Echo

Quite simply, this Friday I don't know if I am flying home to the US or to Paris (from LHR). I don't want to lose getting a decent seat on these flights and I have no status. My plan is to check in to both flights, select my seats, and as soon as I know where I am headed I will cancel one of the tickets (both are fully refundable).

Is there a problem with me being checked in to both flights at the same time? Will BA cancel one of my tickets? Will anything bad happen?

Thanks in advance everyone.

corporate-wage-slave

BA's computers can't handle something as straightforward as multi city redemptions, so you will be fine. In a way it's not so different to someone irrop'd off one service to another, and in timetable terms they are theoretically at two aircraft at once. I've had similar scenarios, for different reasons, and I've not had an issue.

Two bad things will happen, probably: you won't get the Avios / TPs on the service you don't use. And, inconsistently, any follow up legs on the service not flown would also be cancelled, though exceptions have been reported.

I must admit I wouldn't bother making a "just in case" reservation to Paris just to be sure of getting a seat. Quite apart from all the air services, there are trains too.

OverThereTooMuch

Not sure how a redemption comes into play here. Sounds like these are purchased tickets.

I disagree with CWS. I think their system will notice that you're booked on two flights at the same time (and different from irrops, it'll be in the system longer, so a greater chance of some process catching it). I know that there are stories in other airline forums about people in similar situations where they've found one/both of the bookings cancelled by an airline.

Two other ways to look at it:
1) You're costing them revenue. You clearly can't be on two different flights at the same time. So one of those seats is likely to go unsold in the end.

2) They assume the traveler has made a mistake and unintentionally booked conflicting trips. Maybe they contact the traveler, maybe they don't.

Often1

Presuming that both flights are on BA, there is a good chance that BA's systems catch the "impossible" booking and cancel one or both. Check-in itself won't matter.

corporate-wage-slave

In my experience that is the one that would be possible, but in practical terms only if you had 2 bookings in the same name on the same flight - one may get cancelled as a presumed error. Even then I have had 2 bookings on the same flight hold up to the gate quite recently, the only potential impediment would have been that 2 passengers can't have the same passport number where there is an APIs check. Some people have more than one passport....

The other one reported here, but which I regularly fly without issue, is 2 flights on the same day on the same route, which for short domestic hops is perfectly feasible. Apparently they can get cancelled, but it's something I do fairly frequently, without issue.

The OP is doing 2 different destinations, on 2 different reservations, which I've also done and not had an issue. The only difference being that my unflown sectors would have been inflexible, and I don't believe BA's computers are clever enough to go through the fare rules and treat that differently.

PeasantGate

xxxxx

Flier74

The system will pick up on it I am afraid. I once had a redemption booking for a flight. I then booked a commercial ticket for later on that same day and the system kept telling the ticket office staff that exact thing. It was only when I told them that I will cancel the other ticket later that day that she could proceed with the fare paid booking.
so it may not let you check in when you try to check in for the flight I guess.
Hope you can get it all sorted out though

Tobias-UK

Your FT profile states you are AA EXP, if that is still the case your status will be recognised by BA and there is no reason why you cannot chose your seat in advance without the need to check-in.

Gomac

I thought you got free seat selection on fully flexible tickets

tomatocracy

It could go either way, and probably depends on things like which GDS your travel agent uses and when they do the ticketing. I've had this go both ways before.


The first time, I had two different return flights booked from South Africa (despite having fully flex tickets, both were looking very full so I wanted to make sure I could definitely get on the one I wanted) - this was fine when it was just a reservation but the system wouldn't actually let me ticket anything until I cancelled one.

The second time, I had two revenue tickets (in different cabins) booked for the same flight at the same time (not on BA, this was on *A) and neither got cancelled (I was called back early from holiday and the expense policy wasn't clear on which cabin I could claim for). The one I didn't use showed as a no-show and I got a refund later.