james84

That's strange. If you put a reservation on hold for 2 and then split it after, it shouldn't randomly drop a seat. Maybe the agent wasn't doing it right. But if the seat has already disappeared from inventory there is nothing that can be done now. Sorry I can't be of more help.

edy4eva

That doesn't cut it. I've had the same happen when booking for 2. One confirms while the other returns as unconfirmed. There seems to be some phantom availability, especially on flights where only 2 paid seats are available. Also noticed it booking 2 where it showed 3 or above available, then becoming null from EY side.

james84

I must have lucked out then. Saw 2 seats on Etihad's website, did what I described, and we both managed to ticket it successfully after putting it on hold for 3 days.

edy4eva

Don't think it's to do with luck. I've only reported what I experienced in a couple instances, specifically F/J zeroing out after 1 or more seat reserved by AA IF availability in paid fare buckets was low.

I forgot to mention that if searching for connections, EY might show more seats available (e.g. XXX-YYY showing 1, YYY-ZZZ showing 2, but XXX-ZZZ shows 2 when really only 1 could be booked).

Was the flight showing 2 paid F seats or more?

james84

In my case it was a single sector SYD-AUH. It didn't show the number of paid F remaining, so I assume >6 (that's when the x seats remaining warning comes on).

edy4eva

Never had any issues in a similar situation.

What's needed is more data points from those that saw x award seats but were only able to reserve x-1 when only x paid was available.

Should also add I experienced it when using EY miles booking online as well as when using AA miles. In both cases it was frustrating because things didn't turn up as expected. It's either some rather strict award availability control or simply a glitch resulting in a phantom additional seat.

LivelyFL

Yes, AA emailed us (separate PNRs) and said they switched us from A380 to 777 flight. Here are our details:
Booked: 7/24/15 JFK>AUH>BOM on A380 in F
Ticketed: 7/27/15
Email: 9/9/15 received email from AA saying we were switched to the later flight 777.

My flight is on Feb 9th. I have everything set (hotels) in India and I really want to to go to India....I want the Apartment (they are releasing F close in), but I don't want to get stranded if my old award does not return to inventory. (I keep reading here phantom inventory, or only one ticket gets ticketed the other does not).

Shanye2233

So I'm all booked (4) pax J a380 Auh-Syd and now ticketed so I go to add the infant . First call was AA from USA quoted me $1800usd then the Fiji mob quoted me $3100aud . I asked how this fare is calculated as I thought I only pay a 10% fee for lap infant . My wife wasn't happy about paying 3 grand for a lap job for 15 hours .

Is it possible if another seat opens up then I can make another booking with the infant alone on his own ticket and then add or combine the tickets to one of the PNR that I have ? What a xxxx storm this is with the infants booking

akcae

International travel with infants can be a pain. DL once quoted me almost $800 for a lap infant for a TATL trip. Luckily, when they issued a ticket, the fare calculated to only about $200.

Some airlines do now allow children under 2 to have their own seat (AZ comes to mind). EY does not appear to have that rule, as they reference purchasing a child (i.e. 2yrs+) fare if you want them to have their own seat, see here: https://www.etihad.com/en-us/experie...ravel/prepare/

Therefore, you should be able to book another seat for your child, provided availability opens up.

james84

Did AA give a reason why you were moved to the later flight despite being ticketed on the A380 1.5 months prior?

In any case, seems like the A380 flight on Feb 9 is showing at least 2 GuestFirst seats available and expertflyer is showing F7 A7, so you could try getting it changed back now.

Shanye2233

@akcae I don't think AA will let a ticket be issued for a infant alone guess we have to wait and see . From the link you provided says infants do not have their own seats unless a child fare is booked .

I'm confused

pointspinnacle

Since we are talking infant seating heres my situation on AA award remption:

Originally booked ord-bwi/iad-auh on the 787. Wife must bring the baby or trip is cancelled. Figured out AA is the airline to add the infant and quote me the fair. They quoted $550 ish at the time but will change as ticket price changes. I figured great and was happy with a general idea but didnt ticket the baby.

Tweaked the itin to route thru JFK to try the apartments and have more space.
Called AA again to get an idea of the pricing for the infant fare. Get this...after lengthy hold and back and forth with the rate desk they quotrd me $3800!!!! LOL
Not going to pay that! I looked at EY.com and got a fare of $13,000 cash fare so infant should be $1300 ish. Im not sure where theyre pulling these figures from!? The whole thing is a joke. The baby isnt taking up any additional resources and should be free IMO.

Im gunna HUCA everyday until i get a price i like.

JonNYC

It is -not- the case that all infant fares are 10% of published fare-- that's a bit of an urban legend. Yes, most are, but most definitely not all. If you look up the paid fare itself on EF, it will sometimes/often show the % an infant fare s for any given fare/route.

So, it may be a mistake. It may be the HUCA solves the problem (hopefully) but it is not the case that an infant fare is always/automatically 10% of paid fare.

pointspinnacle

Thanks JonNYC. Good to know. Fingers crossed HUCA method works cuz im not paying $3800 for a baby to sit on a lap. $1300 hurts but can be done if need be.

pointspinnacle

Sorry, its about adding a baby to an EY flight booked with AA miles. <redacted>