swallaby

Hello AA experts,
I have searched for these answers, but haven't found anything. If it exists please just point me in the right direction. I have 2 related questions:

We have a flight LAX-KOA coming up in a couple months that was booked using Avios, but at booking I never saw the opportunity to pick seats. Whom should I call to do this? We have a 3yo and a 1yo and don't want to leave seat assignment up to chance. Looking at the seat chart, it looks like I will have to pay for a "premium" seat to get a row of seats, but that probably ends up being worth it for a 5+ hr flight with little children. So do I call AA or BA? I have an AA CC and would love to have the priority access and free bags that come with it, but since my BA # is assigned to the flight, I'm guessing I'm out of luck there?

On a similar note, I booked a TN flight from CDG to LAX AA award ticket by phone but the agent never offered seat assignment. Is there a way to do this for flights on TN? If so do I call TN or AA?

So the essential question: for award tickets booked on partner flights, do I call the award issuer or the flight operator to book seats? Thanks for your expert advice!

gemac

In general, the award issuer would be the one to call for seat assignments. If you would like to purchase premium seats, I think you would call AA to do that. Or, you could always do what my brother used to do in that situation - put his small child in the seat, buckle him in, dig out the airsickness bag from the seatback pocket, open it and hand it to him, and tell him "Now, remember what happened the last time. If it happens again, try to get it all in here". Generally resulted in an offer to swap seats.

Lomic

https://www.aa.com/reservation/findReservationAccess.do

Plug in your name and record locator (which the issuing airline gave you) and you should be able to choose your seats. Well, I've done this using an AA reservation on LAN, so I'm not 100% sure it will work the other way, but you can try.

QueenOfCoach

My co-worker has this technique, traveling with twins.

He gets an old, dried-up Sharpie pen and super-glues the cover on tight. Then, on the plane, he hands the glued-together Sharpie pen to the kids and says "Here, you can play with this. Maybe the nice man next to you will switch seats with me so I can sit next to you."

swallaby

Thanks for this. ^ I found the record locator for the BA flight and it worked fine (though I might still call to get a "premium" seat since it is impossible to get a row together without spending extra...either that or try some...persuasion...) But it did not work for the TN flight. Is it not possible to get assigned seating for Air Tahiti Nui on an award ticket?

will2288

Maybe you're joking, but it's actions like this that make people very skeptical of others and less likely to help them. At least the pen is harmless . . .

Austinrunner

For the TN flight, call AA to get the TN record locator. Then call TN to get your seats.

swallaby

Just in case people are curious. I called AA up and attempted to buy premium seats so we could sit together, but I was told by the rep that it was not possible since we were on a BA award. She said the only way I could try to get seats together was to talk to the front desk when we arrive at the airport. It is slightly frustrating since I was even offering to pay for a premium (meaning aisle) seat... I guess we might have to resort to persuasion...