bakerstreet

My trip to Spain from the U.S. was booked through American, with the transatlantic portion being on Iberia Airlines. Although I have my family's seat assignments on the U.S. flights, American tells me they cannot assign seats on an Iberia flight and all phone numbers I can find for Iberia are not working or have been disconnected. It is important to me that we have good seats, together, for these transatlantic portions, and I cannot get to the airport early for the trip over because our connection doesn't get us there much in advance.

Help! Will we be stuck with terrible seats?

yorkshire

I just called Iberia last week and requested seats on a flight booked on their website, and they assigned them no problem. I called the number from the website:
1800 772 4642

kerouac

Never forget that seats are never really 100% assigned, but that preferences are taken into consideration. If a B-777 is suddenly changed to an A-340, you have no recourse on what seats you get. An air travel contract on an airline ticket guarantees you transportation but not a specific seat.

bakerstreet

I have been calling the same phone number, but it doesn't go through. I get a rapid busy signal.

I called the numbers for the New York office of Iberia, which has been disconnected, and for the Miami office, which doesn't work. When I call 1-800 directory information I am told Iberias HAS no 800 number.

My fear is that because I didn't book through Iberia, but through AA, I won't get good seats. I hope my fears are unfounded.

Has anyone recently booked through a One World Alliance member not Iberia and been able to confirm seat reservations on Iberia in advance of the flight?

Dukey

Does Iberia have a NON-toll-free number you can call??????

Jeff801

I have had no trouble getting seat assignments from Iberia, as long as I asked within about 220 days of the flight. I did have trouble getting through once. I called and got a local number for Chicago area office and was connected immediately with no on hold time.

bakerstreet

Dukey, that's a good question. The New York and Miami numbers listed in www.anywho.com are non-toll-free numbers but when I called them, the New York office number had been disconnected and the Miami number wouldn't go through. I don't know if they DO have any working non-800 numbers. Maybe I'll try Chicago. I have emailed Iberia; maybe I'll hear back that way. I have been trying to get seat assignments for some months, and now the flight is just a couple of weeks away, so I'd like to get this settled asap!
Thanks.

Sher

Try calling American airlines and asking them for the number.
I would think they would have some way to reach them since they are ticketing with them.

Good luck.

ekscrunchy

I used their 800 number from NYC a few days ago and had no problem.

ira

Hi B,

>Will we be stuck with terrible seats?

If you will be in cattle class, what difference will it make where you sit?

WillTravel

Of course it matters where you sit.

First, without seat assignments, these two flyers could easily be separated. Not a huge deal, but avoidable.

Some coach seats are clearly worse than others, so it makes sense to get seat assignments if you can.

Also check with www.seatguru.com to figure out what might be best.

Being able to get an aisle seat or a window seat instead of a middle seat is worth a lot, in my opinion. I generally like to get a window and aisle near the back of the plane when there are two of us, and hope the plane isn't full enough that a middle person takes the center seat.

ira

Hi W,

I have sat in aisle, middle, middle-middle and window in cattle class.

I have had bulkheads in front and behind.

I guess I am just not sensitive enough to appreciate the fine differences in comfort.

I would be more concerned with whether I would be on an Airbus 340 or a Boeing 767.

ekscrunchy

Bakerstreet: I just looked at my (paper) ticket and that 800 number is the only one listed. I understand your anxiety about the seating! I do not mind being separated from a travel companion but being stuck in a middle seat other than a bulkhead is the stuff that nightmares are made of! Unless I can snag the entire row!

afterall

Look - everyone wants the best seats going and not everyone can have them.

Airlines work in wondrous ways - and when push comes to shove does it really matter? You'll get there. It's honestly not worth stressing over.

Think of it this way if you are travelling cattle class.. if you get lucky it's a bonus - savour it; write it up in the diary because if you are a frequent cattle class traveller it might not come around to you again for a while!

If you are unlucky - well most of your fellow pax have been unlucky too, there being more not "nice to have seats" than "nice to have" seats.

What makes you think that you should get priority?

Jake1

Don't know if someone mentioned this already, but most airlines have seat assignment blackout periods once a certain percentage of seats on a flight have been assigned during which they will not assign any more seats.

I've never quite heard what I thought was a convincing reason for this, but I have been told it's so they'll have some flexibility in assigning seats for families, people with special needs, kids, etc. on flight day.

bakerstreet

Thanks for the helpful advice. The toll-free number I have been trying IS the one American Airlines gave me, but it does not go through. I get only a rapid busy signal. All of the other numbers I have found for Iberia, not toll free, in different cities, yield a similar lack of success.

