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Guide: Infant / lap child fares & fees for AA travel, including award & upgrades

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Old May 17, 2014, 3:00 pm
FlyerTalk Forums Expert How-Tos and Guides
Last edit by: Prospero
Infant and lap child fares and fees on international travel, including award & upgrades

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.
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:

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Guide: Infant / lap child fares & fees for AA travel, including award & upgrades

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Old Apr 9, 2017, 9:41 am
  #106  
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Originally Posted by beerup
APD doesn't apply to children under two years old, and never has. Therefore, I would think it unlikely it was accidently charged for a connection. Also it's not whether the agent knows about the eligibility for taxes as it gets send to the rate desk for pricing, and I've never seen it applied for a connection. The rate guess also seems to get obscure exceptions correct (e.g. Highlands and Islands), so I would be very surprised if they charged for a connection to someone under two.
Correct.
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Old Apr 10, 2017, 5:52 am
  #107  
 
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For what it's worth, booked a CX AKL-HKG-PEK on 12/24 and NRT-HKG-AKL on 1/23, all in business using AA miles today, lap infant $769NZD + $892NZD all inclusive. I thought that was very expensive considering a CI AKL-SYD/BNE-TPE return business revenue ticket lap infant in May is only $350NZD-ish.
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Old Apr 10, 2017, 6:33 am
  #108  
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Originally Posted by eggheaddc
For what it's worth, booked a CX AKL-HKG-PEK on 12/24 and NRT-HKG-AKL on 1/23, all in business using AA miles today, lap infant $769NZD + $892NZD all inclusive. I thought that was very expensive considering a CI AKL-SYD/BNE-TPE return business revenue ticket lap infant in May is only $350NZD-ish.
How much would it have cost to purchase an adult ticket from AA for the journey being undertaken? is it 10% of that

AA may well not have access to CX discount fares and so be having to price based on the full fare adult ticket

Comparing against what CI would charge for an infant on CI is not really a fair comparison - CI will definitely have access to CI's discounted fares
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Old Apr 19, 2017, 10:50 pm
  #109  
 
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First intl flt with infant

My 8-month-old has been on 30 flights, all domestic. He will take his first intl flight next month - DFW-HKG. I *just* learned that I have to pay for him as a lap child - lucky I happened to be talking to AA about my trip! Makes me wonder what else I don't know.

Does 777-300ER have bassinet? If so, how do I get one?
My son has no father, so I cannot get a consent doc. Will this be an issue?
Anything else I should know? Advice?
Thanks!
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Old Apr 19, 2017, 11:55 pm
  #110  
 
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I believe the 777-300ER (77W) has a bassinet that can be attached to the bulkhead in row 20.

Lots of your questions can probably be answered on this page: https://www.aa.com/i18n/travel-info/...g-children.jsp

A little light googling put me here:
http://www.singleparenttravel.net/wp...t-Issuance.pdf

I'd suspect you would want to obtain a notarized copy of something like this, but this is nowhere near my area of expertise.
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Old Apr 20, 2017, 6:42 am
  #111  
 
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Don't count on getting a bassinet on any American flight. It likely will not happen. They are gate request only and I have yet to have luck with one - or see one on any flight have been on. You are better off with the international carriers. Check the seatmaps on seatguru - Cathay Pacific ,BA, Lufthansa, Virgin all have them and have a more civilized process to secure them ahead of time. AA and most of the US cariers its sort of on a whim.

If you are doing AA for sure I honestly would consider just getting him a seat for that long a flight (maybe use miles) and get this $30 car seat (super light) from Costco.
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Old Apr 20, 2017, 8:32 am
  #112  
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30 flights? I am impressed...my almost 8mo old has not yet flown!

I agree with CityFlyerNYC's thoughts
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Old Apr 20, 2017, 9:13 pm
  #113  
 
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Originally Posted by CityFlyerNYC
... and get this $30 car seat (super light) from Costco.
What car seat, please? I don't see any for $30 online.

I would love to get him a seat, but I can't afford the $1300 fare or 200k miles (my dates are not as flexible as needed to get a ticket for 70k miles).

Last edited by kadels; Apr 20, 2017 at 9:21 pm
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Old Apr 20, 2017, 9:18 pm
  #114  
 
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Originally Posted by josmul123
A little light googling put me here:
http://www.singleparenttravel.net/wp...t-Issuance.pdf

I'd suspect you would want to obtain a notarized copy of something like this, but this is nowhere near my area of expertise.
Thanks Josmul, but my child literally does not have a father - so there is no way to obtain any type of consent.
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Old Apr 22, 2017, 1:41 pm
  #115  
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Originally Posted by kadels
My 8-month-old has been on 30 flights, all domestic. He will take his first intl flight next month - DFW-HKG. I *just* learned that I have to pay for him as a lap child - lucky I happened to be talking to AA about my trip! Makes me wonder what else I don't know.

Does 777-300ER have bassinet? If so, how do I get one?
My son has no father, so I cannot get a consent doc. Will this be an issue?
Anything else I should know? Advice?
Thanks!
You can get a document showing that he has only one custodial parent and that it is you. Whether it's legally required or not varies. Whether or not such a document needs to be notarized American style or not varies even more.
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Old May 31, 2017, 2:19 pm
  #116  
 
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Middle seat trickery

Observed an interesting phenomenon. Traveling with my wife and infant daughter and am hoping against all odds to get an window and aisle with empty middle seat. A few times now, when I select a window and aisle in an open row, and then go back and check a minute later, the middle seat is now occupied. It's happened too often and too quick for me to believe someone is actually taking that sole middle seat, especially with other aisle and window seats available elsewhere. Theories: (1) They know what I am trying to do and make it look like the middle is now occupied such that I knock it off and just pick two seats next to each other elsewhere; (2) They block an open seat next to me based on elite status (and presumably open it up when all window/aisle seats are taken) (seems like too good to be true for a lowly GLD). Thoughts?
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Old May 31, 2017, 2:24 pm
  #117  
 
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Interesting. I've not seen seat blocking and I'm Platinum. So probably not because of your status. Where are you flying to and what airplane are they using? I've been on a few A319 and A320 and have had no luck with empty middle seats as the flights have been full. Also, lots of people do not get seat assignments until they check in so you could still lose the middle seat then.
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Old May 31, 2017, 2:25 pm
  #118  
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It has to do with the infant in arms. http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/ameri...eat-block.html
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Old May 31, 2017, 3:25 pm
  #119  
 
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Wow. I am quite impressed, actually. The kid is traveling as a lap child and it is noted on my ticket. I would assume that the seat is eventually released if all others are filled (i.e., they would not allow a free seat to fly empty if demand exists), but nonetheless, a nice gesture.
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Old May 31, 2017, 4:33 pm
  #120  
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Originally Posted by wrp96
It has to do with the infant in arms. http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/ameri...eat-block.html
This is fantastic, and not just for the parents.
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