Used FF flier miles for booking

[rwdtgb]

We booked on AA. com a one way flight from Athens back to Orlando for next October on British Airways equipment. Can we call BA and pay for the our seat assignments ( or do we call AA) we are traveling in club world. Thanks for your help. We have an American airlines booking number and I can look up my flights on AA.com not on BA

 

Tom

[Gardyloo]

We booked on AA. com a one way flight from Athens back to Orlando for next October on British Airways equipment. Can we call BA and pay for the our seat assignments ( or do we call AA) we are traveling in club world. Thanks for your help. We have an American airlines booking number and I can look up my flights on AA.com not on BA

 

Tom

Phone AA and ask for the BA record locator (different from AA's.) Then log onto BA's website, go to "manage my booking," and you can pick seats (for a fee.) Or phone BA and suffer through the hold music and probably a bit of a runaround.

[frugaltravel]

Phone AA and ask for the BA record locator (different from AA's.) Then log onto BA's website, go to "manage my booking," and you can pick seats (for a fee.) Or phone BA and suffer through the hold music and probably a bit of a runaround.

 

BA charges for seat assignments even in Club World! Wow. And I thought Delta was bad with some things!

[Gardyloo]

BA charges for seat assignments even in Club World! Wow. And I thought Delta was bad with some things!

Unless you have Oneworld Sapphire (AA Platinum, BA Silver) FF status or higher. BA doesn't miss a trick.

[frugaltravel]

Unless you have Oneworld Sapphire (AA Platinum, BA Silver) FF status or higher. BA doesn't miss a trick.

 

Between that and their fuel surcharges (or whatever they want to call them), it is no wonder I haven't flown BA business class since probably 1990!

[fbgd]

BA charges for seat assignments even in Club World! Wow. And I thought Delta was bad with some things!

 

There are quite a few categoriies of people who get free assignments. Buy a full fare or semi-flexible fare and it's gratis.

 

I actually applaud the seat assignment fees. I get them free but when booking at short notice it really makes a difference in terms of getting one of the better seats.

 

BA makes its money off the premium cabins and the short notice premium cabin travellers paying the highest fares were ending up with the crappy seat assignments because those booking way out, typically on much more discounted fares were scooping up the better seats first.

 

I think it's a sound strategy

[rwdtgb]

Thank You Gardyloo

[frugaltravel]

BA makes its money off the premium cabins and the short notice premium cabin travellers paying the highest fares were ending up with the crappy seat assignments because those booking way out, typically on much more discounted fares were scooping up the better seats first.

 

You already said it - BA makes its money off the premium cabins. But they want to make even more money off them by charging people for seat assignments in Club World (international).

 

Crappy seats in Club World? DYKWIA or something? Anyone would take a Club World seat over any coach seat (well almost anyone, maybe not you if you prefer a less crappy CW seat!). And how much are Club World fares discounted? Not all that much and when so, not nearly like the fare differences in coach.

Edited December 10, 2015 by frugaltravel

[pdx13]

Since our FF miles are limited to few choices for traveling to Europe we have chosen BA, despite the ridiculous fuel surcharge, and flown First Class using our miles. For some reason BA seems to have the best selection for availability. Emirates is also an option which I would love to try just for the experience, but similar itineraries require substantially more miles. We figure we are just very lucky to be able to fly FC. BA also seems to have many options for Business and premium economy to Europe. We have received excellent service with BA, but don't have too much to compare it to.

[diane.in.ny]

We have international business class seats booked with AA miles. The only itinerary I could get online was using BA with fees around $700 per person.

 

Called AA and got routing on AA ... not as convenient as the BA flights but for $1,400 I'll take a bit of inconvenience.

 

So my question is ... we have a BA leg out of Gatwick. We are flying business class and I was planning on calling BA for our seat assignments. However, if I understand this thread correctly, we'll have to pay for those assignments?

 

And can anyone tell me how much?

[JVilleGal]

On BA even in Business I didn't think you could get seats until 24 hrs prior ???

[pdx13]

We have international business class seats booked with AA miles. The only itinerary I could get online was using BA with fees around $700 per person.

 

Called AA and got routing on AA ... not as convenient as the BA flights but for $1,400 I'll take a bit of inconvenience.

 

So my question is ... we have a BA leg out of Gatwick. We are flying business class and I was planning on calling BA for our seat assignments. However, if I understand this thread correctly, we'll have to pay for those assignments?

 

And can anyone tell me how much?

 

I am no expert on the subject, but with our reservation, I can look it up on BA's website. We were able to pick our FC seats free, but the connection in Business they want $34. Since there are only 8 seats in business and all rows 2x2 I will be surprised if they split up my wife and I and I didn't want to pay another $64 to pick the seats.

[Gardyloo]

And can anyone tell me how much?

Depends on the route. For intra-Europe, probably somewhere between £15 and £24 (say $22 to $35.)

 

On BA even in Business I didn't think you could get seats until 24 hrs prior ???

You can if you pay.

[diane.in.ny]

Interesting.

 

I think we'll wait until we get to Gatwick and wing it, so to speak. :D

[TMLAalum]

Thinking outside the box for our cruise next year in/out of Amsterdam, we used our AA miles (30k economy mile level pp) to fly AirBerlin to Berlin, where we will spend 3 nights. From there we'll take a train to Prague for 2 nights and from Prague fly Easyjet to Amsterdam for 2 nights pre-cruise.

 

All this extra travel to cities we've not yet visited for less than the r/t fees by going thru London!!

 

Our return from AMS is on Finnair via HEL ot ORD to CLE again at the 30k level. The departure time for this itinerary is 11:55 am and at a better time than flights connecting through LHR.

 

Economy to Europe is fine for us. Once we get our US carrier booking #, I call the partner airline for their # which typically differs. Our Finnair seats were assigned without charge. We will have to pay a fee to reserve our AirBerlin seats. Both airlines have the 2x4x2 economy cabin configuration which we prefer.

 

We've been very lucky in our overseas travels using ff miles. Looking forward to our 1st/business AA 62.5k flights to AKL next month on AA & Qantas, and our return from SYD using UA miles at the 80k level in lay flat Business seats on AirCanada 2 class planes.

Edited December 12, 2015 by TMLAalum