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Using some BAEC Avios (the British Airways Executive Club "miles"), I have booked a flight with Malaysian Airlines, who are a OneWorld partner of British Airways (BA). The ticket was issued on BA (125) stock, for the Malaysian flight with a MH flight number. BA have given me a 6 character Amadeus reference, and a 5 character Malaysian reference for the flight.

If I try to use the BA Manage My Booking, with the Amadeus reference, I get the error "Sorry, we are unable to add bookings that do not contain any British Airways flights to your account.". This error might make sense, were it not for the fact that it happily lets me manage BA ticketed flights with Cathay Pacific and Qantas. Clearly there is more OneWorld ticketing integration on the BA wesbite than the person writing the error message knows... But apparently integration with Malaysian isn't one of the supported one.

Next up, I tried the Malaysian website, and tried to use their Manage My Booking with the 5 character reference I have. That gives the error "We are unable to process your booking online. Please contact our call center".

Finally, I tried with the FinnAir website, as I know they are able to manage most OneWorld airline bookings, often even in cases when the ticketing or operating airline won't! FinnAir is able to show me the details of the flight, which is a good start, but sadly isn't able to let me select my seat.

Am I falling down the cracks between not fully integrated OneWorld ticketing systems here? Or is there another trick to let me manage such a booking online? (I've never had much luck with phoning Malaysian Airlines in the past is all....)

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  • I've had similar troubles in the past with AA and BA. At least in that case, I've needed separate 6 char references, which are sometimes tricky to find. Sounds like you have those, though. Have you tried doing this without being logged into your BAEC account? The error message is implying it can't add them to your account, but you might not need that, just to see the flight.
    – Andrew Ferrier
    Commented Apr 24, 2013 at 13:24
  • Also, have you tried the BA "exception process" page for finding the flight here: britishairways.com/travel/managebooking/public/… ? Try it with the BA flight number.
    – Andrew Ferrier
    Commented Apr 24, 2013 at 13:24
  • I know about the AA vs BA reference numbers, but that's not it - MH use a different system with 5 character references. Good tip on BA MMB when not logged in - that does let me see the details! But not pick seats :(
    – Gagravarr
    Commented Apr 24, 2013 at 14:11
  • @jetset The flight was back in 2013, so I doubt phoning either airline is going to help very much now...
    – Gagravarr
    Commented Dec 3, 2015 at 8:12

1 Answer 1

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Any time this type of issue has happened for me (with BA, BMI Star Alliance, and one of the US airlines) I just call and tell them the website can't cope.

Every time I have had a useful help person who did whatever was needed to make it happen.

Sometimes you just need to get a human to make it happen.

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  • Which airline do you think I need to phone though? The ticketing one (BA) or the operating one (MH)?
    – Gagravarr
    Commented Apr 24, 2013 at 22:08
  • I'd call British Airways, as they are the ticketing operator.
    – Rory Alsop ♦
    Commented Apr 24, 2013 at 22:10
  • +1. Award bookings on other airlines are convoluted enough that very few websites can handle them gracefully, and you won't be charged for the call since the airlines know this too.
    – lambshaanxy
    Commented Apr 24, 2013 at 22:37
  • BA weren't able to help, needed to speak to Malaysian Airlines. It took rather a lot of attempts to find the right number and get through, but I do now have my seat reserved at last!
    – Gagravarr
    Commented Jun 21, 2013 at 16:34

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