Advance Seat Selection on AA?

[suey]

Hi, I have a combined QF/AA booking that has 5 AA flights on it and I went to the booking through my normal QF bookings page to select seats and all those flights are coming up with seat selection unavailable...

Given that I am now a WP, is there anyway to select seats in advance - I really want to try nab a bulkhead if possible especially on the long tokyo to chicago and return flights...

Is there a way to choose seats in advance, or do I just have to check in early and hope I can get good seats? Also, when I checked the seat maps on expert flyer, some of the seats were marked as Premium seats - what is the story with those? Do you qualify for those as a WP or are they for AA platinums or do you pay a premium?

Thanks

 

[Mal]

Try going to www.checkmytrip.com, enter your Qantas PNR (booking) reference and your surname.

Scroll down your booking, what you are after is the AA airline reference. Should be a similar set of characters.

You should then be able to use that on https://www.aa.com/ website through their Manage Booking system and select seats.

If that doesn't work, then call Qantas and ask for your AA booking reference and try the steps above. They also may be able to select seats for you over the phone.

I'm not sure if a WP can access Bulkhead seats on AA, but worth a try.

 

[Princess Fiona]

Hi Suey, I tried all of the above options with a similar booking to yours but due to my flights being on QF 081 ticket numbers I was unable to select seats online either AA or QF sites and QF couldn't do so for me. I ended up calling AA with EF open on screen in front of me and asking them for the seats I wanted.
Good Luck

 

[nonpop]

To me, this is a classic case of code sharing gone wrong. If Qantas want to save costs by code sharing, then IMHO they should take some of the saving and make 'their' systems talk to the 'other' systems so we can select seats where status / fare structure allows.

This really is one of my pet hates. I want to pick the seat I want and to ensure I'm not sitting next to the toilet or in a mid-seat. May be this is part of my reason I'm also adding other carriers to the mix and now taking up the Virgin status match challenge.

 

[mark299]

Can't agree more.

I am in the same situation. Travelling to USA, with two AA flights. I was able to pick seats on one flight and not the other.

They need to also fix this with some of the Qantas domestic flights that say your flight is not eligible for seat selection.

 

[serfty]

Try going to www.checkmytrip.com, enter your Qantas PNR (booking) reference and your surname.

Scroll down your booking, what you are after is the AA airline reference. Should be a similar set of characters.

You should then be able to use that on https://www.aa.com/ website through their Manage Booking system and select seats.

If that doesn't work, then call Qantas and ask for your AA booking reference and try the steps above. They also may be able to select seats for you over the phone.
I'm not sure if a WP can access Bulkhead seats on AA, but worth a try.

This old version of 'check my trip' may work better:

• http://classic.checkmytrip.com/

To the OP - are your AA metal flights on on AA flight numbers or QF codeshares?

 

[ozbeachbabe]

To me, this is a classic case of code sharing gone wrong. If Qantas want to save costs by code sharing, then IMHO they should take some of the saving and make 'their' systems talk to the 'other' systems so we can select seats where status / fare structure allows.

This really is one of my pet hates. I want to pick the seat I want and to ensure I'm not sitting next to the toilet or in a mid-seat. May be this is part of my reason I'm also adding other carriers to the mix and now taking up the Virgin status match challenge.

I don't think it's a case of code sharing gone wrong as I don't believe the sectors referred to eg NRT/ORD are booked as a codeshare QF flight number but are booked as an AA flight number.

As Princess Fiona said just call up AA & have them allocate the seats for you. Not sure whether you would be able to access the AA preferred seats being a OWE or whether that's just for AA premium pax - either way I'm sure the call centre will tell you. You should still have a reasonable choice of seats in any case.

Too often I see people checking in for flights to the US with connecting flights on AA, not having preallocated any seats beforehand & there's often only middle seats left on the AA flights as the airline seems to allow the majority of the pax to pre-allocate their seats. The minute you do the AA booking ring them & get your seats assigned.

 

[Ewing]

This old version of 'check my trip' may work better:

• http://classic.checkmytrip.com/

Oh thank you. I hate the new version but didn't realise there was still a way to get to the old one (although now that you mention it I see there's a link in the footer).

 

[suey]

They are AA flights, just showing up on my QF booking...

My reference isn't working, so I will ring up the call centre in the morning...

Given the length of the flights, the last thing I want is a 12 hr journey in a middle seat in row of 5 so will get this sorted ASAP! thanks for the help

 

[serfty]

See mal's advce on getting your AA SABRE booking reference from "check my trip" or simply call AA (in Oz and get them to tell you.)

The go to AA.com and endeavour to select seats online.

 

[codash1099]

Hmm. CMT doesn't seem to show the Sabre reference, nor does it show anything other than Amadeus flights.

However, got hold of the reference from Travelport, but AA will only allow Manage my Trip for seats booked on their site. I don't believe that was the case a few months ago. And AA.com automatically loads the Australian site, which may be part of the problem.

Any thoughts out there?

 

[codash1099]

Hmm. CMT doesn't seem to show the Sabre reference, nor does it show anything other than Amadeus flights.

However, got hold of the reference from Travelport, but AA will only allow Manage my Trip for seats booked on their site. I don't believe that was the case a few months ago. And AA.com automatically loads the Australian site, which may be part of the problem.

Any thoughts out there?

Don't worry about it. I found a way onto aa.com and was able to select seats there.

Seems strange that it can't be done on the Australian site.

 

[N860CR]

I've managed to allocate seats on JFK-LAX via aa.com using the AA booking reference.

Very interestingly... I have a number of OneWorld sectors booked through Qantas are part of a OneWorld Award ticket. A few would not let me allocate seats - MA (Malev) don't have online seat selection and CX don't let you pick seats more than 180 days out.

However, I logged onto finnair.com of all places, loaded my booking using the QF booking reference and could allocate seats on 3 CX flights and 3 MA flights.

 

[Kceips]

We are flying on qantas ticketed lone4 in dec/jan. I had no problems logging on to the AA website - simply entered the AA confirmation number/surname that was printed next to the appropriate flights on the printout given to me by flight centre. I could then select seats. I note that seat selection for these flights don't appear if I check flights on QF website nor on the check my trip program. Similarly i was able to get seat allocation for CX flights on their website using the CX confirmation number printed on the same e ticket details from flight centre. - again the seats only appear on CX website but not qantas or check my trip sites. Good Luck.

 

[jenib]

I recently booked a flight on AA's australian site and could not get seats for my family together. On another site it showed that seats were available for premum passengers. I am QFF WP/OW E. I rang AA and they happily allocated seats for me from the premium seats.

 

[dk4]

IMO AA needs to act quickly to deal with their archaic .com.au solution for Australian (Asia/Pacific) customers, before Delta complete embarrasses them.

Aside from a lack of seat selection prior to payment and noting 1W status, AA's.au site is very happy to book you into Coach seats when you requesting business/first, and not bothering to inform you.

Over at Delta, their full service .com website is prepared to take Australian credit cards AND Australian billing addresses. While it is not integrated with Velocity in the same way in which AA's .com is with QFF, I note that Virgin advises it is working on this (which is urgently required for "choice" seat selection and baggage reasons, for those travelling Coach on DL with VFF status).

 

[Kefci2000]

Don't worry about it. I found a way onto aa.com and was able to select seats there.

Seems strange that it can't be done on the Australian site.

Once you have the AA reference the AA ipad app is very handy for seat selection etc (could do things on it that I could not on their website)