kmfdm91

HUACA.

The very first time I flew internationally with my infant daughter, I spent a long time figuring out flights and getting everything planned (dates, specific routes, flights and R space, etc).

I booked the ticket for the three of us (wife included) and then tried to use the SWU online (this is August of 2013). No go, despite being able to do it previously withOUT a lap infant. So, I immediately called UA. They quoted me the exact same thing as you got - a change in fare for the infant from somewhere in the neighbourhood of US$100,00 to US$600,00. No thanks. I told them that I didn't think this applied to SWUs and they said - nope, this is the new class of service, so that's what the fee would be. So, I told them 'I'd think about it'. Then, I talked to my wife and I was ready to throw the trip away and cancel at the ~23hour mark. Then, I tried one more time at ~23hours (the following day) and figured that if they still were going to charge the same amount, that I'd cancel the ticket. Lucky for me, I called them up, requested the SWU and they didn't mention the change in infant fare at all. $0,00. Period. They even selected the seats for us on the phone. I checked back on my itin - perfect, R class for all the seats/legs and everything looked great. When we got to the airport, I was so nervous that they were going to ask me for the money then...but everything was perfect, no money collected, nothing brought up at all - except for C boarding passes.

From my experience with SWUs/GPUs, I've had $0,00 collected with my infant, and did:

August 2013:
IAD-BRU
BRU-IAD

April 2014:
FRA-IAD

June 2014:
EWR-NRT
HKG-EWR

All upgraded for my wife & I (plus our daughter) with no issues. Actually, I never even heard anything more about collecting more money after that very first call I placed...and shocker - guess what type of agent the very first call was: CO.

-jeremy

Artemk

Since this seems to be the thread for travel with infants, I'll ask here...

I am looking for a ticket for my sis to come visit us with her son. She plans to come relatively soon - within 3 weeks. As far as return trip - I am not 100% sure at this time, plus I usually buy award tickets as 2 one ways anyway (I believe it's a bit more flexible).

Now, when I try to get her a one way MSQ-SDF - I get a decent option trough VIE-IAD, but since 10% for infant is calculated based on 10% of the one-way fare, it costs $400 + $60 in taxes for economy ticket.

So, should I buy this as round trip (fares are as low as $1,100 for the same onward trip)? If I need to change the ticket later, what happens to 10% for infant? Will they charge me based on one-way for new date? Based on round trip with initial onward schedule?

Thoughts? Answers?

kmfdm91

With my experience on award tickets for infants, the 10% is charged for Y tickets on Y class tickets, so fairly expensive. In addition, I didn't see much variance in a round-trip versus two times a one-way trip, but I was predominantly looking at C tickets (award).

While I notice you are only considering awards (which is fine), the one benefit of booking revenue tickets for infants over awards is that the infant fare is calculated by 10% of the fare YOU pay, so if you are booking a cheap K fare to Europe, you'll only pay 10% of that K fare instead of 10% of a Y fare, AND earn miles, etc.

That said, you mention its not for you, so i'll stop talking about that. However, I can't give you any help on cancelling/moving dates of a ticket in progress, since each of the trips we took, we either canceled outright or flew them as booked/modified.

The good thing about your pricing strategy (at least before you book), is that you can check the price before booking (if it doesn't show online, call up and ask, but be prepared to wait for a long time when UA calls the 'rate desk', then the agent will probably sigh, because they think they are doing YOU a favor).

Finally, good luck with infants. On our final trip with our first infant (another expected in December), two days before she turned two, I had yet another snag with UA and infants (i've had at least 10 different hiccups along the way, all with UA)...I booked a flight for my wife, myself and our infant in Y, to a US destination (SJU), which means the lap infant is free. I had a VDB voucher and goto ticket. I notice about 16 hours after booking that I'm still not ticketed - luckily I notice these things, since the typical person wouldn't care or notice, and UA would never tell you until you get to the airport. So, I call UA, and spent about an hour on the phone for them to tell me that I can't use a voucher for a ticket with a lap infant (even though ours didn't require a ticket for our infant, since it was purely domestic). So, they cancelled our itin, re-made it and applied the voucher, then added the lap infant. UA systems handling infants are absolutely atrocious and lucky for me (I still will feel bad for people booking with UA) given that UA is not giving out RDMs much and going to PQDs, I will give up on UA fully on 01-March after > 900k Lifetime, and just burn my miles up...but it's good for me in the sense that I won't have to deal with UA's issues regarding infants, they have led to too many headaches for the 2 years I've had to deal with them.

-jeremy

Artemk

Jeremy, thanks for the information. Tried to do a dummy booking for a round trip - total taxes and fees are actually lower than they were for one way, so looks like they are based on lowest fare.

I understand what you are saying about revenue vs. award, in this case I would rather book an award ticket, especially since it's not me who is flying...

