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

Old May 17, 2014, 3:00 pm
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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:

Print Wikipost

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

Old Jul 27, 2017, 3:37 pm
  #136  
 
Join Date: May 2017
Posts: 24
Ha...so now they say $871 and some change. Go figure. I fussed and he went back and then it was $867.06. Geez.
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Old Jul 27, 2017, 3:41 pm
  #137  
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Originally Posted by Deanne Wagner
Ha...so now they say $871 and some change. Go figure.
That can be explained by currency exchange fluctuations. What it is at time of purchase is what matters. I would suggest getting it purchased
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Old Jul 27, 2017, 3:48 pm
  #138  
 
Join Date: May 2017
Posts: 24
Originally Posted by Dave Noble
That can be explained by currency exchange fluctuations. What it is at time of purchase is what matters. I would suggest getting it purchased


Just did it. Ouch. So if by chance it comes down...you think I can call and cancel and then rebook in the same call or that's pushing it? Suppose I could ask for a supervisor. Appreciate your help. I'm definitely writing a letter to AA about this and the reps lack of informing me after I specifically asked about the price being available all the way up to travel date.
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Old Jul 27, 2017, 4:06 pm
  #139  
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Originally Posted by Deanne Wagner
Just did it. Ouch. So if by chance it comes down...you think I can call and cancel and then rebook in the same call or that's pushing it? Suppose I could ask for a supervisor. Appreciate your help. I'm definitely writing a letter to AA about this and the reps lack of informing me after I specifically asked about the price being available all the way up to travel date.
If by chance the fare does drop , yes you can do it all in one call
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Old Jul 27, 2017, 4:34 pm
  #140  
 
Join Date: May 2017
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Originally Posted by Dave Noble
If by chance the fare does drop , yes you can do it all in one call


Thanks. I'll watch and hope. At least it won't go up anymore.
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Old Aug 7, 2017, 1:33 pm
  #141  
 
Join Date: May 2004
Programs: AS MVPG, Hilton Diamond, Hyatt Globalist
Posts: 103
I booked an itinerary just now (currently on HOLD) for me + wife + 1 4 yo child for an itinerary with AS, and BA as operating carriers (business).

Was told that i can add the infant only when booking. However, this is not a published route (dont see it on either BA or AA when i go look at rev. fare). Worried that if i do book this and then if unable to add the infant, i am going to be in a mess.

Should i keep calling back to confirm?
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Old Aug 7, 2017, 2:55 pm
  #142  
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Originally Posted by harishv79
I booked an itinerary just now (currently on HOLD) for me + wife + 1 4 yo child for an itinerary with AS, and BA as operating carriers (business).

Was told that i can add the infant only when booking. However, this is not a published route (dont see it on either BA or AA when i go look at rev. fare). Worried that if i do book this and then if unable to add the infant, i am going to be in a mess.

Should i keep calling back to confirm?
I expect that there are IATA (YY) fares that will be applicable for an international journey - the only issue is that it may be expensive

What is the routing?
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Old Aug 7, 2017, 6:42 pm
  #143  
 
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Originally Posted by dave noble
what is the routing?
pdx-yvr-lhr-prg
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Old Aug 7, 2017, 8:42 pm
  #144  
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Originally Posted by harishv79
pdx-yvr-lhr-prg
It does look like BA has a fare that allows domestic travel on AS

The oneway base fare in business class for an adult is $7,438 so for infant in lap will be a base of $743.80 ; there are taxes/charges of $84.20 to add , giving a total infant fare of $828.20
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Old Sep 17, 2017, 11:35 pm
  #145  
 
Join Date: Aug 2014
Location: MEM, TLV
Programs: DL, AA PLT, US, HH Gold, BW Diamond, Avis PP, Choice PLT
Posts: 559
i have probably spoken to 10 agents... Bought a ticket on aa.com for TLV-LHR-ORD-MEM.. (TLV-LHR-ORD is on BA) called up to add lap infant to ticket.. they told me the price and said ticket would be reissued in a couple of hours... that was a week ago... i spoke to an angent a few days ago who said there was an issue but it would be fixed and to call back in a day if it wasnt reissued. it wasnt so i called back and was told the same thing... still not reissued after 24hr called back told the same thing... this has no gone on for 5 days straight and now they have completely removed the infant from our ticket and we got bumped out of our bassinet seats on the bA flights...

Has any one else had this issue with AA not issues the ticket? any help would be appreciated as it seems the phone agents have no clue what is wrong and keep doing the same thing

Thanks
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Old Sep 17, 2017, 11:49 pm
  #146  
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I am not sure why there would be any ticket reissuance occurring

The purchase of the infant ticket is a new ticket and just needs to be paid for and issued

Has the credit card been charged for the infant fare ?

Looking at the oneway fares, if it will issue it, it looks like it might be cheaper if you can get BA to sell it

Last edited by Dave Noble; Sep 17, 2017 at 11:54 pm
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Old Sep 18, 2017, 12:01 am
  #147  
 
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Thanks Dave... its not a one way fare I just Left off the return as its the same routing.

I have given my credit card info about half of the time... This last time i told them I have done this already 8 times.... Its time you escalate the issue to someone who can really look into it. I have been on hold now 25 minutes so hopefully they are actually getting somewhere

Update: well the latest agent said nothing can be done and that I will have to deal with it on the day of departure... I am not about to let that happen. I'll get to the airport and they will say we can't fly.
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Old Sep 18, 2017, 12:20 am
  #148  
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Originally Posted by conklaven
Thanks Dave... its not a one way fare I just Left off the return as its the same routing.

I have given my credit card info about half of the time... This last time i told them I have done this already 8 times.... Its time you escalate the issue to someone who can really look into it. I have been on hold now 25 minutes so hopefully they are actually getting somewhere

Update: well the latest agent said nothing can be done and that I will have to deal with it on the day of departure... I am not about to let that happen. I'll get to the airport and they will say we can't fly.
You do not want to leave it to day of departure. If it was just a domestic flight on AA, it could be ok, but not for that

Perhaps start again with the Australia office - once booked, if not ticketed within 72 hours the agents will call ticketing to get it completed
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Old Sep 18, 2017, 10:20 am
  #149  
 
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Originally Posted by Dave Noble
You do not want to leave it to day of departure. If it was just a domestic flight on AA, it could be ok, but not for that

Perhaps start again with the Australia office - once booked, if not ticketed within 72 hours the agents will call ticketing to get it completed
Well after another call lasting over an hour and it escalating to a high level ticketing department department the issue has been found.

It all goes back to the short domestic flights and the seats i choose were on the side of the plane that did not have an extra oxygen mask. Once they figured out that the ticket got issued and everything has been fixed.
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Old Sep 18, 2017, 10:27 am
  #150  
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Good to hear that it is fixed

Strange that the system would fail rather than cancel the seat request
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