Originally Posted by
A1pax
I have a question re advance seat selection on codeshare flights. In the original booking, there were 2 flights: one with CX and another with JL (same booking reference for both CX and JL). Then I decided to change the dates for both flights to later dates (TA said no fee involved in changing dates). TA found 2 seats on CX with a new date, but could only find 1 seat available on JL for another new date. However he could find 2 seats on the same JL flight under AS codeshare. I agreed to book under AS codeshare flight, and did not realise that the seat selection for codeshare flights was a real nightmare. AS codeshare booking has a link to JL (and JL booking reference) for seat selection. However that link did not work. I have posted a question on this in the JL forum and got one reply confirmed that "Seat selection on AS codeshare has been a mess for a while by now. Basically, you can request window or aisle. That's about it in advance." Somewhat disappointed. Contacted AS who said they are not operating carrier, so could not help. Contacted JL who said booking ticked with AS, contact AS !!
Another problem was that when I tried to 'manage booking' in JL website, it said reservation cancelled / could not be found
TA said he did not know why that should be ..
If I could not find the booking in JL, then how would I be able to do online checkin for the flight?
Lesson learnt: Will stay away from codeshare flights in the future.
I book codeshares all the time and rarely have problems with seat selection. I haven't tried an AS code on a JL-operated flight, but your TA as well as AS and JL
should be able to allocate seats for you. With a codeshare, there will often be a different record locator for the operating carrier of that specific flight, so there might be a JL record locator for the overall itinerary plus a second JL-only record locator for the JL flight that's booked as an AS flight in the main itinerary. In this second record, the JL flight will be a JL prime flight, but it is a "limited services record," meaning that it can only be used for seat assignments, checking in, meal selection, and potentially an upgrade once under airport control. So first I'd try to have your TA allocate seats in their booking engine. If that fails, have them dig in and see if there's a separate JL PNR for that one flight. If so, try using the JL booking management web tool with that record locator. if that fails, try calling JL and giving them that record locator. You can also try using the Qantas or Finnair websites to manage the booking, using either the overall record locator (same as for JL) or the limited services one. You can also try calling AS back or using their website to allocate seats,using the AS record locator for the overall itinerary (which will be different from the JL one).