken, the flight is actually LAX-DUS. But EF had the seat map and the flight is only 50% full. Does anyone know if they are OK w/passengers moving around when there are so many empty seats?

Thanks! I hadn't tried EF. I was mistaken, the flight is actually LAX-DUS. But EF had the seat map and the flight is only 50% full. Does anyone know if they are OK w/passengers moving around when there are so many empty seats?

Don't make the assumption that the flight is so empty based only on the seat map. AB does not allow free seat selection so most statusless pax do not have seat assignments outside the check-in window.

Don't make the assumption that the flight is so empty based only on the seat map. AB does not allow free seat selection so most statusless pax do not have seat assignments outside the check-in window.Good point... So finding the seat map didn't really help allot :rolleyes:

Just to confirm what we seem to already know. I just booked an AB flight from JFK to DUS through AA on points. I called up AA to reserve a seat and, yes, they'll reserve you a seat in seconds and tell you everything is kosher but it's absolutely worthless unless you call up AirBerlin to pay.

It cost like $19.50.

if you have AA status? DH is platinum so wondering if he'll have to pay the $$ Anyone know for sure?

Don't make the assumption that the flight is so empty based only on the seat map. AB does not allow free seat selection so most statusless pax do not have seat assignments outside the check-in window.

I found this out from experience. Even though the seat map showed about 40%-50% of the seats being empty the day before the flight, that sure wasn't the case. It wasn't a big deal but I was looking forward to some extra room.

Just to confirm what we seem to already know. I just booked an AB flight from JFK to DUS through AA on points. I called up AA to reserve a seat and, yes, they'll reserve you a seat in seconds and tell you everything is kosher but it's absolutely worthless unless you call up AirBerlin to pay.

It cost like $19.50.

Definitely pay for the seats if you really want them. I paid about $78 for a friend and I to fly LAX-DUS with reserved seats (the two by themselves on the A330). For such a long flight, it wasn't worth the gamble as to whether or not our seats were actually reserved.