Considering British Airways Executive Club’s distance-based award schedule, redeeming British Airways Avios for American Airlines travel is a popular redemption. These benefits are great value, especially for domestic and short-haul international travel. Plus, British Airways partners with most major transferable points currencies, making it easy to get British Airways Avios.
In this post, I’d like to answer some frequently asked questions when booking these benefits. How do I manage my reservations on American’s website? And how do I add my AAdvantage number to my reservation?
How to find American Airlines locator on British Airways
When you issue an award ticket through British Airways Executive Club, you will receive a confirmation code. Then when I try to go to his website for American Airlines and enter, I get an error message. This is because the two airlines use different booking platforms. American Airlines uses Saber and British Airways uses Amadeus.
Fortunately, finding the American Airlines locator is very easy. Once you have ticketed your reservation, go to the Manage Reservations section of ba.com to manage your reservation. Once there, proceed to the “Change Seat” section.
Here you’ll see that the flight is operated by American Airlines, and you’ll see a button that says “View or change your seat on this flight.”
Click on it and scroll down and you’ll see both “BA Reservation Reference” and “American Airlines Reservation Reference” listed.
Once you have written down your six-digit American Airlines locator, go to the Manage Trip section on aa.com and use your last name and confirmation code to access your itinerary.
This is convenient because you can choose your seat, add your travel requests, and even check in online 24 hours before departure.
How to add an AAdvantage number to your British Airways Avios booking
We recommend adding your U.S. AAdvantage number to your reservation, especially if you have an elite status such as Executive Platinum, Platinum Pro, Platinum, or Gold. The problem is that when you book your ticket with British Airways Avios, your Executive Club number is automatically included in your booking. After that, if you go to her website in American, there is no way to remove it.
Luckily, there’s a trick. When you first book a ticket with Avios, make sure to remove the Executive Club number when entering your passenger details.
In addition, if the payment card holder selects “No” to answer whether to travel to the reservation, this will also be automatically removed.
Now, there are always some questions about whether you can use AAdvantage elite benefits on British Airways award bookings. Back in 2018, American Airlines’ terms and conditions stated:
“You cannot redeem partner airline miles with a partner frequent flyer number or receive benefits of the AAdvantage program, such as priority boarding or priority seat access.”
It has since been deleted, so I don’t think this happens anymore. Some agents may still say it’s not possible, but if you can book through self-service, you should be fine.
conclusion
If you’re redeeming British Airways Avios for an American Airlines flight, you’ll need a separate confirmation code to manage your booking on aa.com. Luckily, this is easy to find in the seat selection section of ba.com. Also, if you want to add his AAdvantage number to the reservation, leave the Executive Club number blank in the field.
What has been your experience with managing British Airways Avios tickets for American Airlines?
