Flying with infant - do we HAVE to buy tickets on the phone?

[Reina]

DS & I are flying to Europe in August. He will be 10 months.
We found the best route & fare combination from Lufthansa. But the Lufthansa customer relations is telling me I can't purchase the tickets online.

I talked to a customer relations person this morning. She told me that we can only purchase tickets (if we're flying with an infant), over the phone; not online. Soooo there is no guarantee that we can get the same discounted fare that we were quoted online. Aaaand, they charge $20 per ticket. They call it a "convenience fee". (I am going to refrain from dropping a coment to that one.)

I have logged well over million miles in my life time travelling domestic and internationally. So I am not that lost regarding international travel. But. I've never flown with a baby before.

Seriously, do we HAVE to call them to purchase our tickets?

[egoldber]

Many infant fares are unavailable on-line. Sorry.

[arivecchi]

Beth is right. I have been able to purchase fares online for DS2 on American.

[Neatfreak]

We normally book all of our adult fares online, and call the airline only to have the baby added to our reservations.

[truly scrumptious]

Can you buy yours online, and then buy his over the phone? You can then tell them to link the two so you're seated together etc.
Are you paying a special infant fare? Or full price? If full price, why can't you buy it online as an adult fare, and then call them to give them his date of birth?

We have done both the above.
For one trip we decided to buy a ticket for DS (although he was under 2) a couple of months after we'd bought our own tix. We bought his separately and then called the airline and told them he was an infant and needed to be seated with us. It was no problem.

Another time the airline wasn't able to give us the same fares over the phone as online, and the CS rep told us to buy all the tix online and call them back to tell them one seat was for an infant, and give them the DOB.

HTH!

[rgors]

I've also logged over a million miles and am no stranger to air travel. I do the same as neatfreak. Book adult tix online, call and do the infant ticket. That said, I would be wary of doing this for international travel because they have very specific infant rules (I have never traveled internationally with infant, just to be clear, but I have heard too many horror stories). I'd call an agent with the airline first and ask if I can go with the approach to book tickets separately but have them all "stick" together as one traveling reservation, before planning on it.

Also, in the past I have had airlines honor their online rates if I was "forced" to purchase via phone (e.g. with an infant ticket). I've never had the (in)convenience fee waived, however.

If you have status on a partner airline, I'd try to book a codeshare through the partner, by calling the super-duper-exclusive-elite service agents.

Good luck!

[Reina]

If you have status on a partner airline, I'd try to book a codeshare through the partner, by calling the super-duper-exclusive-elite service agents.

Good luck!

Well... We were supposed to fly British Airways because of our executive club points. We always fly upgraded or on reward tickets on BA, which is fantastic. (not a fan of BA politics but love the upgraded flights.) But, due to the strike and the volcano, BA is not honoring the reward flights during high season. They actually cancelled our reward booking and credited our miles back. And their ticket prices have gone through the roof toward where we're headed.

Unfortunately I have no miles or status points with Lufthansa. I'm just going to bite the bullet and call & book. I'm wasting time brewing over it. Time's money...

[hillview]

No idea if this is an option but airfrance allows you to book kids on line.
/hillary

[emily]

Sorry to hijack but infant fares still exist?

[rgors]

It's all different on international flights. Infants can't travel for free, even on a lap.