Last edit by: Prospero
AA Flyers and Seat Selection on British Airways Operated Flights
Link to FlyerTalk British Airways | Executive Club / BAEC forum guide thread with Wikipost: BA Seating Policy Guide
Link to BAEC forum Dashboard, including seating guides for BA aircraft. Please make enquiries regarding BA aircraft seats in the appropriate thread in the BAEC forum, not here in the AA forum, for better response.
Link to britishairways.com page "Choosing your seat" (policies and how to).
Link to BA Speedbird Club (agent site) seat policyFor Country select "Global"; for IATA number, press on "I don't have an IATA"
Also from the BA website:
Selecting seats can be done via the BA "Manage My Booking" tool (link) which may recognize your AA PNR (you will need your PNR and last name to log on to MMB). If not, you can get your BA PNR by calling AA, or you can go to the Qantas website, enter your AA PNR and you will be presented with your BA PNR.
Updated 26 Oct 2016 - JDiver
Link to FlyerTalk British Airways | Executive Club / BAEC forum guide thread with Wikipost: BA Seating Policy Guide
Link to BAEC forum Dashboard, including seating guides for BA aircraft. Please make enquiries regarding BA aircraft seats in the appropriate thread in the BAEC forum, not here in the AA forum, for better response.
Link to britishairways.com page "Choosing your seat" (policies and how to).
Link to BA Speedbird Club (agent site) seat policyFor Country select "Global"; for IATA number, press on "I don't have an IATA"
Code:
The Passenger should be advised BA will pre-seat the customer subject to availability & seat requests are never guaranteed and always subject to operational needs Subsequent seat change Should an aircraft or configuration change generate an automated operational seat change that separates the party, the ‘request seat’ process must be initiated again. The travel agent would need to remove and re-enter the TOGT keyword.
Code:
Members of the Executive Club and other oneworld frequent flyers are able to reserve seats at different stages, depending on their tier. Tier Seat selection Gold/oneworld Emerald Free seat selection from the time of booking for everyone in your booking and friends and family on other bookings, who are travelling with you in the same travel class and on the same flight*. Silver/oneworld Sapphire Free seat selection from the time of booking for everyone in your booking*. Bronze/oneworld Ruby Free seat selection from seven days before departurefor everyone in your booking*. *You must be travelling on the booking (or in the case of Gold Members, one of the bookings) for these benefits to apply. They apply to British Airways flights only and are not available on Basic (HBO / hand baggage only) fares or group rate bookings. Exit row seats are not available to Silver or Bronze Members on long haul flights until 24 hours before departure. On some occasions, exit rows seats on short haul flights may not be available in advance due to operational reasons.
Updated 26 Oct 2016 - JDiver
BA Seat Selection Issues for AA Flyers - charges, seating, award, etc.
#61
FlyerTalk Evangelist
Join Date: Nov 2011
Location: Brighton. UK
Programs: BA Gold / VS /IHG Diamond & Ambassador
Posts: 14,191
Someone has to sit in the middle seats.
if you are that desirous of sitting together then pay BA the seat selection fee. If you aren’t bothered where you sit then don’t.
BA aren’t going to change this long tome policy anytime soon.
if you are that desirous of sitting together then pay BA the seat selection fee. If you aren’t bothered where you sit then don’t.
BA aren’t going to change this long tome policy anytime soon.
#62
Senior Moderator and Moderator: American AAdvantage & TravelBuzz
Join Date: Nov 2007
Location: BOS
Programs: AA EXP, Marriott Titanium
Posts: 10,416
Merged with the existing thread discussing seat selection on BA. Latest info on choosing seats is also available on the BA website: https://www.britishairways.com/en-us...ving-your-seat
/Moderator
/Moderator
#63
Join Date: Oct 2009
Location: Houston, TX
Programs: UA 1MM Premier Gold, DL Gold Medallion, HHonors Gold, Marriot Rewards Gold
Posts: 619
BA Metal on AA ticket - BA free seating Q
Hello,
So I'm leaving a day after tomorrow IAH-DFW-LHR (AA) - TLV (BA).
