Last edit by: WineCountryUA
Star Alliance is working on a system that will allow seat assignments on partner flights, still in limited beta
one example,
Singapore seat selection available on UA.COM
Related thread: Finding the partner flight PNR
AC - Air Canada seat assignments when booked with UA
TG - Thai Airlines seat assignments when booked with UA
LH - No Lufthansa Advance Discount Economy Seat Selection on UA Ticket Stock
Seat Reservations on LH flights when booked through UA [merged]
LH - New LH Policy: No Advance Seat Assignments on Codehsares, Including Paid J
LX - No Swiss advance economy seat selection with United ticket stock
Picking seat for ANA flight when booked thru United
Seat assignments need to (generally) done on the operating carrier's website.
one example,
Singapore seat selection available on UA.COM
Related thread: Finding the partner flight PNR
AC - Air Canada seat assignments when booked with UA
TG - Thai Airlines seat assignments when booked with UA
LH - No Lufthansa Advance Discount Economy Seat Selection on UA Ticket Stock
Seat Reservations on LH flights when booked through UA [merged]
LH - New LH Policy: No Advance Seat Assignments on Codehsares, Including Paid J
LX - No Swiss advance economy seat selection with United ticket stock
Picking seat for ANA flight when booked thru United
Seat assignments need to (generally) done on the operating carrier's website.
- You will need the operating carrier's PNR (note for the LH Group, UA's PNR will work)
- You can get the operating carrier's PNR from your UA reservation, by calling UA or by calling the operating carrier.
- Additionally, you likely will need passenger's name info -- this can be tricky for some as various parts of the name, middle name, suffix, prefix, .. can be concatenated.
- Some carriers charge for seat assignments and if the flight is a UA codeshare this may create a problem
- The seat assignment may not be reflected on the UA reservation
- If the above does not work, some have has success calling or tweeting the operating carrier
Getting seat assignments on partner (Star Alliance) flights with UA tickets?
#46
Join Date: Jun 2010
Location: Portland, OR, USA (PDX)
Programs: MileagePlus (Gold)
Posts: 24
Choosing seats on partner booking
Hi all,
I'm flying SEA-SFO-ZRH on 9/30. SEA-SFO is of course UA and SFO-ZRH is on Swiss. I can't seem to choose my seats on Swiss as I've been able to do on Lufthansa. I typically copy my "other" confirmation number from my reservation and plug it in along w/ my first & last name on the partner carrier's site. Swiss.com returns an error saying "The status of your reservation does not allow viewing the reservation online (58063)."
Does anyone know if this changes at any point before checkin? I'm kind of a seat picking freak.
Thanks!
I'm flying SEA-SFO-ZRH on 9/30. SEA-SFO is of course UA and SFO-ZRH is on Swiss. I can't seem to choose my seats on Swiss as I've been able to do on Lufthansa. I typically copy my "other" confirmation number from my reservation and plug it in along w/ my first & last name on the partner carrier's site. Swiss.com returns an error saying "The status of your reservation does not allow viewing the reservation online (58063)."
Does anyone know if this changes at any point before checkin? I'm kind of a seat picking freak.
Thanks!
#48
A FlyerTalk Posting Legend
Join Date: Sep 2002
Location: LAX/TPE
Programs: United 1K, JAL Sapphire, SPG Lifetime Platinum, National Executive Elite, Hertz PC, Avis PC
Posts: 42,200
Many airlines do not allow online seat selection if a flight is not booked on their website. Air Canada, Asiana are two examples - now you found another. Just call the partner, give them the confirmation and they will assign you seats - which should miraculously show up on your UA reservation when viewed online after the records have a chance to sync.
