May 17, 2014, 3:00 pm
Last edit by: Prospero
Infant and lap child fares and fees on international travel, including award & upgrades
On AA there is no charge for a lap child on domestic flights. In most instances for international travel the cost will be 10% of the adult fare in the cabin of travel (be aware in some instances / on some other airlines, it can be 25% of the cost of an adult ticket). From aa.com:
Are you traveling with an infant?
Passengers are considered infants if aged over 2 days and less than 2 years at the beginning of their journey. To travel with an infant, you must be an adult passenger aged 16 or older. Adults can travel with up to two infants and in these circumstances, can purchase an additional seat at a child fare.
Although infants can travel as early as 2 days after birth, you'll need to provide a medical certificate for infants traveling within 7 days after birth. Please contact Reservations for more information.
On U.S. domestic flights:
Infants not occupying a seat travel for free. If you prefer to book a seat for your infant, a child fare will apply.
You must call AA on the phone to add a lap infant to an existing reservation. The lap infant will NOT appear in the online reservation and receipt.
Travelers with a lap infant may check in online, for domestic flights only, and the boarding pass will be annotated with the words "WITH INFANT" immediately after the traveler's name.
On international flights:
Infants not occupying a seat benefit from a 90% discount on most adult fares
If your infant turns 2 during your trip, we'll provide you with a complimentary seat on the return flight. If the return journey is not on American Airlines, please contact the other airline to check if a seat must be purchased. (Infants and children must provide passports with any required visas; all children not traveling with both parents may be required to have a Letter of Consent signed by both parents.)
You must call AA on the phone to add a lap infant to an existing reservation, and will need to pay the fare at that time. The lab infant and fare WILL appear in the online reservation and receipt.
Travelers with a lap infant may NOT check in online for international flights and must check in at the airport.
NOTE: AA will not generally block a complimentary spare seat to be used by an infant or lap child. If seats are available at the airport, it might be possible to be assigned seating to include an adjacent empty seat if the flight will depart with sufficient empty seats.
Bassinets: These are portable, not bulkhead fastened, floor bassinet boxes. Not all aircraft may offer these, and generally are restricted to bulkhead seats.
See the bassinet thread here."]here.
See more here on aa.com.
For AA policies on required documentation for children, see here.
and
This thread regarding the use - and prohibition, on some aircraft - child safety seats.
For older threads on this topic, see:
N.B.: This thread is restricted to discussion of AA (and AA awards, upgrades) ticketing rules for infants. Please do not use this thread to discuss opinions on safety issues associated with travel with lap children versus infants with their own purchased seats. Those discussions should be carried out in the
Travel with Children forum, where many opinions have been shared and are welcome. Thank you for your cooperation.
Travel with Children forum, where many opinions have been shared and are welcome. Thank you for your cooperation.
Are you traveling with an infant?
Passengers are considered infants if aged over 2 days and less than 2 years at the beginning of their journey. To travel with an infant, you must be an adult passenger aged 16 or older. Adults can travel with up to two infants and in these circumstances, can purchase an additional seat at a child fare.
Although infants can travel as early as 2 days after birth, you'll need to provide a medical certificate for infants traveling within 7 days after birth. Please contact Reservations for more information.
On U.S. domestic flights:
Infants not occupying a seat travel for free. If you prefer to book a seat for your infant, a child fare will apply.
You must call AA on the phone to add a lap infant to an existing reservation. The lap infant will NOT appear in the online reservation and receipt.
Travelers with a lap infant may check in online, for domestic flights only, and the boarding pass will be annotated with the words "WITH INFANT" immediately after the traveler's name.
On international flights:
Infants not occupying a seat benefit from a 90% discount on most adult fares
If your infant turns 2 during your trip, we'll provide you with a complimentary seat on the return flight. If the return journey is not on American Airlines, please contact the other airline to check if a seat must be purchased. (Infants and children must provide passports with any required visas; all children not traveling with both parents may be required to have a Letter of Consent signed by both parents.)
You must call AA on the phone to add a lap infant to an existing reservation, and will need to pay the fare at that time. The lab infant and fare WILL appear in the online reservation and receipt.
Travelers with a lap infant may NOT check in online for international flights and must check in at the airport.
NOTE: AA will not generally block a complimentary spare seat to be used by an infant or lap child. If seats are available at the airport, it might be possible to be assigned seating to include an adjacent empty seat if the flight will depart with sufficient empty seats.
Bassinets: These are portable, not bulkhead fastened, floor bassinet boxes. Not all aircraft may offer these, and generally are restricted to bulkhead seats.
