scolbath

I'm an AA Platinum hence Oneworld sapphire. Just booked some flights, and went through the seat selection flow without thinking about it. Am I out the $?

[Edited to add: my AA # was definitely input during the booking process]

MADPhil

I think that you have to complete the purchase before your AA status registers and you can go back and choose seats. I'm also afraid that the fees are non-refundable but it costs nothing (apart from time on hold) to ask.

marconess

I'd play dumb, call up and say you didn't notice the charge for the seats / assumed because your FF was in, there wouldnt be a charge.

scolbath

Will give this a try. I re-read the documentation about Sapphire having free selection - it strongly implies you can do it at the time of initial booking, without going back through the workflow, so that'll be my additional evidence.

scottishpoet

If your status is not with BAEC then the BA's booking site does not get your status until after you complete the booking, despite entering your FF number during the booking process.

It means you need to ignore the choose seats during the booking process, get your PNR and then go back into the booking and selecting your seats for free.

Ldnn1

It’s worth a try. But also a general lesson here which I’m sure you’ve already realised - check you’re happy with what you’re paying for before you press pay.

It’s not like you were in an urgent situation here that meant you *had* to pay for the seats and then complain about it afterwards.

corporate-wage-slave

I believe seat reservation fees are refundable, but only if done within 24 hours and it would need a telephone call.

SK AAR

Yeah, cancel the tickets within 24h and book again without paying for ASR?

pnak

I did it and AA was very nice about refunding the cost of seat selection

scolbath

Just to close the loop: was able to call in after about a half-dozen tries, but once I did got the $ refunded immediately. I have a sneaking suspicion I know what happened based on some subsequent emails. I think the issue is that somehow, my wife got listed as the "primary" traveler, and I had the flights credited to her BA Executive Club account - the seat refund receipt said "Dear Ms. Scolbath". If that happened (and not sure why it did, I definitely remember selecting my name first) it probably did not recognize my status. Regardless, next time: pay more attention, do seats on a second trip to the site!

corporate-wage-slave

It has already been explained upthread, but I'll put a bit differently. If you make a booking with BA, logged into your BAEC account, it automatically picks up your BAEC (not AA) status immediately so you can select seats for free. But the database for oneworld frequent flyers is not in the server neighbourhood until the booking is confirmed and entered into Amadeus. At that point via a link between Amadeus and the oneworld database the status is updated on the booking, and therefore only at that point is free advance seat selection enabled on Amadeus Seating. A shorter version is that it is inevitable, with an AA status, that you book first, get a PNR, then go in and amend the booking. It's just the way it is structured.

Tocsin

That is more likely to be BA's <expletive deleted!> IT In emails from BA to my address Ian**@**.co.uk I'm always referred to as "Mrs" - nothing I do on the website appears to amend this, and the real Mrs is correctly prefixed

scolbath

Well, today Flyertalk's IT is not much better. Although I've logged into the site, I've liked the last two posts and it's showing my name as [ARG:4 UNDEFINED] LOLOL.

DaveS

Been that way for years... If someone registers as ARG:4 UNDEFINED the whole site will crumble.