EmpressRouge

I will be flying my infant later this year, who will be 22 months at the time. Even though he qualifies to be a lap infant, I would like to buy him a seat for both safety and comfort reasons. Since the VA site can't book seats for infants, I called to ask what was the best way to do this: e.g. book all the adult tickets online first, then call to book the infant seat and have the agent link the two reservations.
The agent told me to just book/buy the seat for the infant as an adult (since the ticket price will be the same) and then call to have them to update the passenger information.
Is this a legitimate way to book an infant seat?

I don't mind this method as I'm based in the USA, and trying to book a ticket with a credit card over the phone always takes a ridiculous amount of time, and I'll need to do this for multiple flights. (I fully expect calling to update passenger info to take time, but at least it cuts down a lot of back and forth making sure card numbers and spelling is all correct.) I'm just worried if this is not legitimate method, I'll be screwing over the entire reservation for the actual adults.

JClasstraveller

If you are talking about domestic tickets then yes, that’s fine to buy an adult/child ticket and when you input the passenger name you just provide the details in the normal way.

If flying VA internationally then someone else will need to chip in.

EmpressRouge

Thanks! And yes, these are domestic flights within Australia.
In the US, almost all airlines allow for free cancellation within 24-hrs, so I would totally just book, call right away and cancel if there was an issue. I didn't see any such 24 hr grace period for VA, so didn't want to risk screwing all the adult tickets if I couldn't update one seat to be a child.

JClasstraveller

I’d book it as a child (though I suspect it makes no difference). You absolutely don’t want different PNRs.

EmpressRouge

I thought about that, but the CHILD booking requires me to put in a birth date (and won’t allow me to select 2022), but ADULT doesn’t require require a birth date.

JClasstraveller

Weird

I guess some adults do act like toddlers lol

EmpressRouge

Update 1: I decided to test by making 1 flight booking with my infant as an adult and called the [US-based] VA customer service number immediately after. After discussing with a supervisor, the agent said they can't just update the one ticket profile, but had to cancel the entire reservation, issue travel bank credits and rebook everyone on the same flight. I ended up with the same booking reference as before and no additional fee costs, but it did take 30+ minutes on the phone

This new agent suggested I book him as a CHILD (age 2-11) and call to update the birth year. I guess for a boarding pass, they probably don't carefully check the birthdate. And my 22 month old can pass as a 2 year old. I have a few more domestic flights to book, and like before, I will try this with just 1 of the flights. My suspicion is that the customer service agents are well-intentioned but probably don't realize that the system limitations of make profile changes. So it often requires a complete rebooking. At least they weren't charging me change/cancellation fees.

Update2: Booked my kid as a CHILD and called them to update the birth year, and it worked. Much shorter call and no issues