Can children use "adult" airline tickets?

[Geoff_M]

I've stumbled on a pricing anomaly that I think I may be able to use to my advantage. When I use a poplar web site to quote plane tickets for June, 2004 the price per seat varies radically depending on whether I say our party consists of 5 "adults" vs. 2 adults and 3 children. I'm talking $140 per person! So, does an airline care if my 13 yo has an "adult" ticket (assuming of course that she's not an unaccompanied minor)??? I've followed part of the way through the reservation process and it does double-check and verify the rate... So I don't think it's a system bug.

 

[alexturner74]

The airline probably won't care because on some airlines, 13 year olds are considered adults anyway. In most cases, child fares only apply to infants, or are simply adult fares with unaccompanied minor fees. You should check with the airline you're trying to buy tickets for.

 

[Geoff_M]

Alex, that explains why Expedia keeps reclassifying our 13 yo as an adult when I do quotes on that site. However, we'll also have a 5 and 10 yo to consider too.

There's one more twist to his "trick" I've found. I first have to get a price quote from an airport that's about an hour away, but has great rates. If I then refine the quote to use my local airport (assuming all in my party are adults), it acts like it price matches the quote at my local airport. Weird! But once I have one "child" in the party, the "price match" stops. Go figure!

 

[alexturner74]

If you don't mind me asking, what site and airline are you using?

 

[Geoff_M]

It's Expedia, and it's doing it with all the airlines that fly into the airport.

 

[alexturner74]

I don't know why you're getting the results you are from Expedia. I can't figure it out, unless it has something to do with one of the specific airlines it's pulling up.

Anyway, if you decide to use Expedia, then I don't see any reason why you would have trouble using the "Adult" fares for the kids. I don't think the airline is going to care one bit. Like I said before though, you could check with the airline first before you book.

 

[Lewisc]

SW (and I assume other airlines) have a child fare that is a discount off the fully refundable fare. In most cases a discounted adult fare is chepaer (and can be booked).

 

[Geoff_M]

Well, I answered my own question. I called Northwest and asked about the "child ticket" vs. "adult ticket" issue. The agent said it make no difference what-so-ever to them once the ticket is issued. A ticket, is a ticket, is a ticket. As long as there's an adult in the party, it makes no difference.

And then the kicker... Just for yucks I asked her for a quote. She then quoted me a price $5 less than the screwy low price I could make appear on Expedia! I asked if that was before taxes, fees, etc. and she said "no" and her quote was the final price. So I booked directly with her.

I also noted that this morning I no longer have to first pick the airport an hour away, and then the local airport, to get Expedia to cough up the low local price. I can now get it to appear by picking my local airport directly. But I still get the steep "kiddie surcharge" locally. So I wonder if all this is because there's a round of discounts that are being put in the system, and they're just not completely uploaded yet.

 

[alexturner74]

Originally posted by Lewisc
SW (and I assume other airlines) have a child fare that is a discount off the fully refundable fare. In most cases a discounted adult fare is chepaer (and can be booked).

Delta, United & American do not have a child fare unless that child is under 2. Anyone 2 or over must have a regular "adult" fare, whether it be discounted or not. I do not know about some of the other airlines.

 

[NotUrsula]

The only time a "child" fare is likely to get you a better price is on an overseas flight, where there is usually a percentage discount off whatever fare that the adults in the party are getting. (It rang true this morning for a flight I just booked to London on a really serious sale fare; I chose the cheap fare for all of us, but I got an extra 20% off on DS' seat.) This is a "child" fare, not an "infant" fare; the infant fare on over-the-water flights usually is 30% of the adult fare, but does not entitle the child to a seat, this is the charge to get a lap-baby onto the passenger manifest.

On domestic big-6 airlines, clicking "child" is likely to shut