Seat Selection with American Airlines - but booked flights with Qantas

[MissJRB]

Hi All,

This forum has been a so helpful with information about Qantas and AA seat selections but I have a question that I haven't been able to locate the answer to.

My extended family are all travelling to Orlando next year from Sydney. I have booked my tickets with Qantas SYD-LAX-SYD using FF points. I am flying the AA 787 from SYD-LAX, but the QF A380 coming home. Then I booked my internal flights LAX-MCO-LAX direct with AA on their website.

Thanks to these forums I knew to ring AA to get my booking locator reference in order to do seat selection on the SYD-LAX AA flight. I've had no issues doing this. I got my locator reference, used it to access MMB on the AA website and chose my seats.

My parents are coming with us and they booked their entire return itinerary with Qantas. So SYD-LAX-MCO-LAX-SYD. They are on all the same flights as us, but obviously they have QF flight numbers for all the AA internal flights. Mum did their seat selections on the SYD-LAX leg through the Qantas MMB. So even though its an AA plane, she could do the seat selection. They're flying premium economy SYD-LAX so I'm not sure if that made a difference?

So we followed the same procedure and rang AA, and got the booking locator reference for my parents booking and accessed MMB on the AA website to do the internal flights.

When we look at the domestic flights LAX-MCO-LAX it says seat map unavailable for both flights. Mum has rang Qantas, they said ring AA. So mum rang AA and they couldn't access the seat map. She spent over an hour on the phone with them and they were eventually able to allocate her two seats (window and middle) but she was hoping to pay extra and get an Main Cabin Extra seat or an exit row.

I've logged into my AA booking for the same flights and I can see the entire seat map, what seats are available, what aren't, how much extra certain seats cost etc. But I booked direct with AA.

I'm assuming the issue is because she's booked the entire itinerary through Qantas? Is that why she can't access the seat map? Should she keep calling AA until she gets someone that can help her? Will the seat map eventually become available? Mum is not keen to get her seat allocated at the airport. She'd like the certainty of having a chosen seat well in advance.

Any thoughts or ideas on what she should do?

Thanks in advance AFF community!

 

[smckay]

Not sure I'm reading it right, but can she call AA, quote the QF booking # and ask them to provide the AA booking #? Log into AA website and select the seats?
I have similar- Alaska air flights booked though QF that I obtained the Alaska air booking reference for, logged into their site and selected my seats. QF wasn't having none of that carry on in the QF MMB
But I can't change from main cabin to Extra or Elite online.

 

[jpp42]

she was hoping to pay extra and get an Main Cabin Extra seat or an exit row.

I don't think this is possible if they were purchased through Qantas on a QF codeshare. Although the booking can be pulled up on AA's site with the AA booking reference (which you can use the British Airways site to look up, much faster than calling Qantas), you won't be able to make changes like this.

 

[RichardMEL]

Need to get the AA PNR from QF. It may be displayed in either Finnair or other MNB function also (or check my trip actually should show it).

as for MCE access.. I think AA removed access for OWE members? I'm uncertain about that thouigh.

Calling AA won't help as the QF PNR will mean nothing to them as it's hosted on Amadeus and they have no access there.

side note - if the LAX-MCO-LAX flights you booked separately for yourself are on the same day as the international then beware the hazards of multiple tickets should there be a connection snafu. Your parents would be protected but you may not be so lucky. If on separate days then disregard this

 

[MissJRB]

Not sure I'm reading it right, but can she call AA, quote the QF booking # and ask them to provide the AA booking #? Log into AA website and select the seats?
I have similar- Alaska air flights booked though QF that I obtained the Alaska air booking reference for, logged into their site and selected my seats. QF wasn't having none of that carry on in the QF MMB
But I can't change from main cabin to Extra or Elite online.

Hi smckay,

Sorry, I was trying to explain the whole drama and I've no doubt confused everyone!

We've got the AA Booking reference, we've logged into Manage my Booking on the AA website but when she clicks on choose seats it says "seat map unavailable". She booked through Qantas so the AA flights have QF flight numbers.

I booked the exact same flights but direct with AA on their website and I can see the entire seat map, which seats are free, which ones you have to pay extra for etc.

So the seat map is "available", it just doesn't seem to be available for mum who booked through Qantas. I just can't work out why and even the AA call centre hasn't been much help.

I was hoping someone might know if the seat map is blocked for Qantas passengers or something or whether there's some tips and tricks of what mum should say to the AA call centre etc

 

[MissJRB]

Need to get the AA PNR from QF. It may be displayed in either Finnair or other MNB function also (or check my trip actually should show it).

as for MCE access.. I think AA removed access for OWE members? I'm uncertain about that thouigh.

Calling AA won't help as the QF PNR will mean nothing to them as it's hosted on Amadeus and they have no access there.

side note - if the LAX-MCO-LAX flights you booked separately for yourself are on the same day as the international then beware the hazards of multiple tickets should there be a connection snafu. Your parents would be protected but you may not be so lucky. If on separate days then disregard this

Thanks Richard. I've got the AA PNR and can access the booking on their website, it just says "seat map unavailable" when I click on "choose seats" for Mums booking.

But on my booking which was direct with AA, I can see the whole map? So I know it's "available", it just isn't available for my mum.....

I'm hoping that when I get to Sydney I can get the AA check in desk to ticket the flight and bags through to Orlando and maybe I'll be a bit more protected. But yeah, I know it's a risk. My flight lands at 6am in LA and I'm on the 8.35am connecting AA plane to Orlando. So I've got everything crossed that the timing will work okay.....

 

[djkelly69]

I have a QF award booking for later this year with a number of AA sectors. I originally picked our seats for all flights including AA using my normal QF PNR through 'Manage Booking' on rj.com.