BA says free seat selection at OLCI, 24 hours before the flight departure.
I'm checking in 24 hours before my FIRST flight which is about 30 hours before my BA departure on the last leg. /
Will I be able to pick my seat with BA at no charge tomorrow when I check in to my flight even though it's more than 24 hours before BA's departure??
Thanks,
R
So I'm leaving a day after tomorrow IAH-DFW-LHR (AA) - TLV (BA).
BA says free seat selection at OLCI, 24 hours before the flight departure.
I'm checking in 24 hours before my FIRST flight which is about 30 hours before my BA departure on the last leg. /
Will I be able to pick my seat with BA at no charge tomorrow when I check in to my flight even though it's more than 24 hours before BA's departure??
Thanks,
R
#64
Join Date: Jun 2022
Programs: AA Hilton
Posts: 13
I am AA gold and booked a BA LHR-EWR award flight in business thru AA a week ago. When I log into BA to manage flight, it still tells me seat selection is only available 24hours before deparure (vs the 7 days it should be). Will give it more time to see if its updates. Will update back if I end up having to call BA/AA
I did keep checking as the weeks got closer to my flight and it still showed "seat selection will be available 24 hours before departure". When 7 days hit, seat selection magically was available. So looks like its just a glitch right now. I was able to select seats 7 days in advance. I have to add it was the best flight experience I've ever had and blew away my J flights this summer on AF 777, EK A380 and LH 747
#65
Join Date: Jan 2013
Location: Chicago
Posts: 425
#66
Join Date: Jun 2022
Programs: AA Hilton
Posts: 13
Yes, it was 777-200. The seat itself was the best out of them, but that was just the half of it. The crew went ridiculously out of the way for me to have a good time. Chatted with them half the flight about aviation, I got to meet the pilots during boarding and sit in the cockpit and snap pictures, given tours of crew areas and was even gifted a full-size bottle champagne, hand written note by the entire crew and the first class swag bags to take home. Obviously this wasn’t normal and I will never expect it again, but they earned a customer for life
#67
Join Date: Jan 2014
Location: HEL/SFO/ORD
Programs: BAEC Gold
Posts: 83
Hello,I’m not sure if this is the right forum or perhaps this is more BA problem but anyhow I’m BAEC Gold / OWE and trying to make seat selection (C/I) for a few flights operated by AA (LHR-JFK, JFK-SFO, JFK-LHR) but ticketed by BA. I have three (!) PNRs and neither of them seem to work. Checking my trip on AA website (AA PNR) gives me access to the reservation and I can see preselected seats (far from optimum) but there is no way to make changes. On BA website using the secondary BA/AY PNR I can see the same reservation but when I try to make changes, I’m redirected to AA website and given a third PNR ("BA website: American Airlines reference:XXXXX") which however is not recognized by AA! Is there a way to change seat on these mixed tickets or should I just wait for the check-in open and see what’s available then?
#68
Join Date: Sep 2013
Location: MSN
Programs: AA, BAEC Gold
Posts: 3,926
Hello,I’m not sure if this is the right forum or perhaps this is more BA problem but anyhow I’m BAEC Gold / OWE and trying to make seat selection (C/I) for a few flights operated by AA (LHR-JFK, JFK-SFO, JFK-LHR) but ticketed by BA. I have three (!) PNRs and neither of them seem to work. Checking my trip on AA website (AA PNR) gives me access to the reservation and I can see preselected seats (far from optimum) but there is no way to make changes. On BA website using the secondary BA/AY PNR I can see the same reservation but when I try to make changes, I’m redirected to AA website and given a third PNR ("BA website: American Airlines reference:XXXXX") which however is not recognized by AA! Is there a way to change seat on these mixed tickets or should I just wait for the check-in open and see what’s available then?
