United no longer offering infant fares

[debh2005]

FYI
If you are like me and like to purchase a seat for your 0-24 month old when flying, UNITED IS NO LONGER OFFERING 50% OFF.
Their FAQ on the website says they still do, but they have not updated that yet.
Effective April 1, 2006 infants in their own seat must pay full adult fare.
Northwest also flys to where we are going, so I guess I am going to fly with them - they still offer the 50% deal.

They just lost a customer for the next 2+ years since baby #2(a girl!) is due in July. They do still do free lap infants if you fly that way.
x(

[teddy]

Well, that STINKS!
I'm in Chicago and we always always always fly United!
Oh well, I supposed I would get nickel and dime'd on any airline I'd choose now, anyhow. :(

[cmdunn1972]

One more reason to fly Southwest for domestic flights. (BTW, to the PP in Chicago, SW flies to Midway.)

[jenjenfirenjen]

FYI, neither is US Air/America West. When they merged, they ended the 1/2 off infant fares. Totally sucks.

[Emmas Mom]

That's so ridiculous! x( They're making it harder & harder to afford family trips, very sad. I bet the cost of gas is a big factor for airlines.

[teddy]

Oh, Midway! Remember when the plane skidded off the runway and into the street, killing that young child in the car at the stoplight?!?! Their runways are SO close to the homes there. Anyway, I think I'm closer to Milwaukee's airport than Midway, at least if you figure in the traffic times! But this fare hike does make one wonder what is the cost of convenience.

[Melanie]

That stinks!!

I'm SO glad I already ordered my tickets for our trip this summer.

[mudder17]

Let's see, the last three times I've flown United, 1x we were delayed because of mechanical problems, 1x our flight was delayed because of mechanical problems and we had to switch planes, and 1x they lost our luggage. Needless to say, we fly SW just about every time!

I once asked the flight attendants on SW about the whole preboarding with a child (American and United both denied preboarding for us) and they said, "Of course, that would be ridiculous not to!" Anyway, I told them that I will always be flying SW because of their child/family friendly policies. We've flown with them almost exclusively for the last 5-10 years. The few times we didn't, they either did not fly there (rare) or someone else bought our tickets for us.


Eileen

http://www.mothering.com/discussions/images/smilies/candle.gif for Leah
http://www.gynosaur.com/assets/ribbons/ribbon_sapphire_24m.gif

http://tickers.baby-gaga.com/t/catcatcvi20040222_-6_Kaya+is.png
Kaya will be a sister, ~11/14/06!

[janeybwild]

Interesting about United. Its all getting so expensive. Our recent experience with BA international shows they've changed too. It used to be 50% for a child fare, now its 80% of an adult ticket (infants without a seat are 10% I believe). Their website is also not up to date. Grr.

[bubbaray]

None of the Canadian airlines offer child fares, at least not since I had DD.

Lap infants are free, but I keep hearing rumblings that they aren't going to allow that much longer.


Melissa

Maya Papaya!
http://lilypie.com/baby2/040411/3/4/1/-8/.png[/img][/url]

[kristenk]

We've only flown American with DD, so I don't know how other airlines work. American offers (or used to offer) 50% fares for infants, but it's 50% of a certain qualifying adult fare in the system, not the lowest adult fare you can get. So, for one of our flights, we purchased tickets for DH and I and then DD ended up with a 50% ticket. The other flight, we ended up purchasing 3 adult fares on-line b/c it was cheaper to do it that way than to buy 1 qualifying adult tickets, 1 50% infant ticket and 1 on-line ticket.

My question is did United give 50% off of whatever the lowest fare was or did they have "qualifying" tickets like American?

[cmdunn1972]

I think it was qualifying fares, if I remember correctly.

Last May, when we flew home with DS from Japan, where he was adopted from, they said if we paid for a seat the cost would be 50% of the highest adult rate. (Lap children fares were 10%.) Since we were flying international from Tokyo, that would have been $1500! It made me mad that I would have had to pay so much money to put DS in the safest situation possible, and after paying for an adoption we were pinching pennies. I had to grit my teeth, bite my tongue and sit nervously with DS (then 1 month old) in my lap during the (full) 12 hour flight.

[Ceepa]

We traveled on United in April and the infant seat was 50% off, but I guess that was because we bought the tickets about three weeks prior.

Thanks for the heads up -- I wouldn't have known about this otherwise.

[o_mom]

Honestly, though, I have never taken the 50% off - it is 50% off the FULL UNRESTRICTED adult fare, which was more than an advance purchase restriced adult fare. This was on United, Continental and Southwest.

[carryingandstrollingabout]

I just paid my airfare for our family of 4 to do an obligatory extended family visit--came to just a bit over $2000. I wouldn't fly anymore just for vacation at those prices--only when we have to. It's just too much.