American Airlines Seat Selection

[JohnK]

I got them all right.Given you 2440
AA420-8AB,9-14 every seat,13,14 exit
AA4496 1-4A,6,7,9-12 BC
AA325 9-11 and 13,15 AB.Rows10-31 CDE
looks like you are OK on the last one-a-3,6,9-15.BC 4,5,6,9-15

Thanks drron. That is a lot of available seats that are unavailable to a Oneworld Emerald. :shock: And people were complaining that they could not get good seats on QF flights as AA Executive Platinums. AA appears to be treating other Oneworld Emeralds worse than QF treats other Oneworld Emeralds.

I don't mind as long as I get to keep the current pre-allocated seats without having them changed again. And still no feasible explanation, other than me being jinxed, on why my pre-allocated seats were changed twice....

 

[Dave Noble]

Anyway Dave I think you have missed the point.

Obviously according to you and the other experts it is quite OK to pre-allocate seats (not premium seats) for 2 people on the one booking and then have these pre-allocated seats changed twice so that the 2 people on the one booking are sitting at opposite ends of the cabin. I should be just grateful that I even have a(ny) seat on the flights....

This is not an uncommon occurrence with AA ( and even happens with QF occasionally ) ; any minor change they may make to a flight and the assignments get lost and then new seats allocated

It happens. having a go at a booking agent is not going to get them to kick someone out of a seat and move someone

Even QF clearly states that seat assignments are never guaranteed

 

[serfty]

Booking and Holding AA2440 on 24/8 I see the following seating available to this QF WP:

 

[JohnK]

Booking and Holding AA2440 on 24/8 I see the following seating available to this QF WP:

Sorry I have no idea how to paste the seat map I see but here is what is available to me for the same flight

10E
11E
12AE
13A
14EF
15AEF
16AD
18DEF
19DEF
22DEF
23F
24DEF
25DEF
26DEF
27D
28DEF
29DEF
30DEF
31DEF

It is quite clear that the "so-called premium seats" are not available to me.

 

[drron]

The seat map for an AA plat is exactly the same as serftys for AA2440

 

[JohnK]

Perhaps it is not recognising that fact that I am a Oneworld Emerald, my Qantas FF number is in the booking, or I do not have access to the premium seats as I have a non-status member in the same booking.

I may call AA again tomorrow and ask them if my Qantas FF number has been entered into the booking properly. Still does not explain why my pre-allocated seats have been changed twice.

 

[serfty]

You may ask AA to completely remove your FF number from the booking. Then, once you have verified it is gone, you should be able to re-insert it yourself online. About 15 minutes after you do that, you should be able to access the preferred seating.

 

[JohnK]

Hopefully it is as easy as you explain.

I entered my QFF number on the AA website back in March/April. It would be interesting to know why my status hasn't filtered through to the booking?

 

[v8Statesman]

Perhaps it is not recognising that fact that I am a Oneworld Emerald, my Qantas FF number is in the booking,

How many digits is your QF number? Mine is 6. I have to enter a 7 digit number into AA (0xx_xx_) to get it to see I am EMD.

 

[JohnK]

How many digits is your QF number? Mine is 6. I have to enter a 7 digit number into AA (0xx_xx_) to get it to see I am EMD.

I have a 7 digit QFF number. I can clearly see it is in the booking on the AA website but there is no mention of status and clearly the premium seats are blocked for me.

 

[Flashback]

I have a 7 digit QFF number. I can clearly see it is in the booking on the AA website but there is no mention of status and clearly the premium seats are blocked for me.

Possibly worth asking the question to AA if your travel partner having no status is causing that to happen.

Out of interest, try doing a new booking, for just yourself and put in your WP number etc. and see what seats it will let you select.

Even though you already have a booking on the flight, I can't see why it wouldn't let you book; my last flight to SYD had 2 D.P's on it which actually let to them cancelling my booking as they thought I had double booked :shock: Needless to say, when they looked into it I had actually booked first, my middle name was different and my FF number was different also so no idea why they automatically did it without calling me! :evil:

 

[JohnK]

I called AA again today. They did not want to remove my FF number from the booking and offered to help pre-allocate "premium seats" for me. After a couple of minutes they realised that they could not do it.

Apparently "premium seats" are only available for AA Platinum and AA Executive Platinum members not Oneworld Emerald. I was extremely polite and when customer service does not want to assist what else is there to do....

 

[serfty]

... Apparently "premium seats" are only available for AA Platinum and AA Executive Platinum members not Oneworld Emerald. ...

I was able to show yesterday that this is rubbish.

... what else is there to do....

• Ask them to remove the frequent flyer number from the AA segments ... don't mention why ...
  
• Check on AA.com to ensure your frequent flyer number is removed ...
  
• then to re-insert it online.

Time and time again it can be shown the combined knowledge of forums like this can be greater than that of some agents.

 

[serfty]

Possibly worth asking the question to AA if your travel partner having no status is causing that to happen.

Out of interest, try doing a new booking, for just yourself and put in your WP number etc. and see what seats it will let you select. ...

I did that with the result in post xx.

I have just held a two person booking for AA420, me with WP, the other with no FF status at all.

Here is the result:

FWIW, I was able to select exit seating as well.

 

[JohnK]

I feel like I am going around in circles. Email response from AA Webmaster.

Dear Mr. JohnK,

AA.com Web Services has reeived your email.

Currently, blocked seats may only be unblocked for American Airlines premium customers.

You may contact American Airlines Reservations at +61 7 3329-6060 for
additional assistance.

Called AA again and this time managed to find a customer service agent who was able to remove my Qantas FF number even though she was very inquisitive. Unfortunately I lost allocated seats for the 1st and 4th flights.

Now to wait an hour or so before putting in my QFF number again....

 

[simongr]

Maybe AA are punishing you for my coughpy seats on QF...

 

[JohnK]

I don't mind the coughpy seats so much but the fact that 2 people on the one booking with pre-allocated seats together and then moved to opposite ends of the cabin without explanation.

 

[Dave Noble]

I was able to show yesterday that this is rubbish.

All you have shown is that sometimes it can be performed ; if I make an AA booking in economy, I only see normal seats if using the QF Platinum number in the booking and is consistent with AAs stated policy

It may be quite correct that only AA members of Gold/Platinum/Executive Platinum should be able to assign those seats or those booking Y or B class

Dave

 

[serfty]

All you have shown is that sometimes it can be performed ; if I make an AA booking in economy, I only see normal seats if using the QF Platinum number in the booking and is consistent with AAs stated policy ...

If I make a booking in economy on an AA flight and my Qantas Frequent Flyer number is in the booking then I can select from preferred, normal and exit row seats.

So in my case it does not seem to be the case.

Even though I really doubt it, it may be that the AA IT people are not following policy in giving me access.

"One swallow does not a summer make", but these seats have been constantly available to me since I first posted about it last year.

 

[v8Statesman]

If I make a booking in economy on an AA flight and my Qantas Frequent Flyer number is in the booking then I can select from preferred, normal and exit row seats.

I just tried 3 random bookings LAX-DFW and LAX-MIA in MAR10. I tried entering my QFF number as xx_xx_ and 0xx_xx_. All 3 bookings did not alow me access to any premium seats.

This is not something I have ever noticed before as I always travel trough the USA on DONE4 or YUPP.