To those of the opinion it doesn't matter where one sits on a transatlantic flight, I hope you are in the majority, so there is more flexibility for those of us who do care. As to being separated from my travel companion, I could bear being separated from my spouse (although in close quarters on an overnight flight I'd prefer to be that close with my spouse instead of a stranger) but I very much do not want to be separated from my two minor children. I believe they would prefer to sit with their parents, as well.

I have traveled many times across the ocean and have never experienced this much difficulty reaching the airline to discuss seating.

I know that once I reach the gate I can ask the flight attendant to seat my family together, implore strangers to switch seats, etc. I am hoping to avoid that by requesting seating together in advance, as I have always been able to do before.

yorkshire

Though it is disconcerting to not be able to reach the airline easily, this is simply a phone problem. Two people have said they called very recently and got through, so keep trying.

I'd be firmly in the camp that thinks seats DO matter--the difference between a middle aisle seat and a window-aisle duo is vast, especially overnight and intl--but I manage to survive when things don't go my way.
Good Luck

bakerstreet

Update: Phone number finally worked; Iberia said because ticket was bought through American, American has to assign the seats and Iberia cannot do it; American said because it is an Iberia flight American can request seats but Iberia must assign them; American learned that the seat assignment request American made on my behalf 6 months ago was not honored by Iberia. Who knows what I'll get, but at least we'll get there. I just hope I am able to sit with my children.

Gardyloo

For what it's worth, seat assignments from Iberia often have a way of changing when you get to the airport - in business class as well as coach.

But don't despair - the counter people at IB are actual humans, and won't separate families if they can help it.

I'd keep phoning American to ensure they don't drop the ball.

GatoVolador

Both AA and IB are right. Iberia cannot select you a seat if you booked through AA.com because American Airlines uses a different GDS (Sabre) than IB (Amadeus), and Sabre just informs Amadeus than a seat was sold, but the data regarding your personal booking is uploaded to Amadeus only 24h prior to the departure.

In other words, IB doesn't have any information about you because AA transfer the information only before the flight. (Actually, this is a real problem, because when you fly AA and then connect to IB, for instance, Houston-Chicago-Madrid-Nice, the system is not even able to print the boarding passes of the ORD-MAD leg and the MAD-NCE leg.) It's really bad, since the other way arround, IB is able to print any boarding pass from the airport of origin.

On AA side, they cannot select you a seat because they don't have access to the inventory of Iberia. They even don't know if IB will fly the A340-300 or the A340-600 that particular day.

Two lesson learnt:

1) When possible, use Iberia.com to uy your tickets with an IB code all the way (IB7xxx for AA-operated flights and IB for the ones of IB). Booking Iberia.com is usually cheaper (codeshares can have a surcharge), you can select your seat if you fly business plus at iberia.com, and it allows you to identify yourself as an AAdvantage cardholder.
This is the mileage accrual table:
http://www.aa.com/aa/i18nForward.do?...nes/ibiria.jsp

2) Don't worry about you and your family. Seats can be selected at the airport. If your point of origin is any of the airports served by Iberia (BOS, JFK, IAD, MIA, SJU), tell them the seat you want in each flight, and they will select it. Normally, seats are available. If you're 4 persons (your wife, you, and your kids), and since IB has a 2-4-2 configuration, I'd take 2 consecutive rows of two. (The 4 seats all together will not be a good idea, as there are no windows).

Again: relax and don't worry. If you're really nervious about the seats, try any of these two solutions:
a) Call AA some hours (12h, for instance) before the flight. If it doesn't work, call IB but... I'm not sure that IB can touch your AA booking. They get the data "as given" from Sabre, and usually the software doesn't allow any change before check-in other than the ones made by the issuer.
b) If a) didn't work, check-in a bit earlier than others and it would be OK. Take it easy: an A343 is big (and even more in the A346 case!), so... don't expect the seats to be took before you arrive. Moreover, the check-in agents will perfectly understand your needs. I'm sure you'll get the seats you want.
c) If b) didn't work either, contact the purser on board (if she is a woman, she wears a red blouse instead of the white one; if he is a man, plain blue tie instead of the stripped one). I saw many times IB's crew asking someone if he/she could change the seat because a family needs to be together. FOR SURE any of the 250 (if A343) or 350 (if A346) passengers will exchange your seat.

Enjoy your vacations and your flight, and if you get a solution before check-in, post a message because many persons have the same problem.

;-)