#69
Join Date: Jan 2014
Location: HEL/SFO/ORD
Programs: BAEC Gold
Posts: 83
You should normally have one BA PNR and one AA PNR for one booking. If you try to select seats using MMB it will pass you to AA and tell you the AA PNR. You should also be able to use the AA PNR directly on AA.com, which is what I always do. I suppose it would be possible for the JFK-LHR segment to end up with its own PNR but if the LHR-JFK and JFK-SFO flights are a connection then you want to be sure they are on one PNR. You should in any case have the ability to select seats on AA even without your BAEC number on the reservation so something is wrong. I suspect you will have to try phoning BA to get it sorted out, though AA might be able to do the seat selection, and I wouldn't leave it too late. The most important question is do you have a ticket number?
#70
Join Date: Sep 2013
Location: MSN
Programs: AA, BAEC Gold
Posts: 3,926
Thanks for the hint! Managed to access those flights and change seats on AA website using ticket number instead of PNR but to make this even stranger, got now a fourth PNR for these few flights on BA ticket but AA metal. All these flights on the same ticket number though. Wondering what kind of mess this will be at check-in.
#71
Join Date: Jan 2006
Location: SFOSJCOAK
Programs: AA-EXP & 1MM+, AS, MR-LTT, HH Gold
Posts: 7,579
OWE (AA EXP) Enter AA FF# to BA booking
I had two BA flights ticketed by BA (all BA metals). I want to add my AA FF# to my BA Executive account, for status recognition (credit miles to AA; bennies, like seat selection for free & free luggage etc). Find no way of doing it online
Calling BA is last resort for obvious reason. Any suggestion is appreciated.
Calling BA is last resort for obvious reason. Any suggestion is appreciated.
#72
A FlyerTalk Posting Legend
Join Date: Jan 2002
Posts: 44,574
I had two BA flights ticketed by BA (all BA metals). I want to add my AA FF# to my BA Executive account, for status recognition (credit miles to AA; bennies, like seat selection for free & free luggage etc). Find no way of doing it online
Calling BA is last resort for obvious reason. Any suggestion is appreciated.
Calling BA is last resort for obvious reason. Any suggestion is appreciated.
#73
Join Date: Dec 2011
Posts: 14
I have a frustrating situation hope someone can help to clarify. I have a ticket book by an award booking agent/company using my friends AA mile to fly BA metal. I was able to call BA to update my AA FFN on the booking, but they say i need to ask my booking agent for the seat selection. I'm currently AA platinum pro status which I thought i should be able to choose seat for free once my AA number is updated on booking, but it's still charging me fees when using BA "manager my book" page. So my question is for the status to choose seat for free, is it the status of the person/account make the booking, or it should be the status of the person that's actually traveling on the booking. Another question is one leg of this booking, even when i choose pay for the seat, i don't see seat available, all greyed out. Does it mean they oversold or something? or it's normal that it's not showing to me because of my status. Thank you very much in advance.
#74
FlyerTalk Evangelist
Join Date: Aug 2012
Location: KHOU/KIAH
Programs: AA EXP | Marriott Bonvoy Titanium| Hyatt Globalist
Posts: 11,236
I have a frustrating situation hope someone can help to clarify. I have a ticket book by an award booking agent/company using my friends AA mile to fly BA metal. I was able to call BA to update my AA FFN on the booking, but they say i need to ask my booking agent for the seat selection. I'm currently AA platinum pro status which I thought i should be able to choose seat for free once my AA number is updated on booking, but it's still charging me fees when using BA "manager my book" page. So my question is for the status to choose seat for free, is it the status of the person/account make the booking, or it should be the status of the person that's actually traveling on the booking. Another question is one leg of this booking, even when i choose pay for the seat, i don't see seat available, all greyed out. Does it mean they oversold or something? or it's normal that it's not showing to me because of my status. Thank you very much in advance.
What is an award booking agent and why would your friend not just book it directly? Or did you buy a ticket from a mile reseller...
#75
Join Date: Dec 2011
Posts: 14
Thank you for the quick response. My friend is using the "award wallet" kind of award tickets booking service helping him search and book the ticket for us so that he doesn't have to the the leg work himself. :-) Does it affect the booking somehow?