OLCI with BA flight number on QF metal

[ottmi]

Hi there,

I have an upcoming trip CBR-SYD-FRA-MUC and MUC-LHR-MEL-CBR in Y. Most flights have been booked with BA flight numbers, but are operated by QF, i.e. the outbound flights are BA7498, BA7305, LH100, inbound BA955, BA7310, and QF804.

I have two booking references for this trip and both of them seem to be Amadeus references. The first one was issued by the travel agent and has the BA flight numbers, the second one showed up in my QFF profile and has the QF flight numbers.

Since I would really hate to be squeezed into a middle seat on the longhaul flights, I was wondering whether I would be able to check in online and select an aisle seat. I'm almost certain that I can't check in with BA for the outbound flights, but what about QF ? I would check in with them at the airport anyway. For the inbound flights I assume that I can check in online with BA since the first leg is actually operated by BA ?

Any experiences and/or suggestions ?


Cheers,
Michael

 

[ozbeachbabe]

I don't think you can as I was speaking to someone yesterday who had that exact same problem & they'd tried to do it in both QF & BA. The reason why they'd booked through BA was that they could get a better airfare on the BA flights (operated by QF) than they could booking on the same QF flights.

Try calling BA & see if they have an allocation of seats on any of the codeshare flight operated by QF, particularly the longhaul sectors. If they can't allocate a seat call QF & ask if they can allocate you a seat. If they can't or won't, try OLCI using the QF pnr but if that's not possible your last resort is to try your luck at CBR Airport.

One advantage of checking in from another port is that you'll be at CBR Airport before checkin opens in SYD 3 hours before the SYD/FRA flight departs so you've got a fighting chance of getting a decent seat as you get a head start over pax originating in SYD.

 

[Mal]

I don't believe you can check-in online ... but worth a try. The suggestions above are very sound, so give them a try.

 

[ottmi]

Thanks for your replies, much appreciated.

So I will ring BA on Monday and see whether they can allocate a seat for me. But I have a bad feeling about this. I didn't even think that this could be an issue when I booked the flights, just verified that the BA flights earned the same number of miles/SCs. They were ~300$ cheaper than the same flights with QF flight numbers though..

Interestingly, when I login to my QFF account and select the QF pnr, I seem to be able to buy a seat for $20. So if BA won't be able to allocate a seat, I will probably do that. However, I would prefer to select my seat closer to departure so I could possibly snatch a seat besides an empty one !

BTW: When does Qantas usually allocate seats and do they usually honor the preferences in the QFF profile ? When I login to buy a seat, it seems that most seats are already occupied..


Cheers,
Michael

 

[ottmi]

Now that I've completed the trip, I thought I should report back how it went for documentation purposes:

I called BA, but they weren't able to allocate seats neither on the outbound nor on the inbound flights. So I ended up paying 20$ each way to Qantas for the advance seat selection using the booking reference with the QF flight numbers.

On the outbound flights, OLCI didn't work, neither with BA nor with QF. On the return, I was able to check in online with BA as the first leg was on BA metal with BA flight numbers. However, I wasn't able to select a seat on the QF codeshare.

I have a another booking with QF that involves a codeshare on BA (QF319) and this time it's even worse as it seems like I won't be able to select seats on this flight even if I would be willing to pay for it. I'm going to call BA tomorrow and see whether they can allocate an aisle seat for me, but based on the previous experience, I doubt it..

All in all a very sad experience. Given that Qantas announced to extend its codeshares with BA, they should really fix these issues which seem solely be due to IT limitations. Next time I'll think twice before I book a codeshare flight..


Cheers,
Michael

 

[ozmille]

I have never had issues with either scenario...

I just always check in online with the operating carrier either BA or QF. I so at least a couple of these trips a year and have QF/BA and AY flight numbers.

Because of my WP I can also always select seats on BA when booking which you can't do otherwise...

Your experiences have been strange but it is true that BA is often cheaper on the same flights

 

[serfty]

you can try your booking reference with www.ba.com/managemybooking ... see how that goes ...

 

[amaroo]

In the same situation I've had success with obtaining seat allocation via the following:-

QF seats by Qantas webpage - manage by booking

BA seats by BA webpage - manage by booking

Other OW but booked on BA - by ringing the 1300 number provided on the BA AU website

Should be no problem.

 

[ottmi]

I have never had issues with either scenario...

I just always check in online with the operating carrier either BA or QF. I so at least a couple of these trips a year and have QF/BA and AY flight numbers.

That's strange. I tried OLCI with QF with both booking references, but neither of them worked.

Because of my WP I can also always select seats on BA when booking which you can't do otherwise...

Actually, you can pay for seats with BA as well. At least BA's Manage my Booking site offered me to buy a seat on the first leg MUC-LHR.


Cheers,
Michael

 

[ottmi]

In the same situation I've had success with obtaining seat allocation via the following:-

QF seats by Qantas webpage - manage by booking

BA seats by BA webpage - manage by booking

Other OW but booked on BA - by ringing the 1300 number provided on the BA AU website

The QF site worked for the QF flights with BA flight numbers. The agent on the BA phone hotline, however, couldn't even see whether there were any free seats available on the QF flights and suggested to call the QF hotline.

For the upcoming QF319 on BA I've already tried the QF and BA Manage my Booking with both booking references, but none of them worked..

 

[ozbeachbabe]

I have never had issues with either scenario...

I just always check in online with the operating carrier either BA or QF. I so at least a couple of these trips a year and have QF/BA and AY flight numbers.

