Originally Posted by
hfly
Also in my experience, it was often easier to just show up at the airport a bit early and get it done there, rather than try and do it on the phone. In my experience Delta agents at international gateways are far more experienced with this than those on the phone.
Certainly not if the point of origin is overseas! You might be ok doing this if the origin is in the USA, especially at a hub or larger airport.
Originating overseas you are dealing with people who aren't actually DL employees and who have to call into DL for help with anything out of the ordinary. A lady at HKG I used to talk to for lap infant tickets told me that there have been cases when she wasn't there where it took so long for the others to figure out what to do that the family missed the early HKG-NRT departure.
ALWAYS buy ahead of time if you originate overseas.
Calling DL will not necessarily help. I tried this once and actually thought I had the ticket booked and they promised to send the paper ticket by mail to me in HKG. Only it turns out that for some reason they weren't allowed to do so, and they simply cancelled the transaction and never charged my card. I only found out I didn't have an infant ticket because I called a few weeks later to inquire why I hadn't received it yet. From then on I just made time to go to the airport and buy at the counter after booking the regular tickets. Annoying but it works every time.
Thankfully I'm (probably) done with lap infant tickets for life.