Booking a seat for a Child under 2
 

First time experience with AirBerlin and it is not going well. Hoping you all can help me problem solve. Here's the situation. I booked BOS-LIN for my family (9 of us) for travel this summer last night in Economy Saver. My sister would like a seat for her 18-month old, which is perfectly reasonable. However, AB's website automatically assumes that any passenger aged 0-2 is a a lap infant. As a work-around, I tried to book him as a child, but the website stopped me because his date of birth showed that he was less than two. Wanting to get all of our tickets booked when prices were solid, I booked him as an infant (0-2) and figured I'd call this morning to have them help me change the existing reservation to get a seat.

Fast forward to this morning. I called AB's New York office and got an incredibly rude agent who informed me that children 0-2 are lap infants. I gently explained that this is not a rule and that I would gladly pay the increased fare for him to have a seat. After she backed down on her first argument, she then told me I should have called last night (they were closed), and that this was impossible. We went around a few times and then I'm pretty sure she hung up on me.

So, what to do? Cancel the whole reservation (it's within 24 hours), and rebook via the phone and then fight when they try to charge me for booking over the phone? Seems wildly inefficient when I just need to pay them more for a seat for a passenger that's already booked. Thoughts? Thank you for any help you can provide.

it´s standard for every airline I know that a child under 2 is considered an infant and does not have it´s own seat, however I fully agree that AB should have the flexibility to book an additional seat if you wish to and also offered to pay for it.

I suggest to try call again and hope for a more capable agent. While I have no experience in booking an additional seat this should be a process which is typically offered by airlines also in other cases, such as transporting your cello.