Because of my WP I can also always select seats on BA when booking which you can't do otherwise...

Your experiences have been strange but it is true that BA is often cheaper on the same flights

....but are any of the above flights you refer to actually codeshare flights or are you talking about a booking that eg is QF1 SYD/BKK & BA10 BKK/LHR which are booked which the carrier whose metal is operating the flight.

I've seen people that have separate bookings with both BA & QF where they have done OLCI for the BA sector eg SYD/BKK & when QF add the flight in at checkin BNE/SYD so the bags to be through checked, it will still print out the BA boarding pass again along with the same seat allocation they got when they did the initial OLCI with BA.

 

[ozmille]

....but are any of the above flights you refer to actually codeshare flights or are you talking about a booking that eg is QF1 SYD/BKK & BA10 BKK/LHR which are booked which the carrier whose metal is operating the flight.

I've seen people that have separate bookings with both BA & QF where they have done OLCI for the BA sector eg SYD/BKK & when QF add the flight in at checkin BNE/SYD so the bags to be through checked, it will still print out the BA boarding pass again along with the same seat allocation they got when they did the initial OLCI with BA.

I have flown the following actual booked flight numbers;

QF1/2
QF5/6
QF319
QF301
BA16/15
BA10/9
BA7312

and never encountered any problems with online check in. I have another QF319 and a QF3502 coming up in a couple of months so will test again then. But as my flights originate in SYD I don't know what happens if you have a QF BNE-SYD and then a QF319 to SIN/LHR

 

[ottmi]

I have another QF319 and a QF3502 coming up in a couple of months so will test again then. But as my flights originate in SYD I don't know what happens if you have a QF BNE-SYD and then a QF319 to SIN/LHR

I have exactly that situation on my upcoming trip on Sat: QF1478 CBR-SYD, QF319 SYD-LHR. Qantas MMB doesn't allow me to select a seat on QF319. BA MBB with the QF PNR tells me "Seat choices are available at check-in", with the BA PNR "Seat selection will be available on this flight when your e-ticket is issued". I just called BA and they couldn't allocate a seat for me neither. I suppose I could select a seat now with BA MBB, if I had at least OW ruby status. This is even more annoying as I'm only 10 SCs short of QFF silver, i.e. technically I will be OW ruby when I board QF319..

So my strategy will be to try QF OLCI 24h before departure of QF1478 and if that doesn't work for selecting seats on the codeshare, I will try BA OLCI 24h before the departure of QF319. And as a last ressort, I'll checkin early in CBR and have some beers in the QP


Cheers,
Michael

 

[ottmi]

Now that I'm in the QP@CBR, a quick update on how it went:

I'm flying QF1478, QF319, QF3557 CBR/SYD/LHR/MUC, the legs from SYD on are codeshare on BA.

The Qantas OLCI checked me in for QF1478 and QF319 but not for the LHR/MUC leg. When I couldn't select seats on QF319, I should have aborted the check-in, but I didn't. That was a mistake. The reason being that I later tried the BA OLCI with the BA PNR which apparently would have worked (the QF PNR didn't) if I wasn't checked in already. And I'm pretty sure I could have selected seats then. Luckily, they've assigned me an aisle seat already, so I'm good..

When I arrived at CBR, they couldn't check me in for QF3557 neither. To make things even more enjoyable, the Qantas agent claimed that he couldn't even check my bag through to MUC but only to LHR. Luckily I could convince him to ask his supervisor and suddenly it was possible.

What is it with Qantas IT that nothing seems to work properly once it comes to codeshares ?

 

[amaroo]

Now that I'm in the QP@CBR, a quick update on how it went:

I'm flying QF1478, QF319, QF3557 CBR/SYD/LHR/MUC, the legs from SYD on are codeshare on BA.

The Qantas OLCI checked me in for QF1478 and QF319 but not for the LHR/MUC leg. When I couldn't select seats on QF319, I should have aborted the check-in, but I didn't. That was a mistake. The reason being that I later tried the BA OLCI with the BA PNR which apparently would have worked (the QF PNR didn't) if I wasn't checked in already. And I'm pretty sure I could have selected seats then. Luckily, they've assigned me an aisle seat already, so I'm good..

When I arrived at CBR, they couldn't check me in for QF3557 neither. To make things even more enjoyable, the Qantas agent claimed that he couldn't even check my bag through to MUC but only to LHR. Luckily I could convince him to ask his supervisor and suddenly it was possible.

What is it with Qantas IT that nothing seems to work properly once it comes to codeshares ?

Thanks for the feedback - have a great trip.

 

[TonyHancock]

I have come across the odd quirk with QF Metal/BA flight numbers. A couple of times I have been unable to select a seat either from MMB on the QF or BA websites...or by ringing QF and BA. It hasn't been a consistent problem though, but it has been the domestic flights that have been the issue.

I have a couple of BA trips next year and have been able to select seats on all with no problems.

 

[wandering_fred]

MMB with BA flight number on QF metal

Being aggravated at getting 50% AA mileage from QF on my SIN-PER flights (and not wanting to pay QF for flex/H class fares) I decided to book the next trip with BA. As far as I can tell the price is exactly the same, but under the new AA/BA JV rules I should get full mileage.

Interestingly, (this was after entering my AA account number -OW emerald status) I could get to the QF reservations with QF MMB. However all seat selections were blocked - except for one pair of bulkhead seats on each flight. :shock: I'll give it a few days and try again. If still blocked at that point, I'll call QF and ask for a policy statement.

Happily wandering

Fred