And I'm sure that the Finnair PNR did not work and the 3K PNR was not communicated.

I flew DRW-SIN on 3K, sold as AY, last October, and booked a seat (and paid for it) on the 3K website. I believe I used the AY PNR to log into MMB but am not 100 % sure anymore.

I just tried on an upcoming booking. AY PNR works and 3K PNR shows after logging in with the AY PNR. Easy process.

Then I can only assume that the system was updated to accept Amadeus PNR's on 3K side.

I'm somewhat confused about these ongoing issues and questions around OW seat assignments with AY codeshares. The strange thing is that for my recent (AY codes, AY tickets) codeshares with BA there is a different record locator for BA, the AY one won't work. For another booking where mix of 3 = AY/AA/BA (again, all AY coded) there's then the 3rd for AA, as always. Maybe my memory is fading too fast but I remember in the past the same PNR worked for both AY & BA. Anyway, as long as one has got the correct PNRs, the seat selection is very smooth. AY chat is very quick way of obtaining the correct PNRs when needed. The automatic links never seem to work so but entering the _correct_ PNR manually = always works.

1H2017.

Has anyone booked QR metal flights with AY codes? I am thinking of doing this as it is several hundred euros cheaper (in Y) than with QR codes.

Does (free) seat selection work on the QR-operated legs if I have an AY flight number?

I've had several in the past 12 months.

When QR operated the HEL flights themselves, there was no issue at all selecting the seats. The AY PNR worked in QR MMB and seats could be selected just like it would be a QR booking. Also selecting PE seats on the ex-CX 77W's was complimentary as OWE. AY-ticketed customers on QR could also access Plaza Premium in HEL (which I enjoyed when the Plat Wing was still closed).

Once there was a schedule change, when QR reduced their frequencies to HEL, and I got auto-rebooked on the flight from DOH to HEL 24 hours later with a 26 h layover in DOH. AY WhatsApp was able the change all of my flights (I moved the whole trip by one day), but they said that QR is stingy in changes like this and they have to contact the "other department" to check if the change can be done. They got back to me a few hours later and I got the flights I had asked for.

I'm right now having the first trip where the HEL flights are operated by Finnair. I bought the ticket right after the AY co-operation was announced, so the systems hadn't yet been updated with the new flights and I could select seats for the whole itinerary on QR MMB (with the HEL flights still showing the seat map of a QR 788). After the HEL flights were changed to AY in the systems, I went to AY MMB and selected seats for the AY flights. I then waitlisted for an upgrade on the inbound AY flight. Then there was a minor inconvenience: QR changed the schedule and aircraft type on one of their flights, making me lose my pre-assigned seat. The flight time was moved by 3 hours, moving it from right before midnight to shortly after midnight. Well, AY systems decided to keep me on the same flight of my original booking date, i.e. moved me to a flight taking place 21 hours earlier (as the system thought it's the same flight I booked, it's still AY6xxx on Feb x'th) and giving me a 27 h layover in DOH. AY WhatsApp was able to move me to the flight with the same flight number 24 h later. I have a Y Flex ticket and to my surprise the agent informed me that the flight is now 20 euros cheaper, so she refunded me the difference. I tried then going to QR MMB to select seats on the new flight. I could see the seat maps for the QR flights, but saving the seat selection was not possible. I don't know whether it's because some of the flights are AY operated or because I have a waitlisted upgrade on the last flight. Well, I contacted AY WhatsApp to assign me my preferred seat (which I had looked up on the seat map in QR MMB) and they could do it.

Thanks for a very comprehensive reply! It looks like I will be fine.

I went ahead and booked flights to SEZ. All with AY codes. For the QR legs, I was able to assign any seat, including extra legroom seats, for free, on the QR website. :tu:

Enjoy SEZ!

I'm getting off-topic here, but out of interest I checked what the flights to SEZ cost nowadays from HEL. Seems that the prices on AY start from about 1000 e. As a comparison, I went to SEZ in March 2019 with Mrs. r2d2 and I just checked that the flights on BA were 922 e total for the two of us. Back then I regretted buying that fare, because a few weeks later they sold the same flights in J for about 1200 e pp.

Thanks! 1200 in J would have been a steal! Yeah, I paid 1003 EUR. Y Classic. I think the price is okay considering current price levels, and the QR leg is only 4+ hours so Y will be just fine. :tu: One can always hope that there are few OWEs on this route and that Y is heavily overbooked ;)

After booking a WAW-JFK in eco with AY via AA website, I went to AY app to make seat reservations. The flight was scheduled with A350, however the seat map in app and on the website clearly showed A330 layout.
AY’s CS agent I contacted via live chat feature confirmed that the leg is indeed flown on A350 and offered make a seat selection for me. According to him, the issue was caused by booking via AA.
He asked me, whether I fancied an extra legroom seat, I however opted for a regular window+middle seats since I couldn’t justify a ~200€ fee. Surprisingly I ended up with row 41 booked and an invoice for a regular seat. :D
I hope it was AY’s courtesy and not an agent’s mistake.

Funnily enough, the equipment got eventually changed to A330, but the seat reservations remained, and the row 41 is the exit row there as well.