This post contains references to products from one or more of our advertisers. We may receive compensation when you click on links to those products. The content on this page is accurate as of the posting date; however, some of the offers mentioned may have expired. For more information check out our Advertising Disclosure. You found the award space (or got the Thrifty Traveler Premium alert), transferred your points or miles, and booked a flight. Congrats! Now, it's time to iron out the rest of those flight details: Most importantly, choosing your seat.

Sometimes that's easier said than done.Straightforward award tickets using an airline's own miles for one of its flights – booking Delta with your SkyMiles, for instance – area cinch: Just pick a seat while you book. But if you're booking a partner award ticket using miles from another carrier, it can get complicated.

If you took our advice and booked a Delta flight through its partner Virgin Atlantic (and saved a ton of points), for instance, you can easily select your seat during the online booking process. Other crafty workarounds aren't so lucky: Whether you're redeeming American miles to book Qatar Qsuites or credit card points you transferred to a foreign airline mileage program, it often takes a bit more legwork. In some extreme cases, you might even need to (cover your ears, Millennials and Gen Zers) pick up the phone and call the airline.

No matter which airline you're flying, don't get stuck in a random seat. These are the general steps you should follow to choose your seat after booking with your points and miles.

In this post 1. Try Picking Seats When You Book 2. Enter Your Confirmation Code with the Airline Youre Flying 3. Get a Different Confirmation Code Try That 4. Finally, Contact the Airline 1. Try Picking Seats When You Book The easiest to choose your seats on an award flight is when you're booking your flight.

To be clear, this won't be possible with every airline – far from it. But it's worth checking to see if you have that option during the checkout process.

Thanks to Delta and Virgin Atlantic's close partnership, you'll be able to pick your seat even when booking with Virgin Atlantic Flying Club points, like I did with this short Delta flight from Minneapolis-St. Paul (MSP) to Madison (MSN).

The same goes for booking Delta flights through its other airline partners, Air France or KLM, using their Flying Blue miles.Others aren't so lucky.

For example, here's what you'll see when trying to book a United Airlines flight using Air Canada Aeroplan points.

If you don't have the option to assign seats during checkout – or it doesn't work – you'll need to wait until after your flight is officially booked.

2. Enter Your Confirmation Code with the Airline You're Flying Once you've booked your award flight, you'll get a confirmation code you can use to look up your booking … with the airline you booked through and, if you're lucky, with the carrier you'll actually be flying.

If you struck out selecting seats at booking, the next step is taking that six-digit confirmation code over to the airline you'll be boarding to see if you can select seats.

For this ITA Airways business class flight earlier this year booked through Virgin Atlantic, both the booking reference number and the 13-digit electronic ticket number worked to look up my booking on ITA's website to choose my seats.

All I needed to do to select a seat for my flight to Rome was head over to ITA-Airways.com, select the option to manage a booking, and enter my confirmation code. From there, I could easily pull up ITA's seat map and pick seat 4A.

No matter which airline you're flying, they've always got a handy option to manage your trip where seat selection is available. But it's a 50-50 chance whether the confirmation code from the airline you booked with works or not.

Many (but not all) Star Alliance airlines share the same confirmation code, as do most SkyTeam carriers.Other partner award bookings – including most Oneworld airlines like American Airlines, Japan Airlines, and Qatar – do not.

For example, I couldn't pick seats on this Aer Lingus award ticket after booking with British Airways Avios.

If it doesn't work for you, either, you're not out of luck. Move onto step 3.

3. Get a Different Confirmation Code Try That Some partner award tickets actually generatetwodifferent confirmation codes:

The confirmation code from the airline you booked with And a different confirmation code for the airline you'll be flying It's the second one you might need to pick your seats. Fortunately, many airlines make that easy: Some will include it in the initial confirmation code. Otherwise, you can often find it when looking up your reservation online with the airline you booked through.

Here's what that looks like with this Lufthansa business class flight booked using Air Canada Aeroplan points.

The same is true for virtually every partner award ticket you book using American AAdvantage – whether you book Japan Airlines economy or business class to Tokyo, Qatar Qsuites, and more. Pull up your reservation at AA.com and look for the separate confirmation code.

Either way, take that second confirmation code and head to the website of the airline you're actually flying to see if you can select your seats online. You should see an option to manage your booking or look up your reservation where you can enter that airline-specific code to pull up your flights.

From the next screen, you should be able to see if it allows you to choose your seats. For example, after entering the booking code provided by Air Canada for my Lufthansa flight, I can easily pick seats online for free. Done. Cross that one off the to-do list.

In some cases, finding the airline confirmation code you need isn't as easy as checking your email or pulling it up online. Don't worry: You don't need to pick up the phone just yet.

In that case, you can simply start an online chat (or send a direct message on social media!) with the airline you booked through. Give them the confirmation code you already have and ask for the partner confirmation number, as our editor Kyle did with this Avianca LifeMiles booking a few years ago.

4. Finally, Contact the Airline If you aren't able to choose your seats during the booking process or online through the operating airline's website, you'll have to call the airline you're flying to select your seats – or, better yet, use an online chat feature.

I booked these Aer Lingus business class flights using British Airways Avios, which means that I can select my seats for free … I just have I have to call Aer Lingus to do.First, I had to call British Airways to get the Aer Lingus booking code – the one provided in my email receipt from BA was for British Airways. This was simple: I just asked the agent to provide the Aer Lingus booking reference number for my flight.

Correct confirmation code in hand, I called Aer Lingus, followed the prompts, and was eventually connected to an agent who helped me select my seats. A few minutes later, my assigned seats appeared in my Aer Lingus booking online.

Bottom Line Booking flights with points and miles is a great way to fly for free (or nearly free) all over the world. But when you book an award flight through a partner airline, it may take extra legwork to choose your seat.

Follow this guide to make sure you get the seat you want on your flight – especially if you're flying up front!