omaralt

so i booked a travel package to europe on travelocity for 5 of us; 2 adults, 2 children, 1 infant (no seat). two questions

1- when i put my record locator in AA to see my reservation it only showed the domestic portion; not the international segment. called AA and they told me the international segment has a separate record locator. she told me it seems like its two separate reservations but that it's "like one" so i can check bags through and i'm protected" has anybody heard of this?

2- there are currently not 4 seats together for free. the only 4 seats together would be the economy plus which is $120/person. i would rather not spend that. if i wait until the gate would AA split us? the children are 8, 4, and 1... should i just bite the bullet and spend $960 round trip to book seats together?

thanks

MSPeconomist

omaralt

the international segment says Finnair operated by AA. i called Finnair and they said to deal with AA for seat reservaion

MiamiAirport Formerly NY George

I'd try first to go on Finnair's website and enter in the PNR for that flight. See if you can get a seat map and pick seats. As far as the AA flight, chances are if you wait for the day of travel AA isn't going to be able to keep you together so if that's important I'd pay for the MCE seats now. Finnair I don't know how family friendly they are when it comes to seating families together.

omaralt

thanks. i'm not actually flying any segments on finnair. it's all on AA

i may have to bite the bullet and pay.. seems nuts though

Often1

If this is as OP seems to suggest, the phone agent has it wrong.

AA will only check bags across separate tickets, including its own if they are booked into the same PNR. It sounds to me as though there are two PNR's, one for all 5 for the domestic segment(s) and the other for all 5 for the international segment(s). That would mean no through check and that the bags will be checked to the international gateway where OP and family will claim them, lug them to departures and ship them off.

Thus, have to allow enough time at the gateway to exit to baggage claim, claim bags, check them in (by check deadline), head back through security and on to gate. On the other hand, AA will protect across AA-AA tickets, so this is a matter of inconvenience, not ticket loss.

It would be helpful if OP posted the routing.

dls25

This is normal. Nothing to worry about.

You have two different locators because your domestic segments are AA-coded and your international AY-coded (even if they are operated by AA). The AY code causes those flights to have a separate AA record locator.

The check-in agent will be able to see everything and check your bags through etc...

You should be able to select seats for all flights on AA.com using the two record locators...

UKtravelbear

Makes no difference you have a booking in Finnair for an AA flight. Please just try what @newyorkgeorge has suggested. This is quite common and it does confuse people.

I have a trip - LON-JFK-SFO-ORD-LHR. Only the first flight is on BA but the 2nd is on AA with BA codeshare).

My BA account only shows the first 2 flights and will only let me select seat on the first flight. For the JFK-SFO it sends me to AA. I can only manage the SFO-ORD-LHR flights via the AA app.

omaralt

thanks. i can pull up the reservation on finnair but there is no option for seat selection

ashill

There is absolutely zero chance that AA (or any other airline) will sit a four year old not next to one parent, and there is I think a very small chance that the eight year old will be seated not with a parent. AA, or any other airline, will move a passenger with an assigned seat at the gate if they have to to seat the four year old with a parent. (I've got a few years until I fly with an eight year old; I really don't have a good sense for when a kid is old enough to fly not sitting next to a parent either in reality or in the airline's view.) However, the OP's family may wind up as two sets of two instead of one group of four, or, at worst, 2, 1, and 1. Two and two may be preferable anyway, depending on the aircraft; obviously with the exception of widebodies with four across in the middle, four seats will at least have an aisle separating them anyway.

Therefore, I personally would not pay a seat assignment fee just to get a four-year-old seated with me; it is entirely on the airline to find a way to make that work and not charge you for the privilege, and I've never had any trouble taking that attitude with respect to a young child. (Though if you can get a seat assignment without paying in advance, that's easier for everyone, including the airline and your fellow passengers. Airlines like BA and AC that normally charge for all advance seat assignments waive the fee [by policy, not agent kindness] for young children, but I don't think AA does because they try to trick you into paying.)

If you want to get all four of you seated together, that is not something that is incumbent on the airline and is probably something you would have to pay for in practice. That's up to you as the traveler/parent.

MiamiAirport Formerly NY George

If all segments are on AA you should be able to obtain seat assignments from AA. Typically there's a PNR for AA that is connected to the FInnair PNR. I'm assuming these were booked with FInnair (through Travelocity) code share on AA. If you don't have the AA PNR if you call with the date of flight, AA flight number and name AA should be able to pull up the reservation. If there are no free or not enough free seats available, including together, it would be the same situation that if you wanted to guarantee seats together it's going to cost $$$.

omaralt

thanks. i can make seat assignments on AA. the issue is the CLT-MAD flight only has paid seat selection left. i really dont want to pay $400 oneway for seat selection, but i also would like for us to all sit together if possible. the return has a few free seats to choose from; but not 4 together.

MiamiAirport Formerly NY George

AA will ensure that at least one parent is seated next to a child (children). However, AA will not and likely won't seat an entire family together given flight loads-particularly if flight takes place in the summer. Therefore, if sitting together as a family is important to the OP then yes he should probably pay for seats albeit as he said it won't be cheap.

USA_flyer

Is the 1 year old going as a lap child? If yes, I would strongly recommend trying to get a bassinet instead. Flying for as many hours as you are is tiring enough but to have a squirming infant will be deeply unpleasant.

If you're going to spend the money to sit together, you may as well try to get a bassinet too.

rasheed

Am I reading that you don't have any status with AA or any other OW carrier?

Yes, AA does have a policy for kids (I am not sure what the age cut-off is, but I think it is 11) that they won't be assigned seats by themselves. I mean, there are some blocked seats to help the airline deal with this issue.

If I am to guess what would happen if you don't buy a seat, you will get assigned 2 and 2 in separate parts of the plane. I don't think the price of the paid seats will increase, so you can keep checking as people change their plans to see if you find better, free seats. Checking once a day is not a problem.

I assume you have the 10% infant ticket, so you may be able to call-in to put your request for the bassinet areas of the plane.