My problem is - I am a bit short on time to book the onward trip and I do not see anything acceptable for a return - that's why I am trying to figure out if I should just book something now to change it later... Usually this plan (booking onward as one way and booking return later) worked, but it's getting complicated traveling with nephew...

Will contact United once back from my current trip. Would love to hear additional comments.

jez

Booked an international award trip with an adult and lap-child on Copa with United miles (through United rewards reservation). For adult only need to pay taxes. For lap-child need to pay taxes AND 10% of a revenue ticket. Is that correct? The supervisor pointed to the following site: http://www.united.com/web/en-US/cont...s/default.aspx.

Paying 10% of a revenue ticket for a lap-child is totally illogical when buying a rewards ticket. Can someone confirm or corroborate with their personal experience?

Thanks so much!

LilAbner

Ticketing

Infants traveling without a seat to other international destinations are charged 10% of the adult fare at the time of infant ticketing (it is usually less expensive to purchase the infant ticket in advance). Infants traveling on an adult's lap on front cabin awards or upgrades must pay 10% of the front cabin fare in applicable markets.

This matter has been discussed on FT many times and people really freak-out when they arrive at the terminal without paying for the lap child in advance, and the lil tyke is denied boarding.

malgudi

Search is your friend.

Also, the supervisor pointed to the official rules ... what else are you expecting to hear?

gnetwerker

In re 10% of the front-cabin fare, when I had kids of that age, I finessed the problem by buying the baby a cheap coach seat outright, and then bringing the infant into our two (later three) J seats with us. In my cases (mostly TATL) the coach fares were less than 10% of the J-class fare. Obviously this doesn't help with shorter flights, or flights already all in coach.

FAs didn't seem to mind, and the coach pax were happy enough with the extra seat. Some FTers seem to object to this, though it always worked fine for me. Of course, this strategy only works when they're a lap infant.

njcommodore

After booking 2x J award tickets to Rome I found this out. Trying to convince the wife to leave the little one at home with the grandparents now but not having much luck. I'm being quoted 10% of a discounted J fare. I really think UA should let you use 10% of the miles instead of paying out of pocket, but oh well.

Often1

This is the practice worldwide. The exception are US domestic carriers which do not issue tickets to lap infants, do not charge and simply manifest the child.

For international, all carriers manifest each passenger and there is a charge for the ticket. The UA 10% price is better than some carriers which sell at 10% of the full ticket, which can be eye-popping.

There is no way around this. As others note, if you do not have a ticket for the infant, he won't be boarded and presumably you won't fly either.

The ticket is also calculated based on 10% of the cheapest available ticket in the service cabin. Under the theory that the discounted premium tickets are gone by the day of travel, waiting can be a very expensive proposition.

Lastly, depending on the aircraft, it may be necessary to seat lap infants on one side of the aircraft which has an extra oxygen mask. The willingness of an agent to rearrange an entire F cabin for the convenience of one again leads to the risk that it won't happen at all.

JSteele

This is not the practice worldwide. There are several US carriers that will let you fly to Mexico, the Caribbean, and Canada without paying an infant surcharge.

In addition, Lufthansa has no infant surcharge. Also, some carriers such as Air Canada and British airways have reduced surcharges for award tickets. Air Canada will charge a flat fee $50,$100, and $125 for econ, bus, and first, while BA will charge 10% of the miles on an award booking.

This is a pure money grab that has no reflection in costs, and thinking that "its ok because everyone does it" is just not correct.

Often1

I have yet to see any remote suggestion that the fee reflects cost. On the other hand, ticket prices in general do not reflect cost, but rather supply and demand. Hence a USS ticket DCA-LGA can cost more than some carriers' IAD-LHR or similar.

The market, not the carrier, sets the price although the carrier may program the database.

airzim

This is potentially a big no no. I tried this scheme once and the check in agent figured this out when scanning the passports at boarding. Infants under two can't sit alone in coach while the parents sit in front. In the end I had to buy the 10% fare in Business, and they refunded the coach ticket.

I believe that's because it is not considered long haul.

This is not true. Only intra-German flights have no charge for lap infants.

http://www.lufthansa.com/us/en/Trave...n-for-children

In fact I was traveling on 1 revenue ticket in Business booked on LX, and 1 FFP ticket also in J on a UA ticket. Same flight. I called LX to see how much the infant surcharge on the revenue ticket would be and also called UA to see how much for the infant ticket on UA FFP ticket. Turns out UA on the FFP was cheaper (although theoretically, it's the same calculation--10% of the lowest non refundable published fare).

LaserSailor

It is depressing how many people in the media don't understand this and think they are experts on travel.

MSPeconomist

IIRC there are some carriers, such as CX, that charge 20-25% for the lap infant ticket rather than just 10%.