Thanks one and all.....no status at all, being an infrequent flyer. I shall try the ' dummy booking ' route first off and see how that works out. He's only going to West Coast US with friends, but it got me thinking..... Is there a way if it had been an Avios redemption, or again, would you go the dummy booking route first off ? And after booking go straight into ' Manage my booking ' to grab the seat ?