Seats not available for reservation on AA7308 (QF7) Syd -> DFW flight

[aussiecruisers]

Hi, first thanks for assistance on question in my original post from February (link is below). I was able to get flights booked for my father with TA for their upcoming trip to Amsterdam via Atlanta. It means more stops but the price came out ok at $3500 a ticket. Now I have another weird issue. My TA cannot allocate seats for 'some' of the flights. The long haul ones of Syd->DFW AA7308 (operated by Qantas QF7) 1.20pm 22-4-2014; DFW-> BNE AA7375 (operated by Qantas) 9.55pm June24.
My TA says this is because they have become 'paid' seats and if I want to reserve them I have to pay.
I am very anxious on getting my father an aisle seat because he recently had a hip replacement.
Any suggestions on how I go about this?
Can I ring AA or Qantas and book and pay these seats myself?
Can my TA book and pay these seats on my behalf?
Does anyone know how much these 'paid' seats are?

I have spent some time researching but keep finding different answers. .

Any help would be appreciated.


BNE-> SYD
SYD-DFW
DFW -> ATL
ATL -> PHL
PHL -> AMS
AMS-> LHR
LHR -> DFW
DFW -> BNE

http://www.australianfrequentflyer.com.au/community/your-questions/help-flights-bris-atlanta-amsterdam-58134.html

vicki

 

[markis10]

Your TA can organize to preselect the seats and charge you for Qantas flights, should be similar under the AA code.

 

[drron]

I agree.Our TA always has seats assigned when she confirms the booking whether using an AA or QF code.EG if mrsdrron is on a paid QF flight and I am on the same flight using an Aaward all I have to do is give her my AA PNR and we are seated together.

 

[aussiecruisers]

My TA says that when she is using her system it doesn't allow her to reserve the seats. A phone call to AA confirmed that the seats are 'blocked' and unless I pay $$$ I won't get a seat allocation until checkin or a couple of days before the flight when they release the seats.

 

[Quickstatus]

For your SYD-DFW//DFW-BNE flights, ALL the economy seats can only be preallocated when an additional fee is paid. I suspect this is because these AA codeshare flights are special discounted fares.

"Yes you can"!!!. You or your TA can allocate the requested seats. It just need a payment of a fee...You or Your TA can ring up AA (not QF because AA sold you the ticket) and pay the fee.
See americanairlines.com.au, go to bottom of screen under "Customer Service" click "reservation" and you will see the Australian number to do this. (if you are in Australia, aa.com will redirect you to the australian site)
There is no other way to avoid paying this.

AA knows how much the fee is.


Expertflyer.com says that for the outgoing flight 43C and 43H are available-these are bulkhead aisle seats. As you father has a hip replacement he may not be suitable for exit-row seating (of which 58C is available)
A subscription to expertflyer will give you a lot of information about this issue.


By the way, if your father is flying several segments under the AA banner you should get him a 30 day Admirals club membership for $99. See aa.com

For what its worth, TA are not good at explaining all the restrictions that come with buying a discounted ticket and we as their clients are no good at asking either.

 

[Simo]

Go to another TA,

 

[RooFlyer]

I agree.Our TA always has seats assigned when she confirms the booking whether using an AA or QF code.EG if mrsdrron is on a paid QF flight and I am on the same flight using an Aaward all I have to do is give her my AA PNR and we are seated together.

I think that's somewhat status dependent though, isn't it drron? A couple of times when my TA has made a booking and forgotten to put my FF number it, the seat selection wasn't worth having. When she said 'Oops... there you go' and puts the number in, the screen blossoms ....

 

[drron]

I think that's somewhat status dependent though, isn't it drron? A couple of times when my TA has made a booking and forgotten to put my FF number it, the seat selection wasn't worth having. When she said 'Oops... there you go' and puts the number in, the screen blossoms ....

Yes but status with our TA!

 

[aussiecruisers]

Thanks for your replies certainly makes for an interesting conversation. While this was happening I found another thread Seat Allocation on Codeshare flights - QF/AA - FlyerTalk Forums which appeared to have my 'exact problem' and followed those instructions and entered in the Sabre Reservation Code AA Code into the Qantas Managing My Booking reference code and low and behold Qantas accepted it and I was able to allocate seats for my father and his wife for $25 a seat on the Syd -> Dallas and Dallas -> Bris sectors. Couldn't believe my luck! Not ideal seats (would prefer to get them 43H & 43J or 44H & 44J) but was still able to get them the left aisle seat for his leg. Who needs a TA! I just have to come here. (as always).

 

[Quickstatus]

Thanks for your replies certainly makes for an interesting conversation. While this was happening I found another thread Seat Allocation on Codeshare flights - QF/AA - FlyerTalk Forums which appeared to have my 'exact problem' and followed those instructions and entered in the Sabre Reservation Code AA Code into the Qantas Managing My Booking reference code and low and behold Qantas accepted it and I was able to allocate seats for my father and his wife for $25 a seat on the Syd -> Dallas and Dallas -> Bris sectors. Couldn't believe my luck! Not ideal seats (would prefer to get them 43H & 43J or 44H & 44J) but was still able to get them the left aisle seat for his leg. Who needs a TA! I just have to come here. (as always).

Well done!

AFF is a gold mine for sure!.

TA can be hit and miss

Are you going to get the 30 day Admirals Club Lounge membership?

Im not sure but would you have got row 43 if you rang AA?. Expertflyer says it is available if its an AA flight number. If you put in QF7/8 row 43 is blocked.

 

[aussiecruisers]

Well done!

AFF is a gold mine for sure!.

TA can be hit and miss

Are you going to get the 30 day Admirals Club Lounge membership?

Im not sure but would you have got row 43 if you rang AA?. Expertflyer says it is available if its an AA flight number. If you put in QF7/8 row 43 is blocked.

This is such madness. I'll try and ring AA and see what I can do. My main aim was to get that aisle seat. Next step is to get a better one I suppose.