pythonisman

I've got a query on a couple of bookings I've had made for me through our corporate TA.

I'm flying to/from Europe later this month for work with BA. Our company policy is cheapest economy (which is fine, I will be HBO etc) but I wanted to take advantage of my Oneworld Emerald (QF Platinum) status to select seats ahead of time, ideally to get an exit row seat, which are available on the flights booked.

The TA has made the booking and applied my Qantas frequent flyer number correctly, I can see them in my Qantas app, but when trying to select seats, BA is prompting me to pay. Ordinarily BA flights, including those made via Amex Travel I have no issues with free seat selection.

I noticed that the TA has booked me in using my full name (the ticket is issued in SURNAME/FIRST MIDDLE Mr) and I'm guessing my middle name might be throwing things out (It is in my Qantas account, but years ago I was told to leave out the middle name on bookings to prevent this type of problem).

Is there any self-service way of remedying this, or if I do call BA, is it something they will entertain? (Or will they refuse to touch a TA ticket?)

It's not the end of the world, I assume/hope that worst case at the airport I'll be able to get my status recognised for access to the first wing etc, but it would be nice to be able to select a seat in advance!

Appreciate any insight or thoughts here. I tried searching but wasn't able to find someone who had a similar issue in the past

JAXBA

The difference in name might be causing the QF number not to validate status correctly on BA's side. Try calling BA and seeing if deleting and adding it back works. They won't be touching the tkt, just updating the frequent flyer number. If it still won't populate your status, then it probably is the middle name as suspected. Perfectly fine to fly with, but annoying for getting your status benefit up front.

In future, either don't use your middle name on bookings, or add it to your QF account so it'll match bookings made by your TA. It's usually best not to include middle names in the main name field; that can go in with any passport/advance passenger data needed.

pythonisman

Cheers, I’ll give them a call and see what luck I have it any.

I had no real choice in the way the booking was made in terms of which names the agent used, but could/will request in future that only first/last are used and see if that works.

My QFF account does have my middle name, so I suspect it’s more down to the way some part of the process has registered it and something not matching up. I’ll report back if I have any luck, but I’m expecting to wait until OLCI opens at this point. The flights are only an hour so it’s not super important I avoid a middle seat in the rear of the plane - neither flight is a NEO at this stage!

pythonisman

Not wanting to pull too much focus on this one, but also wanting to report back.
I called BA and spoke to someone friendly but incredibly unhelpful / computer says no. "The only thing I can do is tell you if your flight is cancelled, delayed, or which seats you can pick and how much that will cost".
Flat out refused to remove my FF number and reapply it.

It did get me thinking about alternatives though, and so went to RJ's website and removed my FF number (which it allowed), then returned to BA MMB and added it back in. For some reason this time round it's pulled my status in and let me pick preferred seats for free- happy days!

In future I'll try and flag to our facilities team (who I need to go through to then liaise with the TA- yes, bit of a nightmare) that if they can book the ticket in first & last name only that would be ideal.

Thanks for your help!