Reconfirming Int'l Flights
 

I have a question. Recently I was in Istanbul and holding a single ticket from Istanbul to Boston, using BA to Heathrow and AA trans-Atlantic. Two days before the flight, I asked my hotel concierge to reconfirm the flights for me. Although this was not a code-share, I assumed that the oneworld "everything is seamless" concept would apply.

Wrong. The concierge called BA in Istanbul and they were able to reconfirm the BA segment but said they couldn't reconfirm the AA flight. Isn't this very basic function something that BA could/should have done? If the oneworld alliance can't solve problems like this, what's the use?

SEAM - LESS - I am 0 for 5 in having my bags successfully transfer from AA transatlantic to BA European service - all with connect time of 2 HOURS or MORE - kazman

Just wondering if anyone knows if AA reqires you to reconfirm an international flight nowadays. You don't have to reconfirm domestic. We were in Australia in July and I called Qantas to reconfirm our return to the U.S. They told me it wasn't necessary to reconfirm any more. Is this just Qantas who does this?

[This message has been edited by Nanook (edited 09-11-1999).]

BA only requires reconfirmation from Terhan and Beijing (ISTR).

I've actually reconfirmed (internationally) only to be told that "You don't have to!" - more than once. Yet because of codes shares and potential problems I generally always try to reconfirm and check my seat assignment as well!

Good point Doc - it is a good chance to try for a better seat, to ensure a FF number is in there, to check on a special meal, etc.

I was going to add to my original post that I suspect that it isn't really necessary to reconfirm flights anymore, but I still think it's a good idea. Perhaps someone with familiarity with the res system could tell us if this "check-off" makes any difference in the computer systems for most airlines?

In this particular case, I was glad to have reconfirmed. I was staying at the Four Seasons Istanbul and it only took a minute to ask the concierge to take care of it. Less than 12 hours after he did it, the suburbs east of the city were hit by the 17 August earthquake. Our flight was not until 30 hours after the quake but the airport was jammed with people -- the BA flight appeared to be oversold. Although I suspect most of these passengers did not reconfirm their flight, it was an added insurance I was glad to have on this partcular day.

But I still can't figure out why BA and AA don't communicate with each other on this.