Flying question

[livsmom04]

My hubby and I want to fly down when we go on our next trip with our daughter who will be 9. Do airlines still consider my daughter an adult or is there a way to get a child's price for flying?

 

[rwdavis2]

No such thing as a child's price any more as far as I know.

Since planes these days almost always fly with a full load there's no reason to discount a seat they don't have to.

 

[tjmw2727]

Many airlines do offer child fares but they are usually a % discount off of the full fare, fully refundable (most expensive) flights. You will find that the discounted "adult" web fares are almost always cheaper than a childs fare.

 

[CraftyMommy]

On Southwest the web fares for adults are cheaper than the child fare, which is discounted off of the rack rate.

 

[aubriee]

No such thing as a child's price any more as far as I know.

Since planes these days almost always fly with a full load there's no reason to discount a seat they don't have to.

True! We took our three y/o GS to WDW last Feb and I asked this same question. Nope! We had to pay full fare for him. The couple across from us had a little girl about a year old. They were talking to us about how if they had flown her as a lap child she would have been free, but they wanted her in a car seat, so had to pay full fare for her. They too had asked about discounts for a small child and were told there were none. This was on American.

 

[DebbieB]

True! We took our three y/o GS to WDW last Feb and I asked this same question. Nope! We had to pay full fare for him. The couple across from us had a little girl about a year old. They were talking to us about how if they had flown her as a lap child she would have been free, but they wanted her in a car seat, so had to pay full fare for her. They too had asked about discounts for a small child and were told there were none. This was on American.

They are taking up a seat same as an adult, I don't understand why a child should be less. A lapchild is free because they don't take a seat. At the parks, they get a lower rate because they can't ride everything or they don't eat as much at the dining locations.

 

[aubriee]

Hey, I agree! Don't get me wrong, I didn't have a problem paying for him. I had just never flown with a three y/o so thought I'd ask before purchasing his ticket if there might be any chance of getting his ticket cheaper. I know many, many, many years ago, airlines offered cheaper fares for kids, in order to get their parents to fly. They don't have to anymore. Families flying are alot more common now than it was back in the 60's or even 70's.

As far as the family sitting across from us. We just overheard the dad talking about how their little one could have flown for free as a lap baby and the mom was snapping at him that it wasn't safe to fly as a lap baby and her kid was going to be sitting in a car seat, she didn't care what it cost. We got to talking about how you used to be able to book a child's fare and now anyone requiring a seat pays the same price. It doesn't matter if it's a tiny baby, who may or may not be in their carseat vs their mother's arms or a really obese person who takes up two seats and should have to pay for two, but often times does not.

 

[livsmom04]

Thank you for all the responses. I think we might actually see if we can find any specials and if not then we will drive down again on the next trip which is about a 9 hour trip down there.

 

[rwdavis2]

Thank you for all the responses. I think we might actually see if we can find any specials and if not then we will drive down again on the next trip which is about a 9 hour trip down there.

Oddly enough 9 hours is about where we decide to drive/fly. We have relatives in Vermont so we would fly from Baltimore to Albany. But given all the airport delays these days plus the cost of flying, renting a car, and then driving from Albany to Vermont, we drive instead.

It's about 5 hours total to fly vs. around 8-9 to drive.

 

[livsmom04]

Oddly enough 9 hours is about where we decide to drive/fly. We have relatives in Vermont so we would fly from Baltimore to Albany. But given all the airport delays these days plus the cost of flying, renting a car, and then driving from Albany to Vermont, we drive instead.

It's about 5 hours total to fly vs. around 8-9 to drive.

Flying for us it's about 1 1/2 hours total each way. I'm more willing to do that then sit in the van for 8-9 hours. But the past 3 trips we have driven. Not bad but we'd like to save some time for our next trip.