Well I finally got seats on my BA flights, but (after being transferred several times) it only happened because a BA Executive Club agent knew a work around (top secret!) whereby she put in a wheel chair request for me, then selected my seats, then cancelled the wheel chair request!

She said if someone offers me a wheel chair, to just say "no thanks".

In further BA.com frustration, I learn that you can reduce excess baggage fees 30% by pre-buying an extra piece, but when I try, at the final step it says "sorry this transaction can not be completed at this time". The same BA agent confirmed that this is because of some credit card advisory on Nairobi flights, and that due to this I'll have to pay my excess baggage at check in, where for sure they are going to want to collect the higher fee.

I have found that my QF number works but not AA. I will just change the QF number to AA number at check in. I should have two more DONE4 this year (likely to be my only BA flights) and I will test out further the problems that I have had with my AA number.

S

Having read this thread, I have a dilemma:

1) My SO and I are AA PLT
2) We booked (on the same PNR) to fly GLA-LGW-CFU and back again in Y on AA.com because BA.com does not accept payment by Visa Electron
3) We cannot select our seat in MMB
4) On the telephone, both AA and BA have confirmed our PLT/Sapphire status with "the Oneworld desk"
5) A BA CSA changed our booking to "medical request" and the following day I was able to call the freephone BAEC number and was allocated 3AB for the UK domestic flights
6) I am at this moment frustrated because:
a) I cannot select my seat for LGW-CFU and back again on MMB
b) I am not eligible for the Gatwick £59 CE upgrade because I booked the flights on AA.com and not BA.com

Does all the above sound a chord with anyone?

Can someone tell me in simple childlike steps the number I have to call to resolve the issue about BA not recognising our PLT status thereby being able to select our seats? Or can someone tell me for sure (because BA.com certainly does not have this information) that people travelling in ET cannot pre-select seats? AFAIK, BA.com says that OW Sapphire equivalents can pre-select. I take is AA PLT is now the equivalent of BAEC Blue as far as BA are concerned?!?!

Sorry to rant ... it's really p*ssing me off. BA have told me that I cannot get any upgrades or pre-selection with them because I booked my flights on AA.com and the tickets have been issued by AA - BA are merely the carrier - and that BA cannot do anything about it. AA can upgrade us to CE at a cost - quoted £496 total including change fees (which is slightly more than £59 per passenger per qualifying flight).

Can you detect the sarcasm in my post yet?

Here's hoping someone can point me in the right direction before I feel the urge to drive from MAN to LHR or wherever it is I have to drive to throttle the living daylights out of some poor unsuspecting person who really doesn't deserve it!

FWIW - I had no problems getting seats with my AA number when I flew in Feb.

Very strange: MMB has always worked for me when I made my booking on AA.com!

As I mentioned in Post #101, on a booking made by my Travel Agent, the BAEC contacted the One World help desk, who corrected the way my AA number was stored, and I could then select seats.

But on a subsequent booking with the same problem, BAEC reported that the One World help desk said that nothing could be done. They seemed surprised that I had managed to select seats on previous flights. So it may depend on who is on the One World help desk. Definitely worth citing that it can be done though.

On this occasion I did not press it as I am traveling with my wife on a different PNR who does not have status. I have found that if you OLCI 24 hours ahead there is a good choice of seats. As reported elsewhere you can use your AA booking reference by following the "Made a booking within the last 24 hours with a travel agent (not with British Airways)?" link.

Finally: thanks for drawing attention to the disadvantage of making a booking through AA (no cheap CE upgrade). I wonder whether that has been discussed on the BA forum, where many people use AA for bookings?

Horribly busy at w-o-r-k so I'll try to call BA later about sorting out our AA PLT numbers in our booking. Incidentally, I can access MMB - I just can't pre-assign seats or add any emergency contact details. Further, when clicking on the "at the airport" tab it doesn't mention anything about lounges at GLA or LGW - so I have absolutely no doubt in my mind now that while our AA numbers are visible on the booking, BA have no idea that we have OW Sapphire status.

Even when my AA number is recognized so that I can pre-assign seats, I still can't put my phone number in. At least BAEC can do this for you, while they generally can't do the seat assignment.

I still don't understand why your AA number did not get transferred from aa.com (the only thing that has worked reliably for me!). Possibly something to do with having two people on a PNR?

Can you try using checkmytrip.com using the BA confirmation code to verify your AA PLT number is there? You should see Frequent flyer: British Airways - AAxxxxxx at the very top, if not, call BA. MMB will sometimes display the number even if it's not put in the record correctly, but won't allow seat assignments if it's not correct (under "British Airways").

After figuring out the Amadeus reservation number is the BA booking reference number and not the AA record locator - this is what is displayed:

Traveler: Dxxxx Mxxxxxxx
Frequent flyer: British Airways - AAxxxxxxx

Traveler 2: ALEKSxxxx Zxxxxxxx
Frequent flyer: British Airways - AAxxxxxxx

Reservation code: xxxxxx
Reference: British Airways - NOSYNC

MMB currently shows:

1) We have been pre-assigned seats on GLA-LGW and LGW-GLA and "seat change available at check in"

2) Our flights LGW-CFU and CFU-LGW show "seat choice available at check in"

3) No hint of lounge access showing on "at the airport" tab

It may be worth sending BA Nick an email, because this sounds like the sort of bug they were looking into back then. Haven't read through the entire thread to see if the email address is still operational, but it's worth a shot.

Thanks for that, I've e-mailed the ba.com address that BA Nick provided in his thread - see where that gets me.

The situation gets more and more curious. BA now tell me that I cannot pre-assign my seat because the flights in question (LGW-CFU and CFU-LGW) are operated by GB Airways (not BA mainline) and that I cannot pre-assign seats for that reason. This is bizarre because I'm sitting looking at the seat map for flight BA6780 on 2 May and can clearly see seats already pre-assigned (I subscribe to EF).

I don't find it bizarre at all; hapens all the time with all airlines (wait till you try with IB).

Not sure that I believe that: but the BA forum probably knows.

I would suggest giving BA a call and asking them to remove and re-enter your FF number and verify the status is showing in the booking. You should then be able to choose seats . The "seat choice available at check in" is likely due to status not showing

Dave