Johnk123

Hi All,

For many years I've had American Airlines Platinum (or platinum pro) status. However a lot of my journeys are within Europe, and I've been looking recently at changing to BA status instead. I am pretty sure I'll easily get Silver within a year, however is there any way of still using my AA status advantages (free extra bags, priority check-in, lounge access) while accumulating the BA tier points needed?

Thanks
John

irishguy28

Yes; carry your AA status card with you and use that to enter lounges, get luggage extras, etc.

Johnk123

Thanks
Next part, I get free seat choice through my current status when managing the booking. Is there a way of putting my AA number on the system for that part, then changing to BA number afterwards?

Thanks
John

trueblu

Yes, you can book your ticket with your AA number attached, choose your seat etc, and then change FF number at some point prior to departure. The problem is, that if you change the FF# before T-72 or check-in, you may lose your seating assignment. But if you leave it too late, it's possible that the change "doesn't stick" or go through and you end up crediting to AA. To be fair, my personal experience is from a while ago: I've had both happen years ago when I was trying to do the opposite: I was BA silver but trying to get AA status.

tb

corporate-wage-slave

Welcome to Flyertalk and welcome to the BA forum Johnk123, it's good to see you here.

So long as you regard this as "best endeavours" exercise, which won't always work reliably, then you should be able to fudge your way through this for the year in question. One key resource for BA bookings (that's to say made via BA) and also some other Amadeus based airlines (so not AA) is the Finnair website, which generally allows you to swap your frequent flyer card over. It's not 100% consistent, so I would always ask at the airport that you credit the flight to the right scheme. There are actually two fields in Amadeus (and presumably SABRE) which allow a card for crediting flight, and another for benefits such as seat selection, but unless you have access to a real human travel agent it's difficult to get this properly populated.

rfrost

I’ve had considerable difficulty switching FF numbers midstream. In my case, I hold status in both, but sometimes did not know at booking which program I wanted to credit, and it was also a lot quicker to book on the BA website using my BAEC number.
i did always manage to get the flights credited as I wished after flying, but it was a headache. And I did encounter some verbiage from both BA and AA about their first checking that I had not received any benefit from using the program number from which I was trying to switch. So while your mileage may vary (as we say here), just be prepared that it may not work out as you wish.

Johnk123

Thanks all.

I'll start trying to work it out in the new year, especially on any flights within Europe. Reason for switching is that it seems like I get better returns on those flights with BA tier points than I do with American. Unfortunately long haul seems to work the other way, but I do far fewer of them.

Guess worst case I have to use the phone and talk with customer services (which has always seemed to be a pain)

Thanks
John