See the bassinet thread here."]here.
See more here on aa.com.
For AA policies on required documentation for children, see here.
and
This thread regarding the use - and prohibition, on some aircraft - child safety seats.
For older threads on this topic, see:
https://www.flyertalk.com/forum/amer...-upgrades.html 2010-2015
http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/ameri...paid-fare.html (2008)
http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/ameri...it-my-lap.html (2006)
dstan
AA Forum Co-Moderator
http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/ameri...paid-fare.html (2008)
http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/ameri...it-my-lap.html (2006)
dstan
AA Forum Co-Moderator
Guide: Infant / lap child fares & fees for AA travel, including award & upgrades
Dec 29, 2021, 1:33 am
#301
Join Date: Jul 2004
Location: Live: IWI; Work: DCA/Everywhere; Play: LAS/SJU/MLE
Programs: AA EXP, DL PM, Hyatt Glob, Marriott Ambassador/LTP, Nat'l Exec Elite, LEYE Gold
Posts: 6,670
Overall a great deal and a lot cheaper than what I was planning to have to spend (10% of a full J fare etc.).
Feb 27, 2022, 9:55 pm
#302
Join Date: Feb 2013
Location: Vancouver, WA
Posts: 73
Data point / Question
I booked an upcoming flight in April using AA miles, PDX>SFO on AS in J and SFO>DOH on QR in J. A simple chat request added my son as a lap infant on the AS leg but after 2 calls to American and 2 to Qatar I was no where for that leg, each airline said the other must do it (these were calls averaging 2 hours on hold and 30 minutes with agents.) Quite pissed at this point, I reached out to QR on Twitter (no help) and called Qatar back again as my only online research indicated they clearly must be the one too add my son. I was very rude when I finally got a hold of someone, demanded to be moved up the chain when I got a manager of some sort who said they couldn't help me and hung up on me. I followed up with an email complaining in detail of how I was treated by the QR CRs and their names.
I gave it a week and called QR back. Initially I asked if they could add my son and he said he couldn't. I said fine, can be at least select my seats (my wife and and I were on res, my father was on the same flights booked separately.) He said sure and booked us 3 of the 4 seats in a middle 'pod'. After confirming our seats, he asked if we had a second infant to add because we already had one booked. I checked there AA app and sure enough my son magically showed up with the same seat # as me on the QR leg.
My question is, my kid shows up on the app but I can't view the actual ticket until day of travel and I haven't paid the ~$500 I would expect for the lap infant ticket... Should I be concerned of any issues day of travel or just assume someone got sick of me and fixed this?
I booked an upcoming flight in April using AA miles, PDX>SFO on AS in J and SFO>DOH on QR in J. A simple chat request added my son as a lap infant on the AS leg but after 2 calls to American and 2 to Qatar I was no where for that leg, each airline said the other must do it (these were calls averaging 2 hours on hold and 30 minutes with agents.) Quite pissed at this point, I reached out to QR on Twitter (no help) and called Qatar back again as my only online research indicated they clearly must be the one too add my son. I was very rude when I finally got a hold of someone, demanded to be moved up the chain when I got a manager of some sort who said they couldn't help me and hung up on me. I followed up with an email complaining in detail of how I was treated by the QR CRs and their names.
I gave it a week and called QR back. Initially I asked if they could add my son and he said he couldn't. I said fine, can be at least select my seats (my wife and and I were on res, my father was on the same flights booked separately.) He said sure and booked us 3 of the 4 seats in a middle 'pod'. After confirming our seats, he asked if we had a second infant to add because we already had one booked. I checked there AA app and sure enough my son magically showed up with the same seat # as me on the QR leg.
My question is, my kid shows up on the app but I can't view the actual ticket until day of travel and I haven't paid the ~$500 I would expect for the lap infant ticket... Should I be concerned of any issues day of travel or just assume someone got sick of me and fixed this?
Mar 4, 2022, 6:25 pm
#303
Join Date: Nov 2003
Location: Here and there
Programs: AA EXP
Posts: 1,551
My question is, my kid shows up on the app but I can't view the actual ticket until day of travel and I haven't paid the ~$500 I would expect for the lap infant ticket... Should I be concerned of any issues day of travel or just assume someone got sick of me and fixed this?
What was AA's reason for not being able to ticket an infant fare for that route?
