catharsis

I'm looking for a travel agent who can ticket infant fare(s) for me. I'm told a 'good' travel agent is required.

E.G I have a requirement to book an 'infant in arms' ticket for an itinerary where the infant will have it's own (separate) purchased seat for one of the legs - meaning that I cannot book through the airline.

on another itinerary there are many domestic legs which would be free, but booking through the airline will result in a price of 10% of the entire (complex and expensive) itinerary.

I'm hoping that a travel agent will be able to sort this out and simply book what I need

examples of the sort of tickets I'm looking for are as follows
LHR-MEL on QF9, in First, one infant fare point-to-point.
SYD-FRA on OZ via ICN in Biz , again point-to-point infant fare not including the rest of the (award) itinerary is needed.

MSPeconomist

Unless you plan to use the same travel agent to book the adult tickets, I can't imagine that any travel agents would be very interested in this business. I'm also unsure how easy it is to find a travel agent who really understands the infant ticket rules for different airlines and routes. You might need to figure out exactly how each ticket should be done and then feed this information to a travel agent rather than using their advice. If so, why can't you similarly call the airline and direct them how to do the infant ticket--unless the airline is one that encourages passengers to purchase infant tickets at the airport on the day of departure. [If the airline requires paper tickets for the baby, be aware that travel agents might impose additional fees for this, even if you go to the travel agent's office in person to collect the ticket when it's ready.]

LondonElite

I don't really understand the problem. Every airline can book tickets for infants <2 in their own seats. We've done it many times with our (four) children. You don't need a travel agent, let alone a 'good' one. Both QF and OZ, in your example, will be able to quote and book you for infant fares in their own seats. Even the complicated combinations you cite later are bookable by airlines (but you may need to be patient and explain what you really want.)

catharsis

I'm absolutely comfortable explaining to an airline agent what I need, and even providing them with the exact details of the fare construction sourced from ITA, but there are a number of other threads on FT setting out horror stories for people trying to do anything a little 'different' and the received wisdom seemed to be to "get it ticketed completely separately by a good TA"

I will set a night aside to sit on hold with airline reservations and see can we get this done in that way.

Thanks for the suggestions/advice - I had already made a few calls to airlines and got self-contradictory information so was a little uncertain, but the flights are not for several months, I guess I can devote more time to trying to resolve with the airlines before giving up.

Doc Savage

Sometimes you have to try a couple of agents to find one who can handle the less routine bookings. If you have trouble, politely thank the agent and hang up and call again.

Silver Fox

You are over-egging this. Just call the airline and if the first person you speak to doesn't know, huca, until you get someone that knows what to do. And it just isn't an issue as you are not the first person on this planet to do this.

aBroadAbroad

Since this is not a Miles/Points related topic, let's try this out here in the TravelBuzz forum.

Good luck, and safe travels!

Moderator, Information Desk

justforfun

I had to book an infant ticket a few months ago and initially had some trouble as well. Not sure if my experience may help you, but you never know.

I had used Avianca miles to book award Lufthansa flights for the adult, and wanted to add an infant ticket. Avianca was saying Lufthansa needs to ticket it, Lufthansa was saying Avianca needs to ticket it. After numerous frustrating phone calls, I finally figured out what the problem was. Lufthansa thought I wanted an infant AWARD ticket. Once I asked for an infant REVENUE ticket to match my award flights, it was no problem at all and Lufthansa issued the ticket. I just don't understand why the four agents I spoke with at Lufthansa couldn't figure that out.

catharsis

Just to update:

TA has been unable to book tickets because AA will not let him know the correct 'price' for the ticket since the ticket was 'exchanged' by AA for some unknown reason resulting in the voiding of the previous eticket number and my new ticket number having a 'fare' of "exchanged".

QF, contrary to the repeated statements on this thread and elsewhere on FT have told me repeatedly that they cannot sell me an INF ticket since the original ticket is an AA -plated ticket.

AA themselves give wildly different answers every time I call but the 'theme' seems to be about €2000 each way for tickets I can buy on the QF website for €400.

I'll keep HUCA but this is now going on for weeks/months with no sign of light at the end of the tunnel.

TravelerMSY

I just went to look this up on the AA Agency reference section but they've locked it down with a password now.

You can usually find history of ticket info using the aa refunds site. Use your original ticket number, or trace your way back from the current one.