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Does anyone have experience of making a BA transatlantic booking when Avios seats are released and then subsequently adding an AA connecting flight (also on Avios) as soon as they appear?
This clearly needs a phone call, but I’m not certain that even a helpful agent can achieve what I want.
I don’t see this as at all possible. I think it would need to be one booking.
And as for relying on AA to actually fly you at the date/time you booked at T-365, I’d rather bet on no rain for a month in Manchester.
IIRC AA only releases its seats around 331 days in advance and even then BA can only access those at the lowest level of points.
As above, book your TATL, build in plenty of wriggle room (preferably connect the next day at the earliest if relying on AA!) then look around for the best cash or points option for your onward travel.
You’ll probably have to collect you bags at your first stop anyway.
*Manchester has reportedly had a very nice few days, presumably because I’m in the Caribbean 😂
Yes, AA will likely change its schedules over the year and my question is predicated on there being availability – and precisely the problem that US airlines don’t make flights available until around the 330 day mark.
I suppose the risk of booking separate tickets is not being protected – but then in my experience AA is quite flexible in rebooking when it changes schedules or if a connection is missed.
I’m not sure you even can book a through ticket with avios, though, on a lot of routes you can’t even connect from one AA flight to another.
You’re missing the point. AA can move the flight to 7 hours before you land at JFK, or happily cancel the route entirely. There’s no real protection on the same ticket if there is no plane to get you there on the day you want. Both of the above happened to me on the same trip.
Since you’ll need to collect and recheck luggage there’s no real benefit on a through ticket.
@NorthernLass, it’s been t-shirt weather since I got home, but rain expected shortly.That’s why I said don’t try it the same day. We flew AA last Friday, original departure time was 1100, perfect, but by the time we got to the US that had crept back to 1359 (what kind of time is that 🤷♀️🙄), then we eventually took off 2 hours late from MIA. But because of previous experience I’d planned nothing more than day other than collecting our hire car at the other end and driving to our resort!
We flew AA last Friday, original departure time was 1100, perfect, but by the time we got to the US that had crept back to 1359 (what kind of time is that 🤷♀️🙄)
That sounds like a ‘changed by less than three hours’ time!
Since you’ll need to collect and recheck luggage there’s no real benefit on a through ticket.
Yes absent MIA and travelling on a further international flight you always need to enter the US and then collect bags.
But there absolutely is an advantage of having through tickets,
The advantage of a through ticket is you can then drop them off with AA just after customs rather than having to make your way to an AA check in desk.
They’ll also have AA staff at the jet way offering fast passes for those on short connections which means priority at immigration and security.
On cash tickets BA can absolutely sell you a through ticket as long as the second flight is directly connected to the arriving TATL. If it’s more than a certain length of time after then they can’t as they can’t sell a free standing AA ticket (just as AA can’t sell a fee standing BA ticket for say LhR to AMS)
There are different rules for avios where you can buy a free standing US domestic for example.
@BA Flyer IHG Stayer None of what you said applies to the OP. Through ticket for a connecting flight which will ultimately not exist by the time he gets to the date of the TATL flight. Talking about cash tickets isn’t relevant to this thread.
Since he hasn’t stated the route/end point there’s no point making assumptions.
I don’t have a fixed route in mind, but the end point is Palm Springs (CA:PSP). There are various through options – PHX and DFW being 2 of the most straightforward, but also ORD, DEN, SEA, PDX, and SFO.
I’m here at the moment and come here most years around this time. Although my flight LHR-LAX had a great BA F crew and arrived early, the car here took 4 hours in the worst traffic I’ve ever seen in LA. (The only saving grace was having a driver instead of getting a hire car immediately.)
My question was really about whether an existing TATL redemption could have the domestic legs bolted-on when they become available. I think the answer is “no”.
Incidentally, I’ve seen AA shift a schedule over the course of a year, but I’ve not experienced the kind of on-the-day shifting mentioned. Without a protected connection, I would stay overnight at the connecting point.
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