Desperately Need Help

According to their US website 1-800-247-9297, or 1-800-AIRWAYS

Open 0700 to 0100 EST

I’m confused by the wording “ sent flight on to America.”

British Airways customer service # is 1-800-247-9297

I am a bit confused. Wild guess here is that you booked thru BA but the flight was an AA flight? No issue then. Your BA booking number will work. Go to the BA site and put in your BA Booking number and check on your flight. It should be there. They codeshare which means they book and manage each others passengers. BA will issue your tickets and boarding passes for the AA flight, no problem. If i guessed wrong on the question, let me know. If you booked through a third party reseller, then maybe you have a different problem.

I’ve received communication from ba all with their logo. They never indicated that our flight was with American. So while I attempting to make seat assignments I would get the message that they could not be made yet (wording not exact). Never suggested I call another airline. When I finally found out that I needed to get to American, they was literally only 6-7 available seats on the forward, and 5 on the return. You can imagine what was left for a return flight of 11 hours, Rome to Philadelphia. Had to take what I could get, 1 in row way back center and one two seat behind for my daughter. I’m not a virgin flyer but never has such a switcheroo. We made our reservation in Early July. Shame on BA for not being transparent. Tiny fine print with American name.

Mr E is 100% correct. I will add that if you haven’t already, upload the BA app to your phone. That should keep you more clearly in the loop.

Clearly you missed it but both BA and AA make very clear on the booking process if you are travelling with the partner airline. Also bear in mind that had the flights been with BA you would have had to pay to book seats.

So you resolved it. Thats good

I totally understand your frustration. I don't think it is unreasonable to expect that seats would be reserved together at the time of booking, even if the flight is operated by a "partner airline" -- it's one of those things that airlines do (or in this case don't do) that they really should do.

Most airlines block a group of seats for families on basic economy tickets that are unblocked at some point before departure (sometimes 24 hours before -- sometimes at the gait prior to the flight). You may call American to see if they have seats like that blocked for your flights. If so, ask them how you might be able to nab one of those seats -- now or after you check in. You will probably have to check in on the BA app 24 hours before departure and then call American. BUT American should be able to tell you for sure how to do that.

I know it's frustrating but be super kind and super polite when talking to the American agent... that can go a long way when talking to airline customer service reps.

As noted, download either the BA or AA app (or both, once you find out what your booking
number is in AA's system).

At this point, most shifting of seats will happen in the last day or two (or hour or two) before
the flight, and you want to be able to jump on any better seats that become available. The
app will be the fastest way to do that.

If you can find your reservation on aa.com, you should be able to see the AA locator code, and
you will want to make a note of that. Or an agent can probably tell you.

When you made your reservation, under flight details, it said “operated by American Airlines” or something similar. BA didn’t do anything sinister.

For an upcoming flight, the BA site redirected me to the Iberia site to make my seat choice for the second leg of my trip. That’s where I found the Iberia booking number.

If I want a specific seat I’ll reserve it when making the reservation which is usually 5 months in advance. There’s a slim chance of getting a great seat on an international flight nowadays two weeks in advance.

Judithann, have you resolved your situation by now? If you called the BA 800-number, you were probably on hold for some time, hearing that guitar music over and over, but you hopefully eventually got a human to speak with. You mentioned “while I attempting to make seat assignments.” Are you planning on paying extra now, to purchase (and assure) the specific seat you want? Different seats cost more.

Or are you going to wait until 24 hours before departure, when you can choose among the remaining seats for no extra charge? That’s what we usually do with BA.

Then, if you booked “Economy basic” seats, BA will assign your seat(s), and you’ll find out what they actually assigned once you get to the airport. The more you pay, the better chance of getting the seat(s) you want. The less you pay, the more it’s up to chance where you’ll sit.