chillier

My wife and I are looking flying back to the UK from LAX to show off our new baby. I want to upgrade us to Biz and I am not sure how the fares will deal with little (3mth) Isabella. We do not plan on bying a seat for the baby, so what are the rules with regards to fare.

I can either get a Biz award for my wife or purchase Coach and ugrade her with a VIP04 or VIP03. What would the fare (if any) be in these scenarios for Isabella? Any advice would be gratefully received.

ESpen36

See posts below.

dallasflyer

I may be mistaken, however if flying internationally, the charge 10% of the fare for a lap child, so if you are upgraded thier is a substancial charge for the lap chil

TerryK

For international travel, infants pay 10% of the full F/J/Y fare depending on the cabin you sit in, not your fare. It could be very expensive for J cabin. I would either get three free J tickets, or sit in Y.

You could also do a search, there has been a number of threads about this.

millionmiler

It does matter with respect to the price as other posters have explained. You have to pay 10% of the price of the cabin that you sit in, not 10% or your original ticket price. in the case of coach to J, the baby ticket one way can easily be more that the whole adult round trip.

Posts like this are dangerous because you don't seem to know the rules and you are misleading people. This could cause anger against the airline for not meeting expectations that they never set.

ESpen36

My mistake. I wasn't paying attention and I didn't notice that it was an international itinerary. I apologize. I believe that what I said DOES apply on U.S. domestic itineraries. Internationally, all travelers, regardless of age, must have a ticket. It wasn't my intention to deceive anybody.

sipples

Assuming you're on one of the nonstops from LAX to Heathrow, that's a 777. If you end up in coach, if possible you and your wife could try reserving the end seats in rows 41, 42, or 43. For example, you could grab 41C and your wife 41G. If you can get AA to hold an adjacent seat "occupied" for a lap infant (unless they need to sell it), that'll help, too.

Chances are that both middle seats in rows 41 through 43 won't sell unless the plane is really full, in which case you (and your family) could have the whole row to yourselves. If the middle seats do sell, you or your wife can offer your aisle seat to one of the unlucky middle seat passengers.

My hunch is the second flight out of LAX won't be as crowded.

Row 40 not recommended because of the hard dividers between seats. (Probably not good with a baby.) Row 44 is likely too noisy. Rows 41 through 43 are still quite close to the rear lavatories, and obviously that's a plus in this situation. All these rows (40 to 44) have four seats in the middle section so you'll stand a good chance holding the whole row for yourselves (versus a five-seat row elsewhere).

hillrider

Did you check with AAdvantage to see if you can redeem miles for Isabella as well?

FF_Bello

I have travelled extensively with my four children when they were infants and I have never had to pay 10% of the full, unrestricted fare, but always 10% of the accompanying adult´s fare. I don´t have experience on AA in this respect, though, so is it a different policy in AA compared to other IATA carriers?

I have no idea how to answer the OP´s question, because my infants always got a BP, but never a seat assignment on it, as the infant is held by the adult. How this would work with an upgrade, I don´t know, as in my experience scoring an upgrade with an infant is VERY difficult.

WingNaPrayer

I can probably speak for a good number of people who, after paying premium prices for their business class seats, will tell you the last thing they want to do is get trapped for several hours with a potential crying baby, or smelly diapers either in the cabin, or in the lav where they will surely be left behind.

Personally, I don't believe that babies should be allowed in the premium cabins at any price, and even advocate an age limit of at least 16. I've taken later or alternate flights to avoid infants. That is a very long haul to take an infant on yourselves let alone subject other passengers to the problems traveling with an infant may cause.

If all you are looking to do is "show off" your ability to procreate (no big feat) as you put it, start with photos instead. Allow those who paid for those premium cabins to enjoy what they paid for or earned with their patronage miles.

KIR@GCM

From the ticket receipt of our baby's first trans-atlantic trip (GCM-MIA-MAD-AGP), the fare basis is BEEIN. With taxes, the ticket priced at $217. Mrs. KIR and myself had tickets booked in economy but were able to use VIP03's to upgrade into Biz. And our baby wound up with his own seat due to a last minute no-show. He was 2 months at the time and slept the whole flight.

On the return, however, we had a very tight connection to AA from Iberia due to late arriving aircraft [no time for the F side of Velazquez ] and were amongst the last to board. When we arrived at the AA gate, the agent asked the station manager how to handle the infant upgrade. The quick and easy solution was to provide AA with another VIP03, which I willingly submitted.

But as I fly through MAD on a regular basis, the AA staff usually look after me and when travelling with family. So that's my first experience with upgrading an infant.

YMMV

myefre

jaguar99

When we went to St. Lucia a year or so ago, our daughter was about 1 yr. 9 mo. We had purchased FC and no mention was made of paying a percentage of the fare for the lap child.

St. Louis-San Juan and return she had her own seat as FC had some emptys.

She also flew to Montreal in FC as a lap on NW. No mention of percentage.

tt7

My guess would be that's because these are all "domestic" (as defined by AA - US, Canada, Caribbean, Mexico) flights and the rules are different for domestic vs. international flights.

dallasflyer

WingNaPrayer, I totally disagree with you and hope that you are never a victim of age discrimination. I have been in many premium cabins with better behaved babies and children than adults. Your opinion is way off base and off topic. To Chillier if you are willing to pay the cost of the lap baby when you upgrade or have the miles and want to get an award ticket for your baby, then go for it. That is why we play this game. Have a great day.