lovely15

Is this possible? For the first six months of her life, I was able to add her to an existing reservation as a lap child, then OLCI as normal. All of a sudden, on each flight, I can't check in because she doesn't have a seat. When I call AA they can sometimes work some magic and get it working, sometimes not.

Has anything changed?

And is there any issue with not adding her prior to arriving at the airport?

JonNYC

There was a recent change, but from the little it shows, should have made checking in at a SSM easier, not harder, if anything. The SSM should ask for D.O.B. for the child-- maybe that's what the agents are entering?

lovely15

Yes - I know I can add her at the SSM now, but would prefer to use OLCI at the 24 hour mark. I haven't been able to figure out if doing OLCI with just me on the reservation then adding her there is ok. Ticket agents kind of shrug at me and won't say one way or the other.

ETA: SSM does ask for DOB but so does my reservation if they add it over the phone - except it's for a completely new person who apparently requires a seat.

JonNYC

I'd say with the new SSM functionality, you should -not- add the infant to the PNR, during OLCI just check in yourself and then at her via SSM at airport.

smilinganddialing

I traveled in domestic F with lap infant earlier this week and it was much smoother than before. I was able to OLCI at T-24 and boarding pass just printed "With Infant" on it.

@JonNYC - could you explain the recent bassinet location/availability change for international flights that you mentioned on TB? The agent I spoke to had no knowledge of any such change.

mvoight

Isn't there a limit on how many lap children there can be on a flight, perhaps due to life jackets or oxygen masks? If so, then doing it at the airport might be too late.

JonNYC

Good question, do not know much on the subject.

I do have the complete list of new seat locations for the aircraft but it's in PDF form so I've been to lazy to post it.
I'll try and do a screen grab of it. Not sure just how many seats changed locations but if you post which aircraft type you're on, I'll try and start to put them up.

JonNYC

here's that new list (unsure if/how many locations have changed.)

ThreeJulietTango

The only change seems to be moving the bassinet-eligible seats from row 11 to row 12 on the reconfigured 767s. Interestingly, the bassinet locations on the reconfigured 777-200 are left out altogether.

I was under the impression that this was an internal document.

JonNYC

I'm under the same impression

smilinganddialing

JonNYC - do you know what the bassinet locations on the 77D are? You are very knowledgeable on all this stuff so I figured I'd ask. I have EF alerts in case third seat opens up for baby smilinganddialing on MIA - EZE but so far in Row 20 but looks like it will switch to the 77D. Row 13 seems like the obvious place to be but wanted to confirm.

JonNYC

I don't think I've seen anything on the subject, if I run across anything I'll definiteky post it.

smilinganddialing

Thanks JonNYC.

GUWonder

There is a limit to how many lap children can be in a row and in which rows they may be seated on AA planes, with the limit being an indirect consequence of number and placement of extra oxygen masks in the plane and how many seats there are in those rows. And for extended over-water flights, the number of spare life vests is also a factor in the limit.

Some rows have an extra oxygen mask or more (relative to seats in the row), and those are the rows in which lap child infants are to be assigned.

Interestingly enough to me, at least one US airline has had flight cabins where the limit was neither related to the number of oxygen masks nor to the number of spare life vests on board; rather, the limit in those cabins was a mere function of "no more than one lap-child per adult/eligible passenger" and "no lap children in exit rows". Jetblue comes to mind.