Need Advise - Kid will be infant on onward Int' Journey & Child on Returen Trip
Dear FT'ers you have an excellent forum filled with so much knowledge and wisdom. I thank you all.
I need some advise.
I have to travel internationally on business in 2 weeks (just found out a day ago).
My company will do my booking through their booking office and uses United/Lufthansa as preferred airlines. Most likely my booking will be all on Lufthansa on business class.
I want to take my family also with me (my wife and child). Their booking will be done by me in economy.
We want to leave around Feb 18th or 20th and be away internationally for 5 weeks.
PHL to BLR.
Kid turns 2 in early March.
I am kind of stuck booking on Lufthansa for my family also due to company preference on airline (also we need to travel together, wife can't travel alone with kid).
I called travel agents, checked kayak and other websites and also Lufthansa site and called Lufthansa CSR also.
Lufthansa and Travel Agents said buy a RT Child ticket even though kid will be an infant on onward journey.
Lufthansa one way's are super expensive so I can't explore than option.
Is my only option doing RT child ticket (which is coming to nearly 85% of adult RT fare).
Even though my kid will only be 3 weeks past her 2 year birthday on the return trip I don't want to lie and purchase an infant RT because it doesnt seem right and second if they make me purchase a ticket on the way back it will be very expensive at the airport.
So any thoughts/advise on how to go about this to maximize savings?
My trip details:
PHL to BLR
Departing any day Feb 15th to Feb 23rd
Returning: 5 weeks or so from departure date so Mar 21st to 31st
Thank you very much in advance.
I hope this is the right forum, if not mods please move it.
I looked and couldn't find the most suitable forum to post this.
I don't have Lufthansa's policy to hand, but Air Canada's reads like this:
*For international travel, if an infant's second birthday occurs between the departure and return segments of an international trip, the fare can be determined from one of the two options below:
The child can pay the full published child's fare for that flight (and be certain to have a confirmed seat both ways), or
The child can pay the infant fare on the departure, and the published child's fare on the return.
You can't lie about the age, as presumably for an international trip the child will have to have a passport.
I don't have Lufthansa's policy to hand, but Air Canada's reads like this:
*For international travel, if an infant's second birthday occurs between the departure and return segments of an international trip, the fare can be determined from one of the two options below:
The child can pay the full published child's fare for that flight (and be certain to have a confirmed seat both ways), or
The child can pay the infant fare on the departure, and the published child's fare on the return.
You can't lie about the age, as presumably for an international trip the child will have to have a passport.
Emma correct, the passport will be there and even if there is a chance that the gate agent misses it, I don't want to risk it and as I said before I don't think it is right either. So I am not exploring that option.
Air Canada's policy seems good and I was hoping that Lufthansa would have a similar policy but in reading their website and talking to their CSR they don't. Their only advise was to buy a RT Child ticket (which seems unfair for the onward journey since my kid will still be an infant). Air Canada's policy seems fair to both the airline and the passenger but Lufthansa doesn't do such calculation in their booking.
Also unlike other airlines Lufthana's one way fare's are insane, like 3-4K when RT fare's are $1250-1350. So I can't try to do one way tickets for Infant going out and Child coming back in.
"Infants who turn two during the journey will require their own seat; a child fare will be charged for the whole journey." so it does seem that the only option is to buy the child return ticket.
I know you said wife can't travel alone, not sure why as you don't say, but would it really be that bad if you took the majority of the luggage etc (given you would have business class allowance) and your wife could fly a different airline with a more child friendly fare? Or negotiate with your company, I have worked for firms who have preferred airlines, and additional circumstances were allowed to override sometimes with management approval.
To be honest tho, a 'nearly 2 year old' on your lap for that length of flight is not something I would want to do - they are heavy, and fidgety, and in addition, I think I would want a child safety seat at the other end, so it might as well fly with me (with the child in it) on the seat next to me.
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Quote:
Originally Posted by emma69
To be honest tho, a 'nearly 2 year old' on your lap for that length of flight is not something I would want to do - they are heavy, and fidgety, and in addition, I think I would want a child safety seat at the other end, so it might as well fly with me (with the child in it) on the seat next to me.
This is a good point. Since you're going to be paying a child fare for at least one direction, I think you're looking at a best case savings of only a few hundred dollars if you manage to find a way to pay infant one way and child for the return, versus just buying the roundtrip child fare.
As a parent who has flown US-India (mostly on LH, too) with my wife and child at least 4 times when my daughter was between 9 months old and 6 years old, and having done both the lap child/bassinet route as well as a separate seat, I think it would be well worth just paying for the child ticket for the extra space and comfort. Plus with the child ticket, you also get the baggage allowance that goes with the ticket!
Since your company is paying for business class, have you considered asking if you can fly coach instead and use the leftover funds for the child ticket? Just a thought.
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This is a good point. Since you're going to be paying a child fare for at least one direction, I think you're looking at a best case savings of only a few hundred dollars if you manage to find a way to pay infant one way and child for the return, versus just buying the roundtrip child fare.
