PDXpress

I've been there. The only thing that requires more patience than getting a lap infant ticketed on an international or non-US flight, is flying with the infant!

geminidreams

Would it not be easier to cancel the award ticket for yourself and just purchase the ticket directly with OS and add the lap infant?

miadeals

It would seem that way, except now I would have to have United cancel exactly one award ticket out of 5 on the same booking and not accidentally cancel the whole reservation, etc.

Its insane - an infant ticket purchased directly is 5 Euro. A child's ticket is 75% of the lowest fare, purchased directly, and we get a seat. Instead I'm going to have to buy an adult seat and a lap infant at full price, which is cheaper still than a lap infant on an award ticket on a flight valued at 66.25 euro for an adult.

What I still haven't gotten clarification on is what happens when I show up to the airport with a lap infant on the day of the flight? In the US they would just add the infant on to my ticket. What would they do over there - charge me their 5 euro fee, or deny us boarding?

Also - I'm not letting OS off the hook here. If you book a Eurowings award reservation through United you can contact Eurowings directly, months in advance, and they can add the infant at any time - for 25 Euro. OS is lying that its not possible - both are subsidiaries of Lufthansa. They could easily add the infant if they wanted and collect the 5 Euro or whatever directly. And Eurowings/Lufthansa canceling our flight is what got me in this mess.

WineCountryUA

there could be an issue you need to be careful with. Does the award ticket have any further future flight segments? If you board with the paid ticket, to be able to board the infant, you will be a no show on the award ticket and future segments will be canceled. If there are no additional segments.

Just because OS policies are not to your liking, the characterization as "lying" is unwarranted. The various subsidiaries of the LH group have very different policies, as other carriers have different policies. Eurowings being the oddest.

Agree with them or not, like it or not, the agents will follow their carrier's policies and making inflammatory accusations isn't going to help you in working with those carriers. Just as "incompetent UA" seems to just be UA agents following standard UA policy based on a complex set of booking restrictions with a disappointing outcome. Perhaps accepting what appears to have been the "correct policy" answer would have saved a lot of time / aggravation with little monetary difference.

malmostoso

Possibly irrelevant to your situation, but might provide another way of doing it.

I had an award on TP bought with TK Miles. TK does not provide infants on the award. So I called TP directly and PURCHASED an infant ticket. Note I didn't ask TP to touch TK's ticket to ADD and infant, I simply bought a ticket for the infant and somehow linked it to the award ticket.

I'd say, try calling OS, explain that you have tickets for adults and that you want to buy the infant ticket. They should price it according to the matrix.

miadeals

The easiest way out is to show up on the day of the flight and add the infant at the airport.

Will this work? Anyone have any idea how much that would cost? Any way to figure it out?

physioprof

It's probably worth considering the value of one's own time in pursuing this kind of quest to save less than $100.

miadeals

There is nothing more infuriating than having to pay $90 to hold your own toddler in your lap. It costs them nothing and they are ripping you off for having a baby. And to make it twice as bad I cant just pay cash for a seat for the kid at the lower adult price cause you cant book a 1yo on its own reservation. They know exactly what they are doing here and know they are jamming you up in this situation {Inappropriate language per https://www.flyertalk.com/help/rules.php#offensive removed} So its not just the $90, I’ve paid more for transatlantic flights, though I’ve also paid less for them too! To have them lie and say they “cannot” when the truth is they “will not” is icing on the cake.

Again I would have never been in this situation if Lufthansa’s other subsidiary hadn't canceled a flight on me, so its the same company screwing me here, and its infuriating. Luckily I have 5 months to determine a solution and don't feel like wasting $90 on nothing, but to each their own.

FlyingNone

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This might work but with a slim chance of success as ticket counter agents have not been trained to issue or reissue tickets. That pretty much ended because of the merger with Continental. At the very least if one is going to try as a last-ditch effort or the only recourse is to appear at the ticket counter (after all else has failed), better allow a minimum of 4-5 hours before travel to be standing in front of an agent - who if they care and don't blow you off, will make necessary phone calls ie, to United's rate desk who can reissue the adult ticket WITH INFANT NAME in the parent PNR. I would certainly be persistent as obviously your infant needs to be with you.
I would also suggest if you are near an airport, go there a day or more in advance to try to get this done. It will take phone calls on the part of the United ticket/counter agent, a lot of time and hopefully they will reach a rate desk person who is willing to help and expedite in a timely manner. However, I envision United personnel telling you this can't be done quickly....so have as much information at hand as possible - infant birth certificate, infant's and adult passport, any printout of correspondence, your ticket number and itinerary etc.

I'm also thinking UA can book, price and issue a separate ticket for the infant provided the same cabin is available but the price may vary determined by airfare code available (award or otherwise) and date of issue. Hopefully you will hit up a sympathetic agent or two who will run the full course for you. Trust me this is not a scenario that has not been seen in the field or is impossible to resolve.
As well, I'm sure you will be in the vicinity of $90 for the infant and frankly all the angst and frustration up to this point is not worth chasing down a lower fare.

COSPILOT

i won’t judge, but way back in the day my kids were worth more than $90. I did the lap infant thing once and never did it again. Didn’t run into the struggles you have, but I value my children’s life. As such, it’s a seat for kids under 2, period.

malmostoso

Expecting an outsourced agent at a small outstation to call UA and request a reissue of the ticket is very wishful. They might but more likely they might not. Waiting for the day of will most likely result in buying a walk up adult+infant ticket.

FlyingNone

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That's probably what's going to happen, yeah.

physioprof

I hear what you're saying. I have been a cog in an enormous academic institution for decades, so I get the frustration of completely senseless obstacles to what is obviously a correct outcome. I guess everyone weighs the value of their own time versus best-case possible outcomes from battling the inanities of an enormous bureacracy differently.