Might be worth a try? (I have not been able login there for a couple of weeks as there appears to have been a website upgrade which is broken for me, but some others have reported it still working for them.)

Not sure about MCE seats though as I am flying J.

Logging in through BA Manage Booking gives me an option to select seats on my AA flights, but it then seems to try and take you to the AA site to do it.

Others also report MH website is good for doing seat selections.

 

[MissJRB]

Hi All,

I want to thank you for all your replies and help with this topic. Nothing changed for months. We contacted American several times, they couldn't help with seat selection. Said they couldn't see the seat map, it was restricted. Despite it being their plane. We contacted Qantas and they said contact American, we can't help.

Anyway, I was randomly checking mum and dad's booking around the end of October and lo and behold, I logged into AA MMB using the AA PNR that we had previously obtained and the seat map appeared! So I'm not sure why it suddenly showed up but it was available and we were able to select seats on all the legs that we needed. Mum and Dad were also able to go with Main Cabin Extra and pay the extra.

I just thought I'd give an update in case anyone is googling the same question like I did and looking for suggestions and answers!!!

I'm now actually doing the same process in reverse for my sister in law and her kids who are coming on the same flights. They booked the same whole round trip (SYD-LAX-MCO-LAX-SYD) through AA and the final leg home LAX-SYD is on the Qantas A380 but it's ticketed under AA7387.

So I've done the AA seat selection for the 3 legs (SYD-LAX, LAX-MCO, MCO-LAX) no dramas. But the Qantas plane home under the AA flight number ..... argh!!!!

Anyway, no-one can access the Qantas seat map. American say "Contact Qantas". I contact Qantas and they say "seating is restricted and you can't choose it". But I have a Qantas PNR!! I only have the option to choose a preference of window or aisle for them.

So looks like I'll have to be patient again!!! But I seriously cannot believe that selecting seats is such a debacle across codeshare/joint venture bookings!!!

 

[Ozmum]

I know this is an old thread that I found by googling. I am flying BNE-MCO with Qantas and was having the same issue getting seat allocations from LAX- MCO on AA. I tried what was suggested earlier in the thread about managing bookings through BA. It worked perfectly! Thank you so much @jpp42 i was going around in circles until I tried this!

 

[Uncharted6264]

I have a QF award booking for later this year with a number of AA sectors. I originally picked our seats for all flights including AA using my normal QF PNR through 'Manage Booking' on rj.com.

I just booked a reward flight with AA through QF and realised I couldn't select seats.... Went to rj.com on whim and managed to select my seat on my totally unrelated flight so, thank you, I think? Lol

 

[SYD]

I just booked a reward flight with AA through QF and realised I couldn't select seats.... Went to rj.com on whim and managed to select my seat on my totally unrelated flight so, thank you, I think? Lol

If you’re still trying to select seats on AA flights, go to BA.com.

 

[Uncharted6264]

If you’re still trying to select seats on AA flights, go to BA.com.

Nice thank you - a little strange changing flight settings from totally unrelated websites but hey I'll take it.

Currently in a bit of a booking fallout from being switched on to VH-OQL mid next month...

 

[SYD]

Nice thank you - a little strange changing flight settings from totally unrelated websites but hey I'll take it.

Currently in a bit of a booking fallout from being switched on to VH-OQL mid next month...

Slightly frustrating that QF doesn’t give the same functionality noting that it’s obviously possible to do…

I’ve actually found that I can sometimes select seats on AA flights at the time of booking thru QF but that function is then greyed out for future changes.

 

[Lynda2475]

If you are concerned using a partner airline site that you are not flying on (not that you need to be), go to BA.com using Qantas PNR and it will show you the AA PNR. Then just go to AA.com using the AA PNR and select seats there.

 

[kangarooflyer88]

as for MCE access.. I think AA removed access for OWE members? I'm uncertain about that thouigh.

Complimentary Main Cabin Extra seat selection for travellers holding Elite status on an airline other than AA was scrapped.

 

[Princess Fiona]

It’s actually much simpler than finding out the AA PNR via RJ etc to get seats on a QF ticket.

The AA website recognizes your QF 081 ticket number.
Discovered this last month on a last minute T class Award.

 

[SYD]

It’s actually much simpler than finding out the AA PNR via RJ etc to get seats on a QF ticket.

The AA website recognizes your QF 081 ticket number.
Discovered this last month on a last minute T class Award.

I vaguely recall doing that also but where do you enter the ticket number? Both aa.com and aa.com.au have PAX name (surname) and Booking Reference/Confirmation/Record Locater. Does it accept tix number in that box?

 

[Princess Fiona]

I vaguely recall doing that also but where do you enter the ticket number? Both aa.com and aa.com.au have PAX name (surname) and Booking Reference/Confirmation/Record Locater. Does it accept tix number in that box?

It’s “Record Locator / Ticket or credit number” on the AA App.
Accepts the QF ticket number in that box.

 

[SYD]

It’s “Record Locator / Ticket or credit number” on the AA App.
Accepts the QF ticket number in that box.View attachment 351155

Ah, didn't look at the app

Noting the versatility of the app entry field, the websites possibly work the same.

 

[serfty]

It’s “Record Locator / Ticket or credit number” on the AA App.
Accepts the QF ticket number in that box.View attachment 351155

This is new (-ish as I have not tried for a while). Previously in my experience any ticket number that did not start with 001 was rejected outright.

[edit]
OK, it works on the APP, but not on the desktop.

I have the following bookmarked to look an AA reservation up using a desktop/Web browser. It still appears to only accept 001 ticket numbers:

Find your trip - Find a reservation - American Airlines

Find your trip on aa.com to check in online, change or cancel your reservation, add special requests, and redeem Trip or Flight Credit.

www.aa.com

[/edit]