Stranger

To be fair, the TA is the agent *of the airline,* so in the context, he *is* the airline.

But admittedly, the system is broken. At many levels.

Fizzer

Would it not be possible to build in the seat selection fee for 1 adult and 1 child under a specified age into the child fare , so that AC doesn't have the negative publicity that goes with this type of issue? If they want to maintain competitiveness they could call it a mandatory child safety surcharge or some other made up fee. You know like they do with fuel.

While those who fly frequently can pour scorn on those "cheapo parents" who currently don't pay for pre-selection, I suspect that most infrequent flyers would probably select Tango based on price and, even though they have not preselected, would have a not unreasonable expectation that the airline would keep young children with at least 1 supervising parent.

Of course AC is currently deflecting the blame on the TA , without addressing the fact that the father in question seems to have got zero help when he arrived at the airport, despite AC claiming a policy to prevent this. Neither the check in agent or GA 's seem to have resolved this issue, which puts AC in a really bad light IMHO.

canadiancow

Then the "cheapo parents" as you call them would just buy the adult fare because it's cheaper.

eigenvector

Alright, that's a pretty good point. I guess if people want to be totally intransigent about it, the only way this can work is if the airline gives the seats away for free. Which of course they likely will never do unless the government forces them to.

ABG

There is no such requirement/policy/rule. PR spin.

Any requirement for age from an airline is related only to fare applied. So no child fare no reason to ID age to airline. Yes ac.com has a field for ages of pax, but i wouldn't be surprised if many people don't use it.

Anything that is "Secure Flight" isn't suppose to be gleamed by the airline for their own purposes, to my understanding.

Fizzer

I claim no ownership of the term and was merely quoting another in what was meant as sarcasm TBH. I suspect that a child's fare, even with mandatory seat selection ,would still be cheaper than an adult fare so I'm not sure how that would work.
I am actually with the parents on this one, have little sympathy for the airline but was acknowledging that they are potentially damned whatever they do.

canadiancow

If a child fare is cheaper than an adult fare, then why not just make it the same price (they occupy the same seat, after all), but include seat selection with it?

Would that solve the problem?

Probably not this one where the TA entered all passengers as adults, but when there are no screw-ups in the booking process it should work.

But then, AC says they already seat children with their families when they know there's a child, so this shouldn't be necessary.

The fact is that if AC allows you to specify that someone is a child, and you fail to do so, this is on you, not AC.

Mauricio23

And if it comes to that, the airline should be forced to reseat somebody who had preselected their seat and refund their seat selection fee / fare difference. I suspect that if that happened enough, the bright minds at the airlines would quickly find a way to keep parents and children together without inconveniencing other pax (i.e. losing ancillary revenue).

All the government has to do is to establish that no child under 11 (or whatever age), not flying as an unaccompanied minor, cannot fly separated from their parents. Figuring out the details of implementation is the airlines' job.

WR Cage

I recently booked a Vacation for the Cage family on UA.com. My UA profile has all members of the Cage family together with Nexus, passport, etc information. The website refused to allow me to allocate an adult fare to Miss Cage, I must select a fare of 2-11 age category.

If Canada adopted US style requirement to provide date of birth, this would help solve the issue at hand. As a side benefit, kids how share Ana,e with a member of no fly list will also have the added benefit of easier checkin process.

WR Cage

There is a little problem with the Charter of Rights and Freedoms in having the government limit the mobility rights of children.

My viewpoint on the application of mobility rights for Canadian children is very libertarian. For example I believe it is a denial of the child's mobility rights for CBSA to require a notarized letter from the nontraveling parent to allow for the child to leave or enter Canada. In this instance, it is a denial of child's mobility rights for the federal government to force airlines to seat children next to their parents in order for the child to travel about the country or to enter and leave the country.

With the exception of extradition, mobility rights are largely untested before the Supreme Court of Canada. I would be delighted to witness a Supreme Court case around the government's ability to limit the mobility rights of children with application of section 1 of the Charter.

Mauricio23

What's this got to do with limiting the mobility rights of children? They can always fly as unaccompanied minors. The rule would be that, if you do not pay the unaccompanied minor fee, they have to sit next to a parent.

pitz

The unaccompanied minor fee is likely also on shaky grounds as completely and utterly arbitrary, age discriminatory, etc. Guess Gabor Lukacs will have to have a kid of his own and test it out .

WR Cage

The child either requires a responsible guardian with them at all times or the child does not require a guardian. The requirement for a guardian to be present cannot be determined by the payment of a small fee. Therefore children under 8 would have to be seated next to a parent where as children over 8 years could be seated alone.

Further if it is determined that children under 8 require an attendant at all times, the policy of one fare one person applies. This could prompt the likes of AirPassengerrightsCA to argue that under Canadian law parents should be entitled to free transportation on Canadian domestic flights.

Of course this is an absurd proposition, however I propose that this is the unintended consequences of over regulation by the government.

WR Cage

Great minds think a like Pitz!!

Did you also read your 5yr old daughter a Fancy Nancy book at bedtime?

canadiancow

A is for Activist.