Travel with Children - Lap Child, when to tell the airline?

Dearl FTers,

We are expecting an expansion to our family this summer. Currently, we have two roundtrip tickets booked using BA miles on American Airlines flights for a September trip. The travel will be all in the continental U.S. I was wondering at what point do we need to inform AA (or BA?) about the fact that we will be traveling with a 2-month old? Do we need to inform them at all?

Currently our tickets are for just two of us, we are both U.S. citizens, we are traveling in business class, non-stop on 767-200, not sure if that matters in anyway.

Thank you for your responses.

Best,

PedroNY

You will NEED a ticket for your baby. Most airlines will charge 10% of the ticket price or miles for a lap child. I am not sure about BA's policy. It's probably best to book the ticket for your baby once born. Congrats.

Yes, you will need a ticket for your baby but if I recall correctly, if it's all domestic travel, the infant will fly for free. If you're traveling international, then the infant will be charged 10% of going rate. I just booked a ticket for my infant born a few weeks ago from Houston to Germany in August and total cost was around $300, which was about 10% of business class price. Also, you can't really book it until the child is born because they do ask for a birthdate. You could always book in advance, give them a fake birthdate and then change once your child is born. Congrats and good luck...

The OP's trip is for a domestic US trip (paid for using BA miles), so lap child infant is free.

While it is better to inform the airline over the phone as soon as possible, it can also be handled at the airport, even as the latter will require even more additional time at the airport to get things straightened out. I suggest handling this with the operating airline, AA in this case.

The OP will need a boarding pass indicating a baby -- that won't cost additional since the lap child infant travels for free domestically.

Dearl FTers,

We are expecting an expansion to our family this summer. Currently, we have two roundtrip tickets booked using BA miles on American Airlines flights for a September trip. The travel will be all in the continental U.S. I was wondering at what point do we need to inform AA (or BA?) about the fact that we will be traveling with a 2-month old? Do we need to inform them at all?

Currently our tickets are for just two of us, we are both U.S. citizens, we are traveling in business class, non-stop on 767-200, not sure if that matters in anyway.

Thank you for your responses.

Best,

PedroNY

Waiting until after the birth shouldn't be an issue. I wouldn't do anything until you know the birthdate, as the last thing you'll want to do in the first month of parenthood will be going through the phone tree/hold routine to change whereas adding an infant is pretty easy.

Dear All,

Thank you for all of these insightful responses. Indeed, we are traveling domestic on AA-metal plane (using BA miles). I will give them a call after the child is born, it seems to be the easiest way to handle it.

Thank you,

PedroNY