AA.COM can't compute age at travel time
Mar 6, 2019, 5:32 am
#1
Original Poster
Join Date: Mar 2012
Posts: 146
AA.COM can't compute age at travel time
Seems AA.COM is not smart enough to compute the passenger age at the actual day that of the flight. I am trying to book for somebody that is 15 years old now, but will be already 16 then. But it doesn't let me and tells me booking for unaccompanied minors can't be done online. And it is not that his birthday is precisely at that day or even the day before, it is a couple of months before the flight.
I wonder just out of curiosity if it also works the other way around. If you book for somebody that is child at booking time but not at travel time, do you get the child discount anyway.
I wonder just out of curiosity if it also works the other way around. If you book for somebody that is child at booking time but not at travel time, do you get the child discount anyway.
Mar 6, 2019, 9:00 am
#3
Join Date: Jan 2006
Programs: AA EXP, Hyatt Globalist
Posts: 313
What discount?
Seems AA.COM is not smart enough to compute the passenger age at the actual day that of the flight. I am trying to book for somebody that is 15 years old now, but will be already 16 then. But it doesn't let me and tells me booking for unaccompanied minors can't be done online. And it is not that his birthday is precisely at that day or even the day before, it is a couple of months before the flight.
I wonder just out of curiosity if it also works the other way around. If you book for somebody that is child at booking time but not at travel time, do you get the child discount anyway.
I wonder just out of curiosity if it also works the other way around. If you book for somebody that is child at booking time but not at travel time, do you get the child discount anyway.
Last edited by JohnDCA; Mar 6, 2019 at 9:01 am Reason: Bolded
Mar 6, 2019, 10:56 am
#5
FlyerTalk Evangelist
Join Date: May 2002
Location: Pittsburgh
Programs: MR/SPG LT Titanium, AA LT PLT, UA SLV, Avis PreferredPlus
Posts: 31,004
Children under 2 fly get a 100% discount, domestically, as lap children.
And no, you can't book at ticket when your kid is 22 months and fly for free 6 months later.
I had the same age 15/16 exit row seat issue - I think I posted about it here. No, AA wn't account for it online..
And no, you can't book at ticket when your kid is 22 months and fly for free 6 months later.
I had the same age 15/16 exit row seat issue - I think I posted about it here. No, AA wn't account for it online..
Mar 6, 2019, 7:45 pm
#8
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Join Date: Jan 2007
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Seems AA.COM is not smart enough to compute the passenger age at the actual day that of the flight. I am trying to book for somebody that is 15 years old now, but will be already 16 then. But it doesn't let me and tells me booking for unaccompanied minors can't be done online. And it is not that his birthday is precisely at that day or even the day before, it is a couple of months before the flight.
They've probably decided that it happens in few enough instances that it's not worth the non-trivial programming effort.
Mar 6, 2019, 8:32 pm
#9
A FlyerTalk Posting Legend
Join Date: Jan 2002
Posts: 44,574
Easy to slag off AA, but it's not really that simple, is it. Suppose that the system does the math and gives the discount. Now you change the travel date to back before his birthday, and he's 15 again. So in order to effect what you want, AA would have to recalculate each passenger's age at every change, no? And then they would have to make all sorts of other changes to the ticket, the ones for UMs.
They've probably decided that it happens in few enough instances that it's not worth the non-trivial programming effort.
They've probably decided that it happens in few enough instances that it's not worth the non-trivial programming effort.
If it was for a child, then when making any change , then there would be a reissue required and no reason for the system not to then determine that a child discount no longer applies and switch to an adult fare basis
It hardly seems unreasonable to expect the system to work out a passenger's age as of date of travel rather than date of booking
Mar 6, 2019, 9:52 pm
#10
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But what about other changes? Does the passenger (now/no longer) require UM status? Is the passenger (now/no longer) eligible for senior discount? And take the senior discount. If the person is no longer eligible for senior discount, then there may be an additional collection. I can see arguments with phone agents about this, once the pax finds out that since s/he's no longer a senior, it will cost more. IMO it can get very complicated, and I can see AA's decision not to program it in.
Mar 6, 2019, 10:45 pm
#11
Join Date: Dec 2009
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Easy to slag off AA, but it's not really that simple, is it. Suppose that the system does the math and gives the discount. Now you change the travel date to back before his birthday, and he's 15 again. So in order to effect what you want, AA would have to recalculate each passenger's age at every change, no? And then they would have to make all sorts of other changes to the ticket, the ones for UMs.
They've probably decided that it happens in few enough instances that it's not worth the non-trivial programming effort.
They've probably decided that it happens in few enough instances that it's not worth the non-trivial programming effort.
Mar 7, 2019, 12:08 am
#12
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True but, frankly, if you need age then it's much smarter, and easier in the long-run, to ask DOB so that age can be resolved at any time than to ask for a number that is only valid for a short period. Any smart programmer would know that and capturing DOB makes resolving age with flight changes a pretty trivial calculation.