keloutwest

Hi all,

I booked a paid international coach ticket and used PlusPoints to upgrade to Polaris one direction and Premium Plus in the other direction (both available at booking). Infant in arms was indicated at booking, and my receipt shows a $25 ticket fare plus taxes, totaling around $100 for the infant. Adult tickets were $1200 each. Both the infant and adult receipts show the classes of service as PZ and RN.

There was a schedule change, and I was not satisfied with the new flights (very short connection). I called in and they switched me to the day prior, but same routing (just different times). At the end of the 1.5 hour long call (they had to undo the upgrades, take out the infant, and redo all of it, opening PZ and RN space on the other flights at the same time), I was told that I owed $200-something additional dollars in taxes for the infant in arms. I was told I could either pay that now or at the airport.

I explained to the agent that I had already paid taxes for the infant at booking and that taxes shouldn't have changed because the routings and classes of service were identical. In addition to telling me that I was wrong (and would have been asked to pay those extra taxes at check in anyways, regardless of the changes just made), the supervisor made a point of telling me that she notated the account that I was refusing to pay the additional taxes and that I agreed to be downgraded if I didn't pay them.) I was also told that if the return flight clears into Polaris, I would owe yet another $200-something in infant taxes, which would bring the total to around $500 in taxes. (I asked the supervisor to explain the actual rules - she couldn't - just told me "how it is and has always been". I asked to be called back by a manager who could - I'm still waiting for that call back.)

The United "traveling with children" page is unclear. I know I need to pay taxes for the infant, but shouldn't I be charged Y taxes based on the fare purchased for the corresponding adults? The PP upgrades for the adults don't trigger additional taxes for Polaris, so why would I have to pay higher taxes on an infant that isn't even occupying their own seat? Also, paying $500 in taxes seems high when, at the time of booking, a round trip paid ticket in J was only $2000 (and then the infant would have her own seat AND earn her first frequent flyer miles!).

Anyone know the actual rules or suggestions on how to handle this?

Aussienarelle

I know some countries have a tax for premium seats but if the adults are not paying the premium taxes I am uncertain why the infant would be subject to those taxes.

I think the better alternative is to send an email to United ask for the breakdown of the fees and taxes for the adults and the infant.

Kmxu

I do not know the answer. The premium cabin taxes are added for return (e.g., originating from LHR and CDG), but they should not be added to outbound flights.

azepine00

i believe the agent is correct; i am a bit removed from the days of lap kids but in the past an upgrade would in theory require reticketing lap child in upgraded cabin with 10% of new cabin fare collected... similar to lap child on award essentially..
not sure if and how it was enforced but there were posts on FT on AA and UA on that topic back then...

npei

This is correct. Upgraded lap child will result in 10% of new cabin fare collected, latest at airport checkin. I’m pretty sure if OP declines to pay, both adult & lap child will be downgraded back to original cabin since lap child cannot have own seat !

keloutwest

If this is the case, why don't they charge higher taxes for the adults that were upgraded? If this is the rule, then so be it. But can anyone explain WHY? As it stands, the infant will be paying more in taxes than 2 adults combined!

Kmxu

The base for calculating the 10% infant fare has been changed (from economy to business) because you have been upgraded to business although you did not need to pay a single more cent. For example, United has a base fare for economy at $1000, but at $3000 for business. So, you need to pay 10% of this difference; so $200 in this example.

OP, you will have to pay if both you and infant want to sit in business cabin.

The agent may be wrong by saying taxes; it is just the fare difference.

myperks

Seems like theres missing a step during the rebooking. Since rebooking goes back to original fare class, the infant should be added back to the adjusted dates prior to upgrading back to PZ. Then request the reservation upgraded to business class since that requires revenue to open up PZ anyways for schedule changes.

Appears that the agent changed the dates, probably back to the original coach class, called revenue to open up the PZ seat, then added infant.

just my random speculation.

FlyingfromDC

This is one of the oddest rules I ever encountered in booking award travel. A few years ago, I booked 2 international first class seats on United SFO-FRA-SFO with miles for us adults and added our 23-month-old as an infant. The infant fare as a lap child was about $1,000 - more than many adults were paying in economy on the same flight. We were advised it was 10% of the 1st class fare, which at the time was about $10k.

We thought that perhaps the rule was there to discourage infant travel in business and first? We were happy to pay it for the comfort, and knew our infant would be well-behaved and quiet (she had travelled on planes since the age of 4 weeks).

keloutwest

How would this change the calculations?

MSPeconomist

The difference isn't just taxes, it's a fare difference (plus perhaps a difference in taxes, depending on the details of the ticket).

Many airlines, including AA/UA/DL charge for lap infants on international itineraries: 10% of the fare for the cabin in which they will be seated, plus 100% of the applicable taxes and fees. Sometimes there's a question of what adult fare applies and whether that fare changes (goes up typically) as the day of departure approaches but the infant ticket hasn't yet been purchased.

Without knowing the details/route, if OP paid $1200 for the RT coach ticket and is upgrading to business class in both directions, I would guess that the coach infant ticket might have been very roughly $150. If the price for the same flights in business class is (for example) $5200, the additional fare (10% of $4000 ($5200 - $1200)) would be $400 in addition to the $150. The numbers the OP is being told make sense to me.

I'm a bit puzzled that the coach infant ticket could be only $100 if the adult coach fare is $1200, but I assume UA is permitting the ticket to be issued using a cheaper coach fare class that currently has no availability.

myperks

because infants are charged a percentage of the fare you are seated in.

so if they change your ticket to coach (since that is what you bought), added your infant, and then reprocessed the upgrade, your infant will probably only pay the 10% (or whatever of the coach fare) for example if the coach fare is $1000, then 10% is $100 plus say $50 in airport taxes.

the agent you dealt with changed your ticket to coach (since that is what you bought), reprocessed the upgraded, THEN added your infant (I’m assuming). In this case 10% infant fare of $4000 (hypothetical business class fare) is $400 plus the $50 airport taxes.

that is my read based on the other comments already.

narvik

This makes the most sense of what happened, given all the info & numbers presented by OP.

keloutwest

If I'm understanding correctly, then, you are suggesting that the taxes should be based on the original class of service, not the upgraded (seated) class of service. It seems that others here are adamant that the fare is based on the cabin in which you are seated, not that you purchased.

If it's based on the seated cabin, then it shouldn't matter when the infant is added because they will pay 10% of the business class fare. Now, perhaps there is an argument about what the business class fare should be, as MSPEconomist suggests, which may be affected by what date the upgrade is processed - but I would assume they used the original fare basis.

I'm still a bit skeptical to be honest. Say the return flight (which is currently in Premium Plus) is only cleared into Polaris at the gate. All of this suggests that the gate agent will say "congratulations, you've been upgraded, now give me $200 in taxes/fare difference?" I have never heard of this happening, but maybe I just haven't paid attention?

findark

I can't dig up the threads on this right now, but yes things like that happen. Upgrades with lap infants are a horrible mess, and indeed when you clear late like that they will reprice the INF at 10% of the current premium fare, which is often a C fare that close in.

A literal gate upgrade will probably slide because it is a different process then a computer-cleared upgrade (and you are already checked in), but in the old days if you cleared an instrument upgrade with a lap child close to departure, it would wreak havoc with check-in.

If anything, it sounds like the computer messed up and didn't collect the difference in fare when you originally upgraded, and this is getting caught now.