I'm having an issue with an upcoming flight, IAD --> LHR, that I booked on American Airline's website but the flight is actually operated by British Airways.

When I speak with AA, they tell me they can't issue a seat assignment, etc, because it's a BA flight.

When I speak with BA, they tell me they can't issue a seat assignment either. They say it's because American did not book it properly as a codeshare flight, and supposedly neither airline can do anything about it.

I have the confirmation e-mail, but I cannot view or manage the reservation online on either airline's website. This means, among other things, I cannot select a seat (it's a red-eye, so I'm not looking forward to getting a middle seat last row) nor can I pay for an extra checked bag.

I am a little confused how I can be willing to give them money, and they can't figure out a way to take it (3 different people on the phone said they could not give me a seat assignment).

My flight is in 48 hours, so at this point I'm thinking this is a lost cause for me, but I am wondering if anyone else has had this issue, and how you addressed it.

Thanks!

BA will not let you select seats on a BA flight until 24 hours before flight time unless you pay extra. It's a ridiculous policy but that's what it is. I don't know if that's the case if you book a BA flight on AA.

Had exactly the same issue - tried to book IAH-LHR on an AA codeshare flight. Luckily I was using a travel agent and she notified me about the seat assignment problem. No assignments until day of flight as Marija stated. If we booked through the British Airways flight, they charge around $160 for a coach seat assignment. Almost $400 for DH and myself - we changed our plans and flew out of DFW airport on an AA flight. Made seat assignments with no charge. The flights were a little more expensive than flying from Houston, but made up for it with the free seat assignment - was able to pick a 777 plane with 2 seats on the side and now won't have a 3rd person crammed next to us.

Nina - I would've thought AA/BA would have corrected this silliness by now. The same run around happened to us last year. Pain in the a&&. AA's website is not clear on this either. I suggest you call BA as early as possible once it opens up to select seats. They were quite brusque and didn't understand why we had such difficulty. But we did manage to get good seats.

I blame AA's website and will never book a flight like that again if I can help it. No one seems to want to take responsibility.

GOod luck. You do have a good chance of getting a good seat - cheers!

"<i>I would've thought AA/BA would have corrected this silliness by now</i>"

OK - Maybe I'm dense -- but why would BA let AA passengers choose seats when BA passengers can't? It isn't because it is a codeshare, its because that is just how things work on BA.

Set your alarm for exactly 24 hours before flight time and get online. I've always gotten the seats I want . You can even print your boarding pass and go straight to security

janis - I was talking about the "BA doesn't know the answer, go ask AA" and "AA doesn't know the answer, go ask BA." It would have been comical if it didn;t piss me off so much.

Thanks for the replies. I'm glad to know it's not just me; i.e., that I didn't do something wrong when I booked the flight on AA.

To be clear, my issue is that, according to BA, I cannot select a seat online or by phone at all. This is irrespective of the 24-hour-before-flight window. I have to wait til I get to the airport and see a ticket agent in order to be assigned a seat or print a boarding pass.

According to BA, this is because AA booked the flight incorrectly. According to both airlines, there's nothing they can do about it. Guess I'll just chalk this up to lesson learned about booking AA/BA.

This is one reason why I hate BA. They don't let their own passengers book seat assignments in advance, even if you don't have a codeshare. So it's really BA any way you look at it. I haven't booked them for several years, though, when they started that nonsense (they also have a bad carryon policy, as I recall). Many years ago, they would let you book seat assignments.

"They don't let their own passengers book seat assignments in advance, even if you don't have a codeshare."

Yes they do - if you have status, an expensive ticket or are willing to pay for the privilege

They also allow you to choose 24 hours in advance

"<i>they also have a bad carryon policy, as I recall</i>"

That is really <u>old</u> info. They liberalized carry-on rules several years ago. I used to prefer Virgin (still do in some ways) but they stick w/ the restrictive carry on limits that BA used to have.

The sizes are the same -- but BA doesn't limit the weight. VS limits carry on to 6 kilos. I can travel for weeks w/ a 20 inch roll aboard - but not if it can only weigh 13 lbs.

Thanks, again, everyone for your comments.

As an update:
I never was able to do anything with the reservation online or by phone prior to the flight. I arrived at Dulles 3 hours before the flight and went to the British Airways ticket counter. Fortunately I took a print out of my confirmation page from the AA booking, because the BA system did not show my entire trip (IAD -> LHR -> AMS). The BA agent made a new booking for me there at the counter. Also fortunately, not many people were flying on New Year's Day so I was able to get a good seat. I was charged $60 to check an extra bag (it is $45 if you pay online).

I wrote AA a complaint, and their response was "sorry your travel didn't go more smoothly; here's 3000 AAdvantage miles." I think this is wholly inadequate (what if the counter agent had been less cooperative, or I hadn't gotten to the airport ridiculously early, or the flight had been full?). However, I am here now and having a wonderful time so I'm going to let it go.

Also, w/r/t carry-on limits with BA, I found them quite reasonable. One handbag/bookbag and one suitcase of reasonable size. They didn't care about the weight at all "so long as you can lift it yourself into the overhead."

Apparently a fix was attempted by BA to their systems to correct this problem - but it failed. There's another attempt to correct this happening at the end of the month

thanks for the update Nina - hope you are enjoying one of my favorite cities!