SDC / SDS with infant in arms?
 

Have a few flights coming up that are very likely candidates for SDC or SDS. Any issues with flying standby in particular with an infant in arms? I know for example that not all seats are viable with an infant (for example, exit rows are a no go, and on some planes, infants are only allowed in certain seats and/or only one infant is allowed per row due to oxygen masks?)

Has anyone had any issues standing by with an infant in arms on their ticket?

Domestic (which is all that SDC applies to) infant in arms dont get tickets. Instead they're added to the reservation. Should be no issue as there's nothing done to ticket.

I would think that if you're going standby, it's close to departure, and the only remaining seats on the flight cannot accommodate your infant, the GA would go to the next person on the list rather than delay the flight while seats are reshuttled at the last minute. At least it's a risk.....

Are you sure? Delta's website seems to indicate a ticket is needed:

https://www.delta.com/us/en/children...ravel/overview

And indeed, my email confirmation from a domestic flight shows a ticket number with a $0 fare basis for the infant... something like 0.00VAVSA5IB/IN100 USD0.00END

But assuming the open seats are OK, or there is enough time to possibly shuffle some people around it'd be no issue? One of these SDS possibilities is a flight later than the one we're confirmed on currently... could be fun :D

You should be fine. The infant in arms will get a boarding pass (this started about 2 years ago). We never had a problem with SDC. Once, the FA had to reshuffle people because we were on the side of the plane without the extra oxygen mask. It wasn’t a big deal and took 1-2 extra minutes.

It’s a bit confusing. Technically the IIA requires a “e ticket,” but in practice the e-ticket is coded into the ticket of whoever will be holding the child. So it looks to the passenger as though there is only one “ticket.”

Is it still only one BP or two? Last time I knew anyone who did this they simply add the child at kiosk and it produced one BP, no additional ticket number listed. International of course produced another ticket and BP.

Are you worried that a GA could charge the SDS/SDC fee for the kid since the baby doesn't have elite status?

it is just one BP. If you have a printed version, on the bottom somewhere there will be a reference to an e-ticket; that is for the IIA. Again, it is just a single document to board.

For the past two years it has been 2 BP for both international and domestic travel. We travel quite a bit and this has been the case every time with infant in arms.

Thanks for the correction. I should have added a disclaimer that our son just turned four so it is been a couple years since we did IIA, but it was when he turned around 1.5 that they switched to a single BP; surprised they changed it back so quickly. OTOH, the single BP did cause confusion on the part of TAs and GAs on more than one occasion so maybe I shouldn’t be surprised.

That thought hadn't even crossed my mind... surely they wouldn't? Or would they?!

That actually happened to me last week. I told the agent not to process the SDC when I realized it would cost an extra $75. HUCA for the second agent to drop the lap infant. HUCA for the third agent to process the SDC. Added lap infant back at the airport.

A Diamond Desk agent wanted to charge a DM $75 to SDC the infant-in-arms? That's insane.