Mar 4, 2022, 6:47 pm
#304
A FlyerTalk Posting Legend
Join Date: Jan 2002
Posts: 44,597
Given that AS doesn't charge for infants , may be possible to purchase SFO-DOH infant ticket from QR dirrectly and associate with the QR booking. Would expect it to be about $992.30 one way for the infant ticket ( QR seems to charge 15% for lap infants )
Apr 12, 2022, 3:22 pm
#305
Join Date: Feb 2013
Location: Vancouver, WA
Posts: 73
If there ism't an adult paid fare available for the journey that AA is able to issue, then there is no infant fare that it can issue
Given that AS doesn't charge for infants , may be possible to purchase SFO-DOH infant ticket from QR dirrectly and associate with the QR booking. Would expect it to be about $992.30 one way for the infant ticket ( QR seems to charge 15% for lap infants )
Given that AS doesn't charge for infants , may be possible to purchase SFO-DOH infant ticket from QR dirrectly and associate with the QR booking. Would expect it to be about $992.30 one way for the infant ticket ( QR seems to charge 15% for lap infants )
Jun 14, 2022, 2:17 am
#306
Join Date: Jan 2006
Location: In the air
Programs: Occasional RTW club
Posts: 6,924
This has been a tremendous pain in the .... I've added an infant twice before to an international award ticket that required a phone call and it was fine. I ended up talking with AA a dozen or so times and I'm convinced it is literally impossible for them to add the lap infant to a QR award ticket. Just today AA called me back to tell they've tried and cannot do it so I must try again with QR directly. Based on my experience calling the QR call center, I'd say about 1 in 10 agents actually know how to do this. If you have an agent tell you they cannot do and to call AA, just hang up and call back. I did get a ticket for my son, the cost was $1,300 one way. About double what I've paid on JAL, Turkish, or ANA. I'll avoid QR with an infant in the future just because of what a pain it is.
Did you finally resolve this or did you throw in the towel?
Jun 18, 2022, 9:25 pm
#307
Join Date: Jul 2004
Location: Live: IWI; Work: DCA/Everywhere; Play: LAS/SJU/MLE
Programs: AA EXP, DL PM, Hyatt Glob, Marriott Ambassador/LTP, Nat'l Exec Elite, LEYE Gold
Posts: 6,670
This has been a tremendous pain in the .... I've added an infant twice before to an international award ticket that required a phone call and it was fine. I ended up talking with AA a dozen or so times and I'm convinced it is literally impossible for them to add the lap infant to a QR award ticket. Just today AA called me back to tell they've tried and cannot do it so I must try again with QR directly. Based on my experience calling the QR call center, I'd say about 1 in 10 agents actually know how to do this. If you have an agent tell you they cannot do and to call AA, just hang up and call back. I did get a ticket for my son, the cost was $1,300 one way. About double what I've paid on JAL, Turkish, or ANA. I'll avoid QR with an infant in the future just because of what a pain it is.
Ugh. I am in this predicament right now. I have a QR+JL ticket and I am being bounced between AA and QR to issue the infant ticket. Last call, the QR agent spent about an hour on hold and he came back with "definitive" information that they cannot do it.
Did you finally resolve this or did you throw in the towel?
Did you finally resolve this or did you throw in the towel?
I'm glad to have 70k each way J tickets to MLE, and I don't mind paying the infant fee (it's nuts but it's well-established and just the way it is), but this is a royal pain.
Jun 18, 2022, 9:32 pm
#308
Join Date: Jan 2006
Location: In the air
Programs: Occasional RTW club
Posts: 6,924
I'm in this boat. Did you literally just call QR 10 times and finally get someone who could sell you the ticket? Did you call the US # or the +974 #? Happen to know whether it was US or QR business hours? Any magic words/tips welcome...
Pseudo Nim, how did you resolve this?
I'm glad to have 70k each way J tickets to MLE, and I don't mind paying the infant fee (it's nuts but it's well-established and just the way it is), but this is a royal pain.
Pseudo Nim, how did you resolve this?
I'm glad to have 70k each way J tickets to MLE, and I don't mind paying the infant fee (it's nuts but it's well-established and just the way it is), but this is a royal pain.
Jun 18, 2022, 10:03 pm
#309
Join Date: Jul 2004
Location: Live: IWI; Work: DCA/Everywhere; Play: LAS/SJU/MLE
Programs: AA EXP, DL PM, Hyatt Glob, Marriott Ambassador/LTP, Nat'l Exec Elite, LEYE Gold
Posts: 6,670
No, I’m still fighting this. They have now done some “internal research” and “an email” is being circulated and I’m to call in and find out what this email is, but the last agent said the email will just reinforce this - QR does not issue infant tickets on partner awards.
