Booking AA flights on BA.com
 

In order to get the triple Avios on the BAPP card for spend with British Airways I am looking at booking a purely AA itinerary on ba.com

Are there any drawbacks to doing this? The price is the same as booking directly with AA and it looks like I'll still get the 100% Gold tier bonus.

Presumably I'll be able to choose Main Cabin Extra seats for free on aa.com right after booking? Do I need a separate PNR for this and if so do I have to call AA to get it?

Thanks in advance

I don't know about Main Cabin Extra aspect, but I do know that yes if you buy direct from BA then it will get 3 Avios per £1, and I've done it a few times. The big disadvantage is that when AA change your flight (note, not if) then if you book with AA a quick call will allow you to be shifted to anything vaguely sensible. On BA it is theoretically the same but it getting agents to do this sometimes requires a modicum of patience. It is necessary to wait until fully ticketed before you can select seats on AA unless it was done during the booking process, and don't forget to put your Known Traveler information in at that point, if relevant, BA can't do that.

One draw back is that they won't upgrade you (OpUp) at the airport even with overbooking. I found this out in December when doing an ORD>MAN.

The MCE is offered free but just watch your e-ticket. Seems to take a while for the seat reservations to be allowed on AA.com.

Thanks both. A few issues there that I hadn't thought about