Originally Posted by
awaflyboy
Doing this can throw off our computations for weight and balance as children are counted as weighing less than adults. Thus why we ask if the passenger is a child. If a flight goes on a weight restriction we look at how many children are showing in the system and if there aren't enough to give us the extra weight space we need then the flight gets a cap and we have to ask for vols and may even have to invol someone. Having all the correct information really does help.
Then if flying a "child" truly saves the airline money, they can offer child discounts, as they did in the past, and/or can fix their system to allow different fares in the same PNR, as all the OP is trying to do is get the lowest total fare available in the same cabin.
I usually select the proper number of "child" entries when booking us together, but end up regretting it as I end up having to click through more screens admonishing that special fares may require identification...even though the fare is exactly the same.
OP -- while the TSA requires birthdates to be entered, for most airlines that's not linked to the ticketing; you should try doing the booking anyway; I suspect it will go through.
IROPS can be an issue, but calling to have the itineraries linked by note (which doesn't guarantee automatically being rebooked together) and having a small child standing there who obviously must travel with you will get you put together (possibly on a later flight).