As a parent who has flown US-India (mostly on LH, too) with my wife and child at least 4 times when my daughter was between 9 months old and 6 years old, and having done both the lap child/bassinet route as well as a separate seat, I think it would be well worth just paying for the child ticket for the extra space and comfort. Plus with the child ticket, you also get the baggage allowance that goes with the ticket!
Since your company is paying for business class, have you considered asking if you can fly coach instead and use the leftover funds for the child ticket? Just a thought.
True we thought about it. Actually we have flown both LH and BA with our child and BA was great, in that they either give you a bassinet or a reclining child seat which is excellent for kids older than a year old.
I asked at work if they would reimburse for all of us on coach travel since my business ticket itself is around 4.5-5K on LH. But that needs senior VP approval and my boss was hesitant.
Even if we all did coach (2 adults + 1 child) it would still be cheaper than 5K but companies hesitate to save money. Oh the irony!
I was thinking of another route, book all of us in economy on BA and have my company reimburse me only for my economy ticket. They still save about $3K and I will save a few hundred dollars for my family by doing so.
I called BA their lines are closed, got routed to Greaves travel who said BA has a way to do such booking (with one leg being infant and return leg on child fare) but can only be done over the phone and I have to call after 5.30 p.m. EST today.
In the meantime LH fares keep increasing :-( bummer.
Emma, Maxwell others who have traveled internationally with kids over 2, do you take the car seat with you and use that or did you just have the child in the seat by himself?
My wife and I were thinking of what would be most comfortable and safe for the child. Our front seating car seat while keeping her safe would not allow her to sleep or rest conformatably given the way it is.
Not sure what the best suggestion is for the child's comfort and safety?
Safety, it is the car seat without a doubt. Comfort it is probably the bare seat, as it will give the child more space, but that depends on your child, the airline seat, and the car seat. Is the car seat narrow enough that it would fit on the floor in front of the child's seat? If so you could use the seat for take off, landing, turbulance, and use the lap belt on the seat during the rest of the flight.
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enjoyflying, welcome to FlyerTalk. As this is an ideal thread for the Travel with Children forum, I'll move it there. Ocn Vw 1K, Moderator, TravelBuzz.
I agree with emma re: an almost 2yo child in the lap. I've done it on a longer flight and it sucked (pardon my french). After the trip, I wished we had just shelled out for the extra seat rather than trying to save a few (hundred) bucks and having some miserable moments in the air.
Honesty's always the best policy. Buy what you need to buy according to the rules. Frankly, I'd buy the child his/her own seat anyway, because, as another poster mentioned, flying that far with a lap child will be no fun for anyone.
Why can't you just purchase a round trip child fare? I would not want to hold a child in my lap for such a long flight. Is it really that much savings? And, bring the car seat onboard.
enjoyflying, welcome to FlyerTalk. As this is an ideal thread for the Travel with Children forum, I'll move it there. Ocn Vw 1K, Moderator, TravelBuzz.
Thank you! Sorry for posting it in the wrong forum.
Folks thank you, you certainly make valid points for purchasing RT child ticket and I am not going to argue against it.
My only concerns are/were:
- Even in a seat of her own, the child will not be comfortable in sleeping etc, so here a car seat would be needed, we have both rear facing and front facing car seats with us. The rear facing would almost certainly not work, feet would stick out and she would feel compressed.
Front facing car seat may be comfortable to sit in, but not for sleeping, with the straight back and fixed side support it may not be the most ideal.
I have done close to 2 dozen trips between the US and India in the past 16-17 years and usually pick travel in Jan-Mar time frame due to cheaper tickets and partially empty flights. With our kid, in the last 2 years with the two trips we have been lucky to have empty seats, so we got like 4 and 5 seats together and she just slept on 2-3 seats between my wife and me (and all this on infant ticket, gravy I know).
Those are excellent and our daughter loved it and she slept like, well like a baby all the way through.....
So that was my thinking, why pay for something that we may not use (and when legally we don't have to - on the onward journey at least). I certainly don't intend to lie or break any rules, right from my OP I said that I will certainly buy the child ticket on the return journey.
For the onward journey I may save about $300-400 with the infant ticket. My idea of not buying a child seat for the onward journey was that the seat may not be used at all instead the bassinet may be handy.
I may have got approval from my work to consider other airlines (other than UA/LH) as long as their business ticket is cheaper than what my company is getting from LH.
So I will consider that option and keep everyone informed.
Thanks again everyone!
Last edited by enjoyflying; Feb 4, 11 at 12:32 pm..
Buy the kid a seat in both directions. PHL to BLR with a(n almost) two-year-old lap infant is, IMHO, insane. It will be well worth the few hundred dollars. Betting on getting an empty seat next to you is a risky proposition, especially into BLR---IME those flights tend to be packed to the gills with IT consultants!
Also, if you fly an airline other than LH (which does not allow them), I'd strongly recommend the CARES harness instead of the car seat.
