rweintra

Having an issue with AA and would love some help. Current EP and have been for 6 straight years, AAirpass, Admirals Club member. I’m not an occasional traveler.

Anyway…

Used mileage for me and my wife, 2 kids this summer for JFK-LHR-ATH, JTR-LHR-JFK.

JFK-LHR was AA, LHR-ATH was BA. 7/4
JTR-LHR was BA, LHR-JFK was also BA. 7/14

The outbound legs were booked all in Y.
The return legs were booked J (or actually U) on BA from JTR-LHR and then Y (or actually X) on BA for LHR-JFK.

About 6 weeks ago, the LHR-JFK leg on BA was canceled. We were rebooked automatically on AA, giving us a slightly longer LHR layover. No big deal.

The rebooking confirm came through and showed the same classes that we had originally booked.

We kept our same seats on the JTR-LHR leg in J and had the equivalent premium economy seats on the LHR-JFK leg.

At some point in the last few weeks, our seats on the BA JTR-LHR leg changed to economy. I spoke to BA and they said there is nothing they can do about it. It’s an AA issue.

I spoke to AA and they said it’s BA metal so it’s not something they can fix. The person I spoke with in AA reservations, a supervisor, told me the best I can do is file a formal complaint, which I have.

AA customer relations said there is nothing they can do about it because it’s controlled by reservations.

I simply asked that either: they refund me some miles, give me my business seats back or at least move us to J on the LHR-JFK leg because it’s their metal and not BA.

Anyway, please help, flights are tomorrow afternoon leaving from JTR. Thanks!

S80

I would call AA (presumably they're who you booked through) and ask specifically for them to speak to the "Oneworld Liason Desk". From reports on here they seem to be pretty good at sorting out issues on AA <> BA.
Given this is EX-EU, I would expect downgrade compensation if you can't get it fixed, so it might not be worth fighting for a partial refund now if you can get more via EU 261 rules after the flight.

moondog

Do you honestly think they would trade your CE seat for a TATL business class seat? Getting some miles back seems like a reasonable proposition.

rweintra

Thanks so much. Didn’t even know that desk existed. Will definitely do that.

Good question and to be honest, no. I do have 8 systemwide upgrades to use but can’t utilize them on a mileage ticket.

I never thought they would but I asked because, why not??

flying_geek

Personally, I'd prefer Y and EU261 - even more so on BA where theoretical seating might result in the seat next to you being blocked.

rweintra

I didn’t even know about the details of EU 261 just that there was legislation that existed. Have been reading about it since the posts above.

Very good point about the not real “business” seating on the inter Europe A320s (and other aircraft).

I just want to be made whole in some capacity.

flying_geek

Is your flight sold out in J?

moondog

Euro J selling out is pretty rare because they can place the curtain as far back as row ~12 if needed.

flying_geek

I have seen plenty with J0 - and in this case anything less than J4 might be an issue since OP has 4 pax. How war out is the flight?

Dave Noble

If you were booked in business on the European flght and economy to the USA, you would either have paid for a business class redemption at 57.5k or as 2 awards 22.5k within Europe plus 30k Europe to USA - total 52.5k

You should be able to get refunded back to economy which would be 30k for Europe-USA . You should get 22.5k or 27.5k backk depending on what you paid. This will be higher than EC261 wouldgive you which would be 50% of the downgraded segment

rweintra

Last I checked was last week and yes, it was. It was AA who told me that there were no seats left.

Tomorrow, 7/14, 320pm departure from JTR-LHR.

Thats right. The curtain is btw row 12 & 13.

Thanks for this. I need to go back and check. We were business in Europe and premium economy Europe to USA.

Apologies. I keep writing 7/17 departure from JTR to LHR. but it’s tomorrow, Friday 7/14 on BA653 at 320 PM.

erik123

Doesn't look sold out. From expertflyer. If it were me I would leave it and claim comp later.

FYI - UK261 could be calculated based on what BA is selling avios for. Some seem to have had success with this approach.

J4 C4 D3 R0 I0 Y9 B9 H9 K8 M6 L0 V0 N0 O0 Q0 S0 G1

flying_geek

I would agree - I am still not entirely sure what kind of award this is - are those two separate awards? IE - JTR-LHR in U and then a second award in X - or is this a U award (JTR-LHR-JFK) with a voluntary downgrade to X on the TATL. If it was one single award in X, then the JTR-LHR segment should be in T (or whatever BA's Y award equivalent is)

S80

Yep, given those numbers (Y9 being at least 9 economy seats available, if not more), I'd also leave it and claim comp after the flight. It's not worth it, as you'll hopefully be able to find enough seats together, unless you really want the guaranteed blocked middle.

etiene

EU261 downgrade comp - which would come from BA - might depend on whether it was somehow reticketed into economy for that leg. If it was reticketed then I'd expect BA to say "we flew you in the ticketed cabin" and pointing the finger back at AA. I'm not sure how you'd get to be in the wrong cabin ahead of time without reticketing, except maybe something getting screwed up between Sabre and Amadeus?