bostonpilot

Also off topic, but - I sympathize with this and also get plenty annoyed with a crying child in C or F, but I have an issue with the suggestion that you can/should ban families with kids from a particular cabin.

When we fly with our kids long haul (HKG-BOS typically), they are lucky enough to fly in C thanks to my company policy. My wife and I go through a massive effort to make sure that we bring enough toys, books, food etc. and load the ipad up with kids shows. Its a ton of work for both of us to keep them entertained through the flight but it is managable.

In he last 2 transpacs that we flew over the holidays, there was a total cumalitive <5 min of crying between two kids - they did great. It is managable, but it takes a lot of work which I gladly do as I have been on the receiving end of misbehaved kids in long haul plenty of times.

I've had plenty of people give me the stink eye when we board, and I've had people try to suggest that we shouldn't be allowed to sit in C. The last time someone blatently said something about it (BOS-ORD in F on the domestic leg of a BOS-HKG flight), I offered to sell him the two kid's seats at the $8,200 each that was paid which stopped the debte.

Now, if I could figure out a way to move the middle aged woman who talked extremely loudly non-stop (literally) from HKG-SFO recently keeping most of the upper deck from sleeping, I'd love to!

I know this isn't what your were necessarily suggesting, and this isn't a debate for this thread, but to me its about requiring acceptable behavior not saying group X cannot buy a C ticket. If UA said my family wasn't welcome in C, I certainly wouldn't say ok and sit in Y, I'd go somewhere else and they would loose the ~$100K of revenue/yr that represents.

Rpcfly

Just accept the fact that they may get agitated/upset etc. I've had mini fly with me in C on numerous trips from the age of 2, mainly because I think it's easier for him to sleep and do his own stuff on the floor in front of the seat. There are some who just don't like kids there period.....but as far as I'm concerned the tickets been paid for and it's his seat. It's even worse if your in C and there are numerous screaming kids in the front row of Y. I avoid the back sections of C like the plague for this reason alone.

harryhood

Most people can't afford to fly C or F with kids; you're fortunate in your situation. i think if you can afford it, I can't complain. You pay for the tickets, you get to sit there.

I also agree it is a question of behavior. I have been forced next to people in C who (i) smell like they haven't showered or used deodorant in a week, (ii) are loaded with choking perfume or cologne, (iii) do incredibly gross things like sniff or snort their runny noses every 3 seconds, cough into the air and not into their arms, hack up loogies into their napkins, clip their fingernails, clip their toenails, pick their noses constantly, belch, fart etc, (iv) airsick people (or maybe not airsick, just saddled with a stomach bug). I've also sat next to drunk people, people who are incapable of carrying on conversations at anything less than a bark, and people who talk to me nonstop even after I cue them that I want some quiet by putting on headphones or on a redeye by reclining all the way and getting the pillows out and eyeshades on.

So yes, you run into all kinds of travellers who do irritating things in C. It is not cause for banning people based on what they look like they might do.

soap_bubbles

I made award reservation using miles in coach over the phone with Continental for 3 passenger (2 adults + 6 year old) for roundtrip from SFO to BLR with 7 day stopover at SYD outbound.

We will be flying with our 11 month son and I will have to call the Continental agent to add him in this reservation. How much taxes or fees should I expect to pay for a lap infant for this route? How is it calculated?

I am a 1K with United and if I change this coach reservation to Business class at later point of time, what happens to the fee/taxes? How are the fees/taxes calculated at that point?

Never traveled with an infant before for an award reservation. Hence no idea.

mduell

Infants on award tickets (or upgrades) are 10% of full fare (FJY) for your cabin.

SFO-BOM Y fare is about $8k, so $800 plus some trivial taxes for the sprog.

If you switch to biz you'll get a refund and have to pay 10% of the J fare. SFO-BOM J is about $16k.

soap_bubbles

Is this how it is calculated? Oh man, I usually score a SFO-BLR fare around $1500- $2000.

azepine00

one possible option for you is to have two award seats and one paid and attach infant to that one making it 10% of paid fare.

FlyinHawaiian

http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/unite...ward-seat.html

UA900

I'm pretty sure that $1500- $2000 isn't full fare economy, sounds more like W or below depending on the time of year. Infant fare should be 10% of applicable adult fare for revenue tickets only. Example: You buy SFO-BOM for $1500 - $2000, so infant fare if purchased same day and same booking code should be around $150 - $200.

