Comments on: Reader Questions: How to Book Travel for an Infant

By: Scottrick

Scottrick — Fri, 17 May 2013 18:55:00 +0000

In reply to Muerl.

You should always contact the program from which you are using miles or purchasing your ticket when you have questions about pricing and issuing a ticket. They may buy the ticket from United, but you buy your ticket from them first.

The policy on purchasing a ticket before vs. after the baby is born is an example of a key difference in policy that will vary a lot between carriers. As I said, United would prefer you book after since the date will almost certainly not be what you originally told them, but they also make it easy to issue changes.

After ticketing, you should always then confirm with the operating carrier about special requirements like bassinets, meals, stroller policies, etc.

I don’t see any particular reason why you can’t book a skycouch with a lap child, but remember that a skycouch costs about as much as just booking three seats. You are essentially reserving the entire row for yourself or however many people you have in your party.

By: Muerl

Muerl — Fri, 17 May 2013 15:23:00 +0000

Should you look at the chart for the Operating Carrier or the carrier your using miles from?

I ask because when I spoke the AirNZ on the phone about a bassinet row for a UA award they said the buy the ticket from them.

They ALSO mentioned that they will not ticket until the baby is born and they will not let you book a bassinet row until the baby was on the itinerary.

On a not related note, can you book a skycouch with a lapchild and cary on a car seat?

By: Mommy Points

Mommy Points — Tue, 14 May 2013 12:04:00 +0000

Sadly the world of lap infants in international travel is very YMMV. From the same airline you will be told 10% of cheapest fare that cabin and 10% of full fare. Obviously if you don’t like what you are told, hang up and call back as the answers on this do change. In general, it is better to book the infant as soon as you can since the cheapest fare tends to get more expensive close-in to the trip. Another tricky situation can be if you upgrade to a premium cabin as 10% can start to get very expensive (think up to around $1,000 for the privilege of holding your infant).

It can pay off to look at some of the foreign carriers for international travel involving lap infants. For example, if you want to fly Star Alliance, Aeroplan might be a good program to consider when booking a lap infant on an award since instead of 10% of fare you are paying a fixed price starting at $50 or 5,000 miles for economy up to $125 or 12,500 Miles for first class. Of course you have to be strategic about this since Aeroplan does charge fuel surcharges for some air carriers that can wipe out your lap infant savings. Same with British Airways who charges 10% miles on lap infant awards instead of 10% fare.

I’ll also throw in that while flying as a lap child may work okay for a very young and snuggly infant, once your child is mobile it is very much worth considering getting them their own seat for everyone’s comfort.