Qatar Avios flight, oneworld Emerald paying for seat selection

[ayearinmx]

So i just booked an Avios flight on Qatar Airways, BRU-CEB in Economy and CEB-BRU in Business… I am OWE through BA and my QR account (Burgandy) is linked to my BA account (which is where all my avios have come from).

Obviously the CEB-BRU flights I can choose my business seat for free, but for some reason, when i try to select my seats for the BRU-CEB legs, it is asking for payment… is this a bug? do i have to wait 24hrs or something? should i ring up?

any advice?

[ayearinmx]

Further inspection, it’s definitely been linked to my Qatar Burgundy account, rather than my BA Hold account.
I can’t seem to change this online, but can I do it over the phone?

[Jon]

I’ve had similar issues with Avios redemptions on BA metal, where it defaults to my BAEC (blue) account and won’t let me add my OWE account. The solution that I’ve found works for me (there may be others):

– Go to Finnair web site and Manage Booking
– Add your OWE FFP details
– Delete your BAEC/other (non-status) FFP details (this is the important bit, it seems)
– Go back to BA (or possibly QR in your case) web site where you should now be able to select seats for free

[BA Flyer IHG Stayer]

The link between BA and QR accounts only facilitates the transfer of avios and not status.

So book via your QR account then it will pick up your QR status.

You shoukd be able to change it using (as above) MMB via Finnair. Royal Jordanian may also work.

[ayearinmx]

Jon wrote:

I’ve had similar issues with Avios redemptions on BA metal, where it defaults to my BAEC (blue) account and won’t let me add my OWE account. The solution that I’ve found works for me (there may be others):

– Go to Finnair web site and Manage Booking
– Add your OWE FFP details
– Delete your BAEC/other (non-status) FFP details (this is the important bit, it seems)
– Go back to BA (or possibly QR in your case) web site where you should now be able to select seats for free

Thank you! This worked for me and I have since chosen my seats. Much appreciated

[NorthernLass]

I see you’ve sorted this, but I had the same problem and used QR chat in the app – they amended my account details so I could then select seats for free.

But the Finnair trick sounds good – do you need an account with them to do this?

[Jon]

NorthernLass wrote:

But the Finnair trick sounds good – do you need an account with them to do this?

No – just go to Manage Booking from the Finnair home page and use your booking reference – no need to log in etc.

I quite like Finnair’s app for keeping track of OneWorld (not just Finnair) bookings, incidentally. Not sure whether that works without a logged in Finnair account.