Now, here's the problem with mileage redeption tickets: If you book on miles (non-rev), the fare for the infant would be based on full fares, not the $1500 - $2000 K/L/S/T fare you might have gotten when shopping around. So, if a full fare first class seat in F or A costs $20k, all of a sudden the price you'd be charged for the priviledge to hold an infant in first class would be about $2k. As a parent of an infant and a 1K, I think it's much better to buy a W/V/Q fare and then use your SWU's to upgrade. In that case, you're only being charged 10% of W/V/Q fare, not Y or C/D or F/A. It's a lot cheaper than getting a C ticket on miles and then trying to add an infant.

mduell

I thought they'd reassess the infant fare as 10% of the upgraded cabin (full fare) once you cleared?

edit: Reading the other thread it seems I'm wrong.

soap_bubbles

Thank you, this is a great piece of information and I will try doing this:
Will book business class for my 6 yr old and wife and will book W/V/Q fare and will try to use my SWU for myself and add my 11 month to my reservation, that way I will qualify for 1K next year.

This is what I wanted to do SFO-SYD-BLR-SFO (with layover @ SYD for 7 days). Is it possible? Don't mind the connection.

[My current reservation using miles for all 3 of us (not including the infant) is: SFO-SYD-BKK-BLR-FRA-YVR-SFO
Spoke with the agent and she came up with the tax and fees for the infant at $1107]

GroundStop

What is the "correct" charge for an infant in lap travelling with an adult on an international itinerary when the adult is using an Award Upgrade from coach to business?

The United 'Help' page states: "Infants traveling on an adult’s lap on front cabin rewards or upgrades must pay 10% of the front cabin fare in applicable markets."

Yet when I'm looking to book online I'm seeing that the infant is being charged 10% of the coach price plus the same 'Reward Upgrade Service Fee' that the adult is being charged ($550 e/w), but no mileage deduction is being applied.

Any clarity on what it should be (I don't have the energy for another 90+ minute hold time calling reservations!)

Thanks

GroundStop

bsmnsr

We've always purchased the ticket, upgraded and added our infant after the fact on the phone or at the airport.

We've typically been charged ~10% of the base fee of the original ticket whether on UA or CO.

If you book online, you're going to get nailed for the max amount, I'm sure.

kkg

Hi,

From reading on FT, I had always believed that an infant needs to pay 10% of the full fare when the adult is traveling on an award ticket; however, I just got a different answer from UA office in SIN.

I was told that if all segments are on UA, the agent could issue me an infant ticket based on 10% of the lowest fare. I asked her the exact amount by giving her a sample date of Jun 23 2013 for the one-way ticket YUL-SIN, and she came back with SGD 223 all in for the infant (in economy), which is about 180-190 US dollars.

I plan on actually booking it next Tue to see if it works. One small issue came to my mind though -- the agent seemed to suggest that the infant ticket can be sold alone, not attached with the award ticket, and that's why it is 10% of the lowest. If that is the case, can this infant ticket be changed/cancelled; and if yet, are there fees and charges given that I'm a 1k and the award ticket can be changed/cancelled without penalty.

Any comments/suggestions are appreciated.

ufo

This doesnt match up with my recent expereince. We had GPU upgraded tickets to BF and needed to add an infant (who wasn't born when the reservations were made).

The first experience was that many agents had no clue on the facts, once past that it turned out to be 10% of the lowest fair available in the cabin. In our case, it was ~$500. There was then a back-log in getting the reservation ticketed and added to our reservation of 3-4 weeks. During that time some Z tickets became available so I called for them to re-price the yet-to-be-ticketed infant addition which came down to ~$380.

Finally it was ticketed, but they also charged my card a $25 'infant service fee' and then 2x$61, where they appear to have re-taxed our initial reservation on the date of the infant addition. I've written to UA insider about both of these things.

All in all, a frustrating and unnessarily difficult process. I also cant see the life of me why a lap-child fare should be linked either the the currently available fair, or the fair of the cabin of travel. People who wait until they get the airport must get badly stung on a busy flight when the only open buckets might be J or Y.