Award ticket children/revenue ticket parent
 

Hello there,

I cannot find a recent example on this kind of booking, so asking it here.Sorry if repeating the question.

Looking to book mex iah fra vie almost completely on UA..only Fra Vie operated by LH or OS.
1 adult, 1 lap baby, children 4 and 12 years old.

Would it ve possible and a good idea to book a revenue ticket for adult + lap baby and afterwards book 2 awards for children linking somehow both reservation together?

I saw some suggestions to enter a different birthday for children to be able to book the tickets.

thanks for any suggestion or better option to handle this 3 ticket itinerary.

First, I wish you good luck as the only adult with 3 kids on such a long trip.
There is no way to combine or link reservations that are ticketed separately. The only thing that is done is a manual note in the records, so it may or at not get looked at.

I don't understand, the different birthday question/statement. All the travellers will need a passport, and the birthdays will need to match the tickets ( including the lap infant)

As mentioned there is no way to 'link' separate PNR's. That said I've done this 1x only and I called in to book it all after verifying availability via .bomb ,, Short answer is that it worked fine though I have a feeling that in IRROPS I would have had to be VERY proactive in order to keep us together.

Edit: another thought I had is that with a lap child on LH or OS if young/small enough take the extra time to request, pay, get a bulkhead seat with the bassinet. I've used LH's a few times and they are great, can't use them for takeoff or landing but it's a life saver. plus depending on route those are 3 seat Y rows which might be ideal for your little tribe. You'll have to call into LH or OS after booking to arrange that.


AGREED!!

There is no value whatsoever to "linking" reservations (which is simply adding a remark to the PNR notes). In IRROPS, it is going to take your intervention anyway.

All that is required is that the two older children be accompanied by an adult and that is you. When you all check in together, this will be taken care of.

Best to do this whole thing over the phone and then check everything online afterwards.

I see OP's point and question. Domestically, children don't need to show ID and hence you can book them as adults on separate PNRs and not worry about the birthdate in the system.

Internationally, I am not sure I'd do that.

If I would have enough miles for 3 awards I would just book them right away. The issue is that I have enough miles for 2 tickets.

searching other threads I saw that selecting the ticket as for adult or changing the birthdate were the only given solutions....

I would disagree with this depending on equipment. For 1 adult and 3 small children a good setup would be the bassinet row if the lap baby is small enough, on LH 744 those are 3 seat sections. However if on OS 772 I might agree and get one of the middle 4 seat sections as I don't think they have bassinets on those.

Looking right now at IAH FRA or IAH MUC flight option.So that means majority of flights on United metal.

I do not know how other on this forum did it on international flights.Pretty sure that if I call UA they will not give a reasonable solution...

The issue with phone agents is that there are a variety of training levels and experience. My personal experience is that pmCO agents seem a bit more willing to work with you generally but that's not going to be the same for everyone. As always if the agent isn't working with you HUACA

I would reiterate that it is best to spend some effort online first figuring out the flights and finding availability before calling in. The issue you will have with booking 2 minors together online, as mentioned above, is that the system will try to put them as unaccompanied minor's.

On the IAH-FRA or IAH-MUC routes UA flies an as yet not reconfigured 772 so it is 3-3-3 in Y. to MUC it is a 763/4 depending on day but either way Y is 2-3-2. LH flies a 388 or 748 to FRA which are both 3-4-3 in Y.

for my $.02 I would take a lap infant on UA trying for a bassinet row on the 767 to MUC. I personally find MUC to be an easier airport to transit, particularly I imagine with a gaggle of kids. 2nd choice would be the 772 (if it does not swap for a reconfigured air-frame with the tight 3-4-3). If you decide to book 4 seats I think the LH flight to FRA is the seating configuration I would lean towards as having 4 seats in a row would be far better than being split across an aisle or in 2 rows. I would also take a non-bulkhead row as the armrests do not fold up on bulkhead rows.

I have done this a number of times over the years. My son is now 21 but from the time he was 8 he generally flew award and I flew paid tickets.

You cannot link the PNRs (as others have noted) although make sure the award tickets are on the same (one) reservation (PNR).

I always called to make the original reservations: paid for me and award for child so there was no UM fee.

Always asked the reservation agent to note the PNR for the other reservation (cross reference). As others have noted did nothing in the system.

Then I would babysit the reservation. Only once was there an issue when they switched his SAN-LAX-SYD flight to SAN-SFO-SYD flight. Called and was told me it was not possible this had occurred BUT the notes were in the system. They switched me to the same flight for no fee.

Good luck travelling where the number of little ones outnumber you.

I consulted today a phone agent about the possibility to book the 2 awards for children and revenue ticket for adult. She told me that there will be a booking fee for each ticket, so I do not know if I had a bad agend and should try again and get one that will waive the fee or is this not even possible?

If you do not have platinum or 1K status with UA and call to book your tickets, you will be assessed a phone booking fee. (If you do have that status, then, yes, the agent was incorrect to charge the fee.) The benefit to calling is that you will not be assessed the additional fee for an unaccompanied minor. I don't think that there is any way around this UM fee if the children are on an award ticket and the adult if flying on a paid ticket and the tickets are purchased online.

Like others, I had to do this recently: mrs. iapetus in paid E, the iapetus jrs. on an award ticket. Because of my status, I was not assessed the phone booking fee, and the agent did not have to charge me the UM fee because the children were being booked at the same time as their mother. If you call and explain that you are calling because it is the only way to avoid the UM fee, you might find a sympathetic agent who will waive the phone booking fee. But I think you would have to get lucky there.