Originally Posted by
JBord
I'd turn the question around. Besides the online upgrade issue, any reason not to add the child to the reservation?
Seems to me it's a lot easier to deal with it right away rather than having more work to do later, and possible disruption at the airport if you wait that long.
As the original post stated, United's computer could not handle having to deal with a lap child and "other forms of payment", including certificates and united.com club credits. When those forms of payment were included, the reservation would not ticket unless it was manually cleared.
The online upgrade issue was the second issue, which likely traces back to the same source as the payment issue.
Given these issues, it seems to me that the path of least resistance is to leave the lap child off, have all the payment and upgrade options. That is, it does not seem to be "a lot easier to deal with it right away", rather, it seemed to be easier to push out the issue to a later time.**
Granted, the real solution should be for United to fix the computer so people don't have the motivation to wait, but this issue is probably 3872th on the priority list.
**(For domestic, all UA metal itinerary. Not including international or partner flights)