Author Topic: Loophole to book a cheaper one-way infant reward ticket (Read 4192 times)

Daniel · « **on:** September 13, 2011, 11:25:11 PM »

Usually infant tickets are 10% of the fare even on a reward ticket. This burns when booking a one-way award.
A CO rep just told me an awesome workaround.

1. Book a RT ticket with the infant
2. Change the ticket from a RT to a one-way (pay re-deposit fee based on status)
3. Extra miles and taxes are refunded, but the child ticket remains at the lower price!

I saved $40 this way. If I was CO Plat I would have saved $190.

Dan · « **Reply #1 on:** September 13, 2011, 11:35:09 PM »

Or change within 24 hours and pay no redeposit fee.

sky121 · « **Reply #2 on:** September 13, 2011, 11:41:01 PM »

Sorry for my lack of understanding here but why is it cheaper with a round-trip? I'm confused.

Sent from my LS670 using Tapatalk

Dan · « **Reply #3 on:** September 13, 2011, 11:48:01 PM »

Search CO.com for EWR-TLV paid ticket on 10/25 one-way.
Now search CO.com for EWR-TLV-EWR on 10/25-11/01.

Daniel · « **Reply #4 on:** September 14, 2011, 08:07:36 AM »

Does this trick work on Flying Blue as well? I'm going to book my return ticket with them.

Do they have a 24-Hour policy?

ez1985 · « **Reply #5 on:** September 14, 2011, 11:14:41 AM »

i just booked a ticket to toronto on point and I didnt see anything about a charge for infants. Am I missing something?

Daniel · « **Reply #6 on:** September 14, 2011, 12:03:01 PM »

Quote from: ez1985 on September 14, 2011, 11:14:41 AM

i just booked a ticket to toronto on point and I didnt see anything about a charge for infants. Am I missing something?

US and Canada are free

Daniel · « **Reply #7 on:** September 14, 2011, 02:33:16 PM »

I'm having trouble finding Flying Blue's policy on award changes and infant tickets. All I found is this:

3.5 To travel with a child younger than two (2) years of age, an adult travelling with an Award ticket must make a reservation for the infant with the airline on which the Award ticket is issued, according to the applicable tariff rates of said airline. This reservation cannot be made by the Customer Service Centre.

flyingace · « **Reply #8 on:** September 14, 2011, 05:59:27 PM »

Last time I used Flying Blue (around 3 years ago), all fees for infant tickets were 10% ( or 20%-don't recall the exact amount) of the regular fees.

Daniel · « **Reply #9 on:** September 14, 2011, 06:05:57 PM »

I think 10% is standard across most airlines. The question is if you can use the CO workaround on FB and if so what are the change fees and do they have a 24 hour policy?

yakovwogi · « **Reply #10 on:** September 14, 2011, 09:12:05 PM »

i there really a charge for a lap infant withing the continental USA, on CO??

Brian · « **Reply #11 on:** September 14, 2011, 10:04:01 PM »

This post is referring to international flights, domestic flights are free.

yakovwogi · « **Reply #12 on:** September 14, 2011, 11:50:01 PM »

Quote from: Brian on September 14, 2011, 10:04:01 PM

This post is referring to international flights, domestic flights are free.

Thanks

flyingace · « **Reply #13 on:** September 15, 2011, 08:04:41 AM »

Quote from: Daniel on September 14, 2011, 06:05:57 PM

I think 10% is standard across most airlines. The question is if you can use the CO workaround on FB and if so what are the change fees and do they have a 24 hour policy?

As I said, all regular fees were at the reduced rate for the infant (paid) ticket. They may rerate the ticket at that time as well.

Daniel · « **Reply #14 on:** September 15, 2011, 09:00:52 AM »

Sorry if I wasn't clear. This is for a Delta flight booked with FB miles. I spoke with both FB and Delta and it turns out the adult tickets are booked with FB and I need to then call DL to book the infant ticket. The unkown is whether or not I will be able to book a RT infant with DL, and then link it to the one-way FB ticket.

Another option would be to book a RT FB ticket, then call delta to add the infant, then change the FB ticket (but I'm not sure about the FB reward change policy).

Any expert input would be greatly appreciated.

flyingace · « **Reply #15 on:** September 15, 2011, 06:35:52 PM »

I don't know about working the loophole, but FB charges 10% of all regular fees for changes to an infant ticket. When I flew Delta and CO on a FB award, I booked the infant ticket through FB and only needed to call the other airlines to arrange bulkheads,etc. They are partners with Delta and should be able to fare the infant and add it onto the reservation themselves.

Daniel · « **Reply #16 on:** September 18, 2011, 03:26:07 PM »

OK, so I did this workaround with CO and it seemed to semi-work. I was able to change the ticket to a OW (for free within 24 hrs) and keep the RT infant ticket. However, I am still being charged all the RT taxes (Israel Departure Tax, US trans tax, etc..) wheras the OW flights only have the 9/11 $2.50 tax.

The original CO rep who told me to do this said they would refund the taxes as well. Should I call and ask or could I end up with a bad rep who will call me out on the RT infant and mess me up?

Daniel · « **Reply #17 on:** September 20, 2011, 01:04:47 PM »

UPDATE:

I tried doing this with FB/Delta and it's a no-go. I thought I would be able to put a RT reservation on hold, book the infant with DL, then change the FB reservation from RT to OW. DL said they can't book the infant until it's officially ticketed. However, once it's ticketed I'll need to pay FB change fees (~$70) and I'm risking losing the reward availability upon re-booking. Not worth the minimal savings.

As for CO, I'm still fighting with them to refund the miles from the RT->OW change. They are claiming it's an invalid ticket, but I'm telling them their own rep told me to do it!

Daniel · « **Reply #18 on:** October 25, 2011, 09:00:43 PM »

Final Update Here:
DO NOT ATTEMPT TO DO THIS
After fighting with CO for a long time they will not relent and will not re-issue the ticket even though multiple reps told me it would be done. I negotiated with them and they allowed me to cancel all the tickets for free.

Thanks to Dan's post about flying blue now working RT I was able to change my flying blue ticket as well from a OW->RT. Now I'm flying for 50K RT with a cheap infant ticket!! Amazing!! Thanks Dan!

One thing which worked out nicely was that Flying Blue did not charge me a change fee (even though multiple reps said they would). Seems like they booked me two OW tickets. I thought this would cause an issue with the infant ticket and Delta, but Delta had no issue with booking a RT infant even though I had two One Ways.

Bottom Line, when flying with an infant buy a vanilla RT ticket (with no stopovers

)

PlatinumGuy · « **Reply #19 on:** October 26, 2011, 07:19:57 AM »

I doubt DL has any definitve rules at all.