Originally Posted by drbond
Now for the response to this. You must not travel much or have never flown with children. Regardless of whether their is a discount or not, you must disclose the age of all children. Rules vary on the age that they want them spelled out but any 12 and under will always have to be disclosed.
Sez who?
My son and I are FF, and I stopped disclosing his age to the airlines when he turned 2 (is now 6) and it stopped being cheaper to buy a child's ticket for him. I now book a discount adult fare for him, print BP at home, and nobody has ever said a word about his age when we fly. If the airlines really cared, they could probably determine his age from his mileage accounts, but I've seen no sign that it matters to anyone, let alone that it affects our seat assignments.
To the OP: I book direct with the airlines, book well in advance and reserve seats at the time of booking. Then I check them periodically until the day of departure, when I print boarding passes. For our family, traveling in groups of 2 or 3, we've never had to sit last row by doing it this way - who wants to smell the toilets for the whole flight?