Anyone ever tried booking a seat for an infant before you know if it s a boy or girl?

[D L and K's Mom]

I just tried to book our seats for our trip next Dec. We decided the fares looked pretty good right now so I went ahead and booked our 4 seats and then tried to book a seat for the baby who will be here in July. I had a terrible time The first lady I spoke to told me there was no way I could do it..I suggested "baby with our last name" NOPE...how about hyphenating the two names we have chosen with our last name.....nope. I was told we could not book a seat until we knew the name of the baby. I did not book our seats and hung up sort of in shock. I tried again later and got the same story. This time I asked why this made such a big difference. I was told the tickets must match the person who is flying with them exactly. I explained that I have never had to show any I.D for my children just their tickets along with my tickets and my husbands and my licence. I was told that this policy may soon be changed and everyone traveling will have to have some sort of ID.....birth certificate. I asked to speak to the supervisor that this lady had been talking to and finally I was able to book a seat for the baby under the name of Infant. I have to call before we fly to change it. The first time I suggested this as "baby" I was told that when I went to use the ticket Iwould have to pay a $100 fee to make a change to the ticket. I hope this does not happen in July when I go to put the baby's name (Kennedy for a girl or Alex or Logan for a boy ) We are flying Delta by the way. Has anyone else ever run into this problem??? We were given the option of not buying a seat for the baby and just holding him/her for the trip. After some discussion we decided we felt safer with the baby strapped in a car seat in the seat. Has anyone heard that all passengers are soon going to have to have some sort of ID? I can understanf why but this seemed a little much.

 

[GAIL HAYDEN]

Yes, I have heard of this. While it may seem strange to you and I, it is for a very good reason. " A bit much" for sure, but, unfortunately, rules are rules. You have to be one of the very few people who don't know the gender of your child. EVERYONE I know who is expecting already knows what the child will be.
Personally, and totally OT, I think it is neat to wait for the surprise.

 

[D L and K's Mom]

After the BIG SURPRISE.....DS is 13 and DD is 11 we decided we WOULD find out if this one was a little boy or girl.......2 times we tried.....2 times this little modest one of ours has "kept his/her legs tucked in tight" My DD is so disappointed. We decided against the amnio since it really wasn't medically needed. Oh well, looks like a pale yellow walled room for now..................Funny thing is we never wanted to know with our first 2 and now we want to know and..................

 

[GAIL HAYDEN]

LOL, well, I guess if God wanted you to know, the "little surprise" would not have been so modest. Glad the amnio was not necessary, that is a blessing in itself.

 

[pnelson]

I've had a similar experience right now. We are flying over Thanksgiving and wanted to book our fare. We are also in the process of adopting and are pretty sure we will have a child by then. We know it will be a boy, but do not know what age or what it's name is. I've talked till I am blue in the face with Delta and they will not let me book a ticket without a name, and because fares are nontransferable, I can't book an extra ticket and then transfer it over when we have the child. It's very frustrating!!! It sounds like you had better luck than me and were able to at least book a ticket. But do you have to pay the $100 when you change the name?

 

[GAIL HAYDEN]

My oldest is turning 7 next week. We've flown with him at least 20 times, and have never been asked for a birth certificate

As stated in the OP, the rules may be changing.

I was told that this policy may soon be changed and everyone traveling will have to have some sort of ID.....birth certificate.

Not sure I am really impressed with the "may soon be changed", but I sure would not take the chance.

 

[pnelson]

Since we know it's going to be a boy, I thought about bookingthe ticket with my husband's name and using a JR. Who would ask? But I do believe, unlike another poster, that I could get to the boarding gate and they could refuse to let me board the plane. With today's climate, I don't think the airline would even hesitate if I couldn't show a birth certificate or if the name did not match the name on the ticket. Plus, we don't know what age child we are getting-suppose he was old enough to talk and say "That's not my name!" For this reason, I booked four seats and am waiting to book the 5th. I just hope our plane doesn't sell out before I know one way or the other!

 

[pnelson]

Well, again, my situation is a little different. Most likely, the adoption will not be completely final at the time we fly. In that case, the child's last name won't even match ours. I'm not concerned with terrorists so much as I realize that if I booked the name under "Bob Jones Jr." and then his birth certificate said "Dave Smith" that that might raise a few eyebrows. I do believe the airline could prevent me from boarding in that situation because I am violating the terms of my airline contract by flying with a child under a different name then what I booked. Now, they might not ask me to produce a birth certificate. But with my luck, they could and they do have the right to do that, so I've decided to wait until I at least know the child's name before booking the flight. If I end up with a baby and I can't get a seat, then I will just carry it. It's not ideal, but that's my only choice at this point.

 

[GAIL HAYDEN]

pnelson
Just as an aside, I wish you the best of luck in your adoption process.

 

[D L and K's Mom]

pnelson, first CONGRATULATIONS!!!!! How wonderful!!! As I said, it took a few tries until I was able to get someone on the phone who would let me book a ticket. When DH went to pick the tickets up at the Delta desk at the airport (we just reserved them over the phone)he said that the agent had no problem and did not question the ticket. I would suggest maybe going to your nearest airline counter and talking directly to a rep. Maybe they will let you do what we did and book it under infant and then bring it back to the ticket counter before the flight with the new (birth cert. and other paperwork etc) and change the name. I did have DH question the agent when he picked up the ticket and he was also assured that there would be no extra cost to change it from infant to a "proper name". Again..CONGRATULATIONS and best of luck!!!

 

[Gillian]

pnselson, congrats! I was just wondering if there are any support groups in your area that might be able to help you out with this. I'm sure there are many parents out there who have gone through just the same thing! Best of luck to you!

D & L's mom -- congrats to you, too! We also tried to find out last week, but the US tech could/would only say 80% girl (& would only say "based on what I think"). So we're going with yellow too! Or we could do 3 walls pink and 1 wall blue....

 

[pnelson]

Thanks for the congrats and the advice. Right now, I am just monitoring the flight we are booked on. It is still empty and the prices have risen in the last week so right now I'm just waiting. I did get a little burnt out last week talking to Delta. Besides, we may not even have a child by then, so there is always that possibilty. ( I refuse to even think that I might have to cancel this trip-just hoping it all works out!)

 

[D L and K's Mom]

Well, we are on our way right now to "Try again" to see if Delta Infant is a boy or girl............keep your fingers crossed. This was scheduled it is not because of the Delta thing...hee hee. I would love to have the ticket situation all wrapped up as I am still a little nervous even though they said we could change it later with no charge. I wish we had something in writing. Oh well....