[Derek1948]

My Travel Agent booked my wife and I to Nashville in a couple of months on BA. I understand that we get Tier points and Avios on these flights. At the same time she booked return flights from Nashville to Charleston on American via Charlotte. The first flight is 6 days after we arrived in Nashville.
The TA told me that we would be able to claim Tier points and Avios when we got back from the USA from BA. I am a bit worried about this as have never had this sort of itinerary before, always having flown direct to my destination.
My question is that as the AA flights are not on a BA/AA code share, will I be able to get BA Tier points for the internal flights and Avios when I return to the UK?
I assume being Silver/Sapphire OW we’ll also be able to use the FREE checked baggage allowance on the AA flights. As you can probably guess from the above, I’ll be changing my TA for my next trip!
Any help will be gratefully received – apart from “don’t fly BA!!” Many thanks

[Gold-2K]

Yes you will get tier points and avios. Go to aa.com and open your reservation using the reservation number you have. You will be able to add your BA membership number and you will get your points automatically. You can also select seats etc.

I fly internal US a lot with American and have never had a problem. In fact in many cases my account gets credited within 24 hours which is actually quicker than BA.

You will also be able to use the AA lounges – but I’m sure you already knew that.

[nevereconomy]

Once you add your EC number to the AA res you will also get a lower group number for boarding when you print your passes which is a bonus. You may also get TSA precheck – somewhere on your boarding pass you may see Pre followed by a tick sign. This means at security you may not have to take off shoes or remove liquids and/or laptops – does depend on the airport.

[Derek1948]

Many thanks for the two replies both of which were very informative and have been actioned.
All we have to worry about now is a possible poilots strike forBA.

[Folium]

I am impressed you still use a travel agent, especially for what appears to be personal (as opposed to business) travel.

My only thought is that 6 days in Nashville seems like quite a lot unless you are a huge C&W fan. A day trip to Mammoth Caves in KY with a side order of the Corvette Museum at Bowling Green might be interesting, if that floats your boat. Sadly, visits to the Corvette assembly line I believe are no longer possible.

Enjoy Charleston and I presume you will be visiting some of the plantations around the city. Interesting but important to get beyond the “Gone with the Wind” airbrushed history….

[TimFitzgeraldTC]

Your TA can add in the BA number into the AA booking with a simple command to ensure you get the miles as well.

If you have BA silver status once BA number in the booking you can also assign the preferred seats at no charge in Economy. So do this if you haven’t already done so.

[MartynSinclair]

[quote quote=950360]I am impressed you still use a travel agent, especially for what appears to be personal[/quote]

Why ??

[Folium]

[quote quote=950408]

Folium wrote:

I am impressed you still use a travel agent, especially for what appears to be personal

Why ??[/quote]

Why “impressed”?
Politeness with a hint of irony.

[nevereconomy]

A great many people use travel agents, especially those who do not travel often and prefer to have someone do the looking and booking for them.
It is a personal choice and frankly with the horrible websites many airlines have, I am tempted to use one myself sometimes..I do if booking RTW
as too much of a pain to come up with 16 workable sectors.

[nevereconomy]

A good selection of things to do in Nashville at https://www.viator.com/Nashville/d799#
Should be plenty to fill your time there and no rushing around.

[capetonianm]

There is still a place for professional travel agents where complex multi-sector itineraries are concerned, these often being impossible or very challenging to book other than via a GDS. A good travel agent will add value to the process, in many ways.
They often have negotiated rates which may offer greater flexibility than public rates as well as possibly saving money.
They can provide backup 24/7 if something goes wrong.
There is also the aspect that some people just prefer to hand over some things to a professional and are happy to pay for that service.

[Peter]

Another day trip from Nashville to consider is a visit to the Jack Daniels distillery in Lynchburg TN. They do good tours and you can get a tasting ticket.

[Derek1948]

Thanks for that Peter. When we visited there about 30 years ago there was no actual tasting of any JD due to the distillery being in a dry county. I think I’ve more than made up since then 😃

[IanFromHKG]

TAs sometimes have access to deals – or are able to suggest alternative routes/airlines – that aren’t easily accessible otherwise

I consider myself fairly savvy about shopping around for flight deals, but a while back I was facing a possible urgent need to get to the UK (the circumstances driving this did not, thankfully, transpire) and contacted TimFitzgeraldFC, a regular poster on here (or he used to be, haven’t seen much recently), for help as I wasn’t getting much joy online, and he was able to find a couple of pretty attractive deals that I hadn’t identified myself.

Gold-2k quite rightly pointed out that you will have lounge access – this will (I am sure) not be flagged by your check-in agent in the US as AA’s own FF programme doesn’t include domestic lounge access, but it is something you should definitely use.

Have a great trip!

[TimFitzgeraldTC]

Hi Ian

Still post from time to time, though topics often go round and round so don’t feel the need to get involved in them. If something comes up I feel I can help with or add insight to then I will post. Also life has just got hectic – but still follow the forum most days!

Hope all is well with you.

Tim

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