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OWE ticket requirements for toddlers.

A colleague of mine is planning a 12-month RTW trip in commencing July.

There will be her and her husband along with their kid who will be 2 in Sept.

What are the rules concerning tickets for toddlers? Will he need a ticket for the legs after Sept or will he be ok to share seats with one of his parents.

All travel to be in J.

Cheers

I suspect this is going to be dependent on the individual airlines' rules. I only have access to CX's which state:

Code:

 As it is a flight safety ruling that passengers aged 24 months and above

must be assigned a passenger seat when travelling on Cathay Pacific, with

effective from 04APR05, Cathay Pacific's infant fare policy will be revised

as follows:



Passengers under 24 months of age:



    * Not occupying seat: Applicable infant fare will apply

    * Occupying seat: Applicable child fare will apply



Passengers, aged 2 to under 12 years of age, must be assigned to a passenger

seat.

Applicable child fare will apply.



The age of the passenger will be calculated at the time of travel. Passenger,

aged 2 to 12 years old, will be required to purchase seat at child fare even

if the ticket was purchased before the child turns 24 months of age.

So if the travel after September involves CX the child will need a child-fare ticket (75% of full fare). I suspect that other airlines will be the same, so the parents will have to work out whether buying a child OWE for the whole journey or seprate tickets for the parts after it turns 2 will be cheaper. I guess probably the former.

And then there is the problem of the new J and F seats being increasingly unsuitable for children under a certain age (5?). The new J on CX would be problematic, for example. I hear on VS only a few of the J seats are allowed to have toddlers in it; might become quite difficult to travel with a 2 year old in J in only Y seats are child-rated.

don't forget that intl infant fares (under 2 and not occupying a seat) are 10% of the full fare. i believe that only us domestic flights don't incur a fee for 'lap' children.

Not specifically addressing OP's question, note that the Cathay quote does not go on to say that pax who turn thirteen during travel will be upcharged to the adult fare, although that may in fact be the policy. It wasn't a few years ago when one of ours passed that mark during an ONE. I can't remember who I bought that one from, but they assured me that the purchase date was good enough in that case.

Note that BA have a strange rule about this, plus also details for Qantas.

This is taken from AskBA (answer no. 795).

Quote:

If you are travelling with an infant who reaches the age of two on a date during your journey (i.e. departs under the age of 2 but returns over the age of 2), a separate seat is required for all sectors on and after their birthday.

British Airways will be pleased to ensure that your reservation reflects a booked seat for that portion of your journey.

The fare charged will remain at the infant fare for the entire journey, regardless of the fact that a seat has been booked for some sectors.

If you would like to ensure that your child has a seat after their 2nd birthday, please contact your local British Airways office from the contact details found if you click here.

This policy does not apply for passengers travelling on Qantas flights, on which a child turning 2 years old during travel must either continue to travel sitting on their parent's lap or pay a child fare for their remaining flights after their 2nd birthday.

Please note: Bookings should be made according to the age of the infant/child at the time of travel, not at the time of booking.
Therefore if the infant will be two at the time of travel for the start of the journey then a booking for a child should be made

Not sure how this would mesh with an OWE ticket but might be worth having it issued on 125 stock....

Quote:

Originally Posted by Swiss Tony (Post 7472562)

Note that BA have a strange rule about this, plus also details for Qantas....Not sure how this would mesh with an OWE ticket but might be worth having it issued on 125 stock....

Great info. The ticket stock doesn't matter, this is a BA policy for BA operated flights, so it will apply to any BA sectors on the OWE ticket. We know QF charges the fare for its flights; now each OW airline will have to be polled individually to see what the policy is. I'm guessing BA is the only one that is so generous.

Quote:

Originally Posted by number_6 (Post 7472938)

Great info. The ticket stock doesn't matter, this is a BA policy for BA operated flights, so it will apply to any BA sectors on the OWE ticket. We know QF charges the fare for its flights; now each OW airline will have to be polled individually to see what the policy is. I'm guessing BA is the only one that is so generous.

Note, my reading of this is that if you want, QF will let the toddler travel on your lap for its sectors so long as the first leg was before they turn 2.