Jun 19, 2022, 2:34 am
#310
Join Date: Jan 2006
Location: In the air
Programs: Occasional RTW club
Posts: 6,924
Just tried again, and denied again. Qatar helpfully suggested I should purchase a whole new ticket from QR's website and include the infant on it. I inquired whether the agent on the phone would be fronting the $10K in cash or so required for it, which would be quite helpful, but was informed that that has to come out of my own pocket, which I thought was a very odd thing to suggest. QR's customer service is so incredibly bad I am happy they are kept physically away from their planes, because I can't see how I would ever board a QR plane if the support agents were their maintenance agents as well.
So I am currently stuck with no solution. Going to try the EXP desk, but the problem is AA does not publish a fare on this route, so they are simply waiving any ability to do anything (and they've reached out to their Oneworld desk). I don't know why they can't reach Qatar on their own internal channels, because this is absolutely ridiculous. I regret not having booked with BA... even at a higher points amount, this would've been zero headache with BA.
So I am currently stuck with no solution. Going to try the EXP desk, but the problem is AA does not publish a fare on this route, so they are simply waiving any ability to do anything (and they've reached out to their Oneworld desk). I don't know why they can't reach Qatar on their own internal channels, because this is absolutely ridiculous. I regret not having booked with BA... even at a higher points amount, this would've been zero headache with BA.
Jun 20, 2022, 12:42 pm
#311
Join Date: Feb 2013
Location: Vancouver, WA
Posts: 73
Ugh. I am in this predicament right now. I have a QR+JL ticket and I am being bounced between AA and QR to issue the infant ticket. Last call, the QR agent spent about an hour on hold and he came back with "definitive" information that they cannot do it.
Did you finally resolve this or did you throw in the towel?
Did you finally resolve this or did you throw in the towel?
Jun 20, 2022, 12:46 pm
#312
Join Date: Feb 2013
Location: Vancouver, WA
Posts: 73
Once I was FINALLY successful, I found a great Qatar agent who also combined out award biz seat with our coach cash tickets from DOH to CAI.
Jun 20, 2022, 1:41 pm
#313
Join Date: Jul 2004
Location: Live: IWI; Work: DCA/Everywhere; Play: LAS/SJU/MLE
Programs: AA EXP, DL PM, Hyatt Glob, Marriott Ambassador/LTP, Nat'l Exec Elite, LEYE Gold
Posts: 6,670
I probably called QR 20 times until someone did it. I got bumped up pretty high with American and I'm very positive they cannot do it. The AA manager did say she's heard of people having success by adding the infant at the airport but that's nerve wracking for obvious reasons. Be careful if you look for phone numbers. If you google the SF Qatar air office, the suggested number is NOT Qatar but a scam, I almost fell for it.
Once I was FINALLY successful, I found a great Qatar agent who also combined out award biz seat with our coach cash tickets from DOH to CAI.
Once I was FINALLY successful, I found a great Qatar agent who also combined out award biz seat with our coach cash tickets from DOH to CAI.
Jun 20, 2022, 2:36 pm
#314
Join Date: Jan 2006
Location: In the air
Programs: Occasional RTW club
Posts: 6,924
Did you manage to find an agent from the first shot, or did you have to escalate? In other words, will a line agent do it or do you NEED a supervisor? Just trying to gauge how many times I need to call...
(and yeah, I think AA can't do it, because a fare needs to be published on a route, and AA does not publish it on this particular one... so they can't calculate 10% of nothing).
(and yeah, I think AA can't do it, because a fare needs to be published on a route, and AA does not publish it on this particular one... so they can't calculate 10% of nothing).
Jun 20, 2022, 4:10 pm
#315
A FlyerTalk Posting Legend
Join Date: Jan 2002
Posts: 44,597
Did you manage to find an agent from the first shot, or did you have to escalate? In other words, will a line agent do it or do you NEED a supervisor? Just trying to gauge how many times I need to call...
(and yeah, I think AA can't do it, because a fare needs to be published on a route, and AA does not publish it on this particular one... so they can't calculate 10% of nothing).
(and yeah, I think AA can't do it, because a fare needs to be published on a route, and AA does not publish it on this particular one... so they can't calculate 10% of nothing).
If wanting to fly on QR, needs to be permitted by QR to issue an infant ticket without an accompanying adult ticket issuedby QR
Last edited by Dave Noble; Jun 20, 2022 at 4:17 pm