navylad

Perhaps it could have been phrased better 'their contact details are available on their website'

Can't say I've ever been offered a contact number to another airline when I've had similar scenarios in the past and with modern smart phones it really is quicker to get the number yourself using the phones functionality to click on the number and press call rather than risking a transcription error. I can also foresee a post when an airline changes their number of someone angry as BA gave them the old number.

Hope you got the number in the end and got the seats sorted.

HIDDY

I haven't a clue who S7 are nor how many airlines are in Oneworld.

madfish

Rather than a code S7 is S7 Airlines. A Russian based carrier. One of 14 members of oneworld, although that number also includes airberlin.

https://www.oneworld.com/news-inform...on-to-oneworld

777Cat3b

So BA's joint business with JAL doesn't count then?

EuropeanPete

So just like the person on the Silver line, without additional training you would probably not make a very good BA call center rep!

Anonba

Well clearly it does matter but yes i missed JAL and Qatar, my original post has been amended.

HIDDY

Oh I don't know....some of my posts on here show I have a knack for dealing with difficult customers.

CommentatusMaximus

Had a similar situation with a DL longhaul and CI connector where I couldn't select seats for CI. After numerous logins on both websites and calls to both airlines, I finally got a supervisor at DL who called an internal SkyTeam number and got my seats selected within 5 minutes. Perhaps OW has something similar?

CPH-Flyer

The worst part of the service is not that they agent does not have, or does not provide the number for Finnair. It is the fact that he refers to Finnair. As marketing carrier, BA is responsible for the seat assignments. So the OP is being pushed off to someone who can't help, and can't do anything about it.

carrotjuice

Slightly OT but very much reflective of the title of this thread.

I was at MH's flagship lounge in KUL... waiting for my spouse's arrival on a different MH flight that was shown as delayed on the arrival boards... I inquired at the lounge reception whether they know what the retimed arrival was (as it had changed several times while I waited).

The receptionist's response? Well our signboards are not "as accurate" - for more accurate latest retiming, just google the flight number.

Gee, thanks.

Dave_C

But oneworld are not customer facing so the OP can’t contact them.

How many time have you heard upon arrival at a destination the cabin crew PA going something along the lines of “and if you need any assistance, please don’t hesitate to contact one of our oneworld alliance partners who will be happy to help?”

Anytime you actually try and do that you get a blank look!

NWIFlyer

The opposite is actually true - BA is unable to assign seats in this specific case. If you look through the Tallinn meet-up/fare threads, you’ll find many examples where seat assignments could only be made with the Finnair PNR and via them.

Had the agent given the OP the AY PNR and advised them to contact Finnair that would have been about as much as they could have done.

CPH-Flyer

The OW codeshares are often annoyingly tricky for seat assignments. But in the end it is marekting carrier that has the ownership of it.

Sometimes, though, this forum has work-arounds that are always good to learn.

corporate-wage-slave

The easiest feature of Finnair seating hasn't yet been mentioned, which is that Finnair have an instant messaging feature via their website which is able to assign seats. Usually a quick nose around FT - and asking a specific question if necessary - will make this an easier task.

I guess it is unclear / complex to the many passengers, but yes if your seats are marketed by another airline they handle the seating, and very often the operating airline too, not least the airlines within IAG.

airmanofthequeen

Update:

I called Finnair having googled their number (it wasn't as quick as some people made out). For anyone needing it, the number is 0208 001 0101 and I found it on a website I'd never heard of called airlinescontactnumber.co.uk. Anyway, the difference in service (or ability to do the things I needed) between Finnair and BA's agent was immense. They reserved my seats and sent an email which arrived pretty much instantly summarising all the details for the entire itinerary. Amusingly it looked like it had come from an old style dot matrix printer but that's just for fun.

The fact it had the JAL details on it spurred me to ask the agent if she could reserve the JAL seats as well- and she could! Cue a few more seconds and a second 'dot-matrix' email with all four seats reserved for me. Very happy flyer again!

Why on earth BA couldn't do what the Finnair agent had done is beyond me. Especially given that:

-I booked and paid for the trip on BA's website
-I am in the BA loyalty scheme not Finnair's or JAL's
-Two of the four sectors have a BA flight number- they couldn't even reserve seats on a BA numbered flight!