QT31415

Hi, I searched this question and couldn't find an answer. Hoping someone can shed some light on this question. I'm MVP and am upgraded on a fairly regular basis. When traveling with my kids (ages 11, 16, and 17) I usually seat them in row 6 and try to sit in row 4. They are well traveled and have never caused any type of disturbance. We are traveling tomorrow and I've been upgraded; I called to see if I could use a mileage upgrade for the kids and was told that I would have to upgrade them or pay an unaccompanied minor charge for the 11 year old.

The agent told me that any travel that separates a minor into a different service class would incur the charge. She said we've been "lucky" to get away with not paying the fee on the countless other trips when we have traveled in different classes. She then offered to put me back in coach so I wouldn't have to pay the fee.

Say it ain't so! The 11 yr old will be MVP after this flight so the fee would be waived anyway, but I'm just so bewildered by this new info.

golfingboy

Technically, AS has to treat your 11 year old as an unaccompanied minor, because you are not on the same PNR as your 11 year old... There are liability issues involved on AS's side...

missydarlin

not true at all...

I would have asked for a supervisor. I could be mistaken, but I think you got bad info.

jackal

I seem to recall my boss having trouble booking his two younger daughters in Y (youngest was 12 at the time, though you'd never know she was that young, and the older was 16) while he, his wife, and their oldest daughter (21) flew in F. I was helping him book the tickets using their mileage accounts, and the website seemed to balk when they put in "2 children" on their own separate reservation and tried to make him pay the UM fee. The solution was simple: don't tell the website they were children (since 2-17 doesn't get any price break anyway, especially on awards). They were, of course, never questioned when they checked in or boarded.

So, it does seem to be policy, at least as enforced by the website. A supervisor may be able to officially waive the fee if the guardians are on another reservation on the same site, though, without tricking the system...

golfingboy

It is obvious that the OP is on a completely separate PNR from his kids [to get the upgrade], so if the PNR is not linked in any way there is any way AS will know if the children is being accompanied by a parent if the OP never called after getting the upgrade? And this could get a little messy in IROPs, because if the PNR is not linked, an agent will not know that a party from one PNR and the other PNR needs to be re-booked on the same flight...

I.E.

ANC-LAX flight gets canceled

The agent proactively books the OP's kids on ANC-PDX-LAX and rebook the OP on ANC-SEA-LAX... How will the agent know that both PNRs are not "separate" if it is not in the system?

3Cforme

Is this a separate PNR issue, or simply a separate cabin of service? As frame of reference, AA looks to charge the unaccompanied minor fee for separate cabins. It may be somewhat less of a problem because, IIRC, AA accepts siblings 15+ (not 18+) as guardians in Coach.

As to the F-traveling parents' ability to monitor children, I don't see much dfference between parents in row 3 and children in row 4 from parents in row 3 and children in row 6. (Parents in row 3 and children in row 20 is quite a different matter.) But flying has a lot of rules, and rules shall be followed.

bayareafamily

and just not marked that they were children. When trying to book flights in the past where each family member had a discount voucher (from a prior flight's price drop), but only voucher could be used per reservation, I was advised by CC to do it this way and had no problems.

I have let the GA know, if there are any irregularities, that they are actually minors and we are traveling as a family, and that has headed off any rebooking, etc possibilities. If it's against policy nobody thus far has given us any grief whatsoever.

Good luck!

vangrizz

Last week Alaska decided to upgrade my wife and I on a flight even though we hadn't asked to be put on the upgrade list. This seperated us from our 3 children (12, 10, and 8) flying in coach. The agent at check-in seemed incredulous that I was concerned about this and said "I wouldn't worry. It's not like their 5 or something."

We always leave one parent in each cabin, but we have to explain that we are doing it. In your case, simply telling them that you will give the upgrade to the 16 year old and sit with the 11 year old should avoid the problem. Who sits where once you board the plane is up to you guys.

dabears1020

Gonna have to side with the agent on this one. Your children are going to have serious developmental issues if you're still coddling them as if they're 4. It's not like you'd be on different planes.

missydarlin

The website forces you to go through the UM process, if you aren't booking an adult in the record ... this is to ensure that those booking the UM understand the rules, and that we get all the pertinent info.

All the parent has to do after that is call in and let AS know that they are traveling as well, and we can link the reservations, and pull the UM info out.

The workaround you suggested is not encouraged, because the kids can be treated as a separate party when it comes to irrops or sched changes.

But there is no policy requiring that they have to be treated as a UM if they have a separate record.

This is why its important to call in and attach the records of everyone traveling together.

Duckouttahere

Is this an unintended consequence of the new automatic UG policy or will the system NOT UG automatically if there is more than 2 people on the PNR? Inquiring minds want to know. I don't see a problem with 12,10, and 8 year olds if they behave but having adults in the front cabin while fellow passengers have to deal with misbehaving children in coach can potentially be a problem.

maokh

I frequently book strange PNRs, including booking 2 year olds by themselves, etc. As long as you are somewhere on the plane, they don't care -- sometimes you don't even have a choice if your 3 year old is in row 29 and you are in 6. I do always make an effort to tie them together.

Why would i book a 2 year old by herself? We have mileage scattered all over the place, so its impossible to put them onto one booking. We also break our party into upgradable chunks so at least some of us get lucky.

Putting the kids in Y isn't uncommon, i see it a bit. I also even had an agent ask me if this is something i wanted to do when there was enough room for the adults and not the kids.

sushiboy

The decision to sit separately is really a safety issue. Do you feel your kids are able to follow the directions of the FA? And also will you follow directions and exit from the front exit while your kids exit over the wing? The biggest issue will be a panicked parent pushing people to get to the kids. The panicked parent would be me.

vangrizz

My wife and I (who are MVP) got the upgrades while my 3 children (who are not MVP) did not from the same PNR. I don't know if it was the system who upgraded us or an agent who was doing some seat shuffling though, so I can't comment as to whether or not this was an unintended consequence.

As for my kids...they are good flyers and have never been a problem on a plane, but at home the 10 and 8 year old sisters can get into some nasty spats. Therefore, we always leave an adult with them.

golfingboy

Interesting... Unless my understanding of how the system works is backwards, but as Golds we cannot have more than one companion on our PNR if we want to get upgraded. If it is only me or me and a companion then there should not be any issue, however, if it is me and 2 other people and then I cannot get upgraded at the upgrade window unless I split the PNR...

I am pretty sure the same goes for MVPs... In other words, MVPs do not have companion upgrade benefits, so the only way they can get upgraded is to be on an independent PNR...

Maybe it is my understanding of how the system works is flat out wrong OR like you said the agent upgraded you manually...