Merging reservations to get seated together?
 

I'll purchase two separate AA tickets for BA TATL travel for my partner and me. They need to be in ET (at least on the way out). If my partner purchases basic economy and I get full economy, will I be able to link the two corresponding BA reservations? If so, will I then be able to select seats next to each other as Emerald OW? I think I can do this on AA, but not sure I'll be able to do that on BA.

I don't believe you can, I phoned up and asked this about 3 months ago and was told it was not possible. Would like to be proven wrong though.

There is no such thing as "merging." But, you should be able to have AA issue the two tickets into the same PNR and then manually assign the BA seats together.

Yes, sorry, I meant linking, at least that's the word I used over the years with BA.
I will need different invoices, the return is on different dates and different travel classes, and need to use a travel voucher on one. I assumed it was going to be messy to make it into the same PNR - can they still do that?
Also didn't know AA could assign seats on BA segments. I normally do it only and require the BA PNR...

given the different dates and classes then no they can't be in the same PNR. I'm not even sure a basic economy and a normal economy ticket would be able to do that either

To get seats together on the sector you are both travelling on you would need the BA confirmation cade (AA can gve it to you) then call BA and ask them 'To Complete Party' and tell them which seats you want It will take a couple of days for the seats to reflect in the BA app though.

Hmm. I'm not sure you can get AA to issue two tickets with the same (AA or BA) PNR if the reservations are in different fare buckets (I'd love to know otherwise if wrong). What you can do is persuade BA to "TCP" ("To Complete Party) the bookings, which mean theoretical seating places you together ... theoretically. Or of course you can just select the seats yourselves through BA - which may require paying.

There will be no “merging” (confirm it doesn’t exist), no single pnr, and whilst all and any booking can be “linked” (in effect largely manual cross references) those won’t grant any transfer of privileges. Exception is if owe/GCH and above, ba will sur you together and formally allow boarding together.

Thanks for all replies. We are converging to what I had in mind ie linking (complete the party) post aa ticketing. My doubt however still is whether they would do that for an aa exp (owe) or would they reserve that privilege to gch only. Has anyone done that recently?

When I book a multi party trip on the same pnr (same classes and travel dates) everyone gets boarding and free seating but then those are tickets on the same pnr... Thanks.

My experience is that they'll only do it for GCH, and that everyone has to be travelling in the same cabin (I got caught out by that not so long ago - I thought that it was on the same flight, but it has to be the same cabin).

TCP and free seat selection across bookings should apply to OWEs as well as BA golds. The OP just needs to call BA to do this, ideally with the partner present as well as they may want to speak to them too.

Linking bookings (called TCP - To Complete Party) is available to any status, it is not a gold specific benefit. All TCP'ing two bookings does though is add a note on one referencing the other. It is not any kind of merging of the bookings, and nor does it provide any protection for connections when linking two separate sequential bookings. The linking can be done by the BA agent on the phone.

However, what is a BA gold & OWE benefit is free seat selection for the non-gold/silver booking passenger on a separate booking. If you are a GCH/OWE and there is someone travelling on the same flight and in the same cabin on a separate booking, you can request free seat selection for the other person so that you can sit together. This second step, after doing the TCP, is usually sent off to the infamous back office to process and takes a few days to do.

If the BA operated flight isn't full and the OP is Emerald there is a chance that they will get a Theoretical Seating block next to them at T-72. If the flight is full and the OP has chosen a seat further forward then that won't hold, but otherwise it may give an empty seat next to them anyway which could then be used by the companion. But if they are Emerald and travelling in the same cabin, it's best to call up to get the seating sorted out. It takes a few days, and you don't get the ability to manipulate this thereafter, the process isn't that transparent either. But mostly it should work.

I will be trying to do that on a portion of the respective pnrs on which we are in the same class and in the same flight, indeed just to request to seat next to each other. I will accept that they will not let me do free seat allocation on the return leg. Perhpas you did not manage as the pax were in different cabins, or did they say they will seat pax together only if one is a GCH?

That's exactly what I am after. Is this a documented benefit or just past experience including for OWE? Thanks!

It's based on my own knowledge and the general FT knowledge, and it is documented here (with regard to TA bookings but applied to non TA bookings). Have you called yet?

https://www.britishairways.com/en-gb...licies/seating

What was the reason you don't expect to be able to do it on the return?