Originally Posted by
SJOGuy
I don't have children, so I'll never have to fork out this fee. But why would anyone not willingly pay it? It seems a small price to pay for the peace of mind of knowing that your child reaches his/her destination safely.
Agreed. I dont find the fee to be unreasonable, expecially since the age limit for optional use of the service has been lowered.
To avoid the UM fee, one can choose to send someone with the child*, although it will probably be difficult to find a ticket for a companion for $100 or less.
*We never chose to send our children alone. While the UM program is fine in theory, when our girls were young, we preferred they travel with family/close friends.
ETA:
Originally Posted by
janetdoe
The opposite of unethical, I find it fair to pass expenses onward to customers who incur them. If it takes AA additional man-hours to make your reservation over the phone, I would rather you pay the $20 (it's your child, after all) than the average ticket price goes up by even 1 cent.
I don't have any desire for AA to add extra (likely unprofitable) features to their website so that you can avoid fees and I can pay for the development cost through surreptitious fare increases. In fact, I think it is easier to argue that you are unethical when you demand that others pay for services that you use and they do not.
Well said! You are on a roll today.