#49
Formally known as reinmedia
Join Date: Jun 2006
Location: Los Angeles | Honolulu
Programs: AA EXP | EX UA 1K | Marriot Titanium
Posts: 363
I've had this issue a few times and it has always been resolved by calling Swiss reservation line and selecting my seat assignment that way
#50
Moderator: United Airlines
Join Date: Jun 2007
Location: SFO
Programs: UA Plat 1.995MM, Hyatt Discoverist, Marriott Plat/LT Gold, Hilton Silver, IHG Plat
Posts: 66,850
Many airlines do not allow online seat selection if a flight is not booked on their website. Air Canada, Asiana are two examples - now you found another. Just call the partner, give them the confirmation and they will assign you seats - which should miraculously show up on your UA reservation when viewed online after the records have a chance to sync.
#51
Suspended
Join Date: Mar 2012
Programs: US CP ; LH FTL ; *G
Posts: 1,630
Incorrect. You definitely CAN choose your seats online on OZ regardless of where you booked. You may need the ticket # though.
#52
Join Date: Feb 2009
Location: SJC/PIT
Programs: AA EXP, AS 75K, TK Elite
Posts: 519
Calling always worked for LX/AC/OZ. Anyway it's a good practice to call the partner to make sure they can see your ticket, as has been said many times here.
#53
Join Date: Apr 2010
Location: ORD
Programs: AA, UA, GE
Posts: 5,123
You have to call on TG as well.
^
From my experience you have to call after the initial reservation any time you cannot get the other airline confirmation number from UA.
And you must call if you cannot use the confirmation number on the other airline website.
From my experience you have to call after the initial reservation any time you cannot get the other airline confirmation number from UA.
And you must call if you cannot use the confirmation number on the other airline website.
#54
FlyerTalk Evangelist
Join Date: Oct 2006
Location: SFO/SJC
Programs: UA Silver, Marriott Gold, Hilton Gold
Posts: 14,884
Back to the OP though - yes, just call the operating carrier to get seats assigned. I have an upcoming UA itin with NH operating a TPAC segment (UA codeshare) - in this case, NH doesn't even allow me to see info. online with their own confirmation. However, a quick call got us seats.
#55
Join Date: Sep 2009
Location: Bay Area, CA
Programs: UA Gold
Posts: 224
I booked an award ticket a couple weeks ago on OZ and have no problem selecting my seat on the OZ website using my UA ticket number.
#57
Moderator: United Airlines
Join Date: Jun 2007
Location: SFO
Programs: UA Plat 1.995MM, Hyatt Discoverist, Marriott Plat/LT Gold, Hilton Silver, IHG Plat
Posts: 66,850
understand on the AC online limitation but in the past PMUA you could call -- multiple AC agents have told me that is no longer true for the new UA (as it was also not possible for PMCO).
#58
Join Date: Dec 2010
Location: YEG
Programs: AC*SE, Marriott Plat, Natl Exec, NEXUS
Posts: 437
AC did an update to their site last month that now allows many non-aircanada.com bookings to update their seats. There have been reports of inconsistency on which source sites are allowed to do this, but it's worth a shot trying now if you had given up in the past because of AC's limitations.
#59
Moderator: United Airlines
Join Date: Jun 2007
Location: SFO
Programs: UA Plat 1.995MM, Hyatt Discoverist, Marriott Plat/LT Gold, Hilton Silver, IHG Plat
Posts: 66,850
#60
Join Date: Aug 2005
Location: Ottawa, Canada
Programs: UA 1K 1MM, AC, VIPorter, Marriott LT Plat, HH Diamond
Posts: 368
On its lowest ("Tango") fares in North America, AC doesn't allow advance seat selection to anyone, regardless of booking channel, without a fee. So perhaps this is why you ran into problems.
Most AC fares between Canada and the US are at the "Tango Plus" level which allow advance seat selection, but some of the more "leisure"-type destinations do have the Tango fares. (Note also that Tango fares in North America earn 0 Mileage Plus miles, so you really want to avoid them).
Warning: I generally find that I have to wait about 30-45 minutes on hold before I get to speak to an AC agent. Very frustrating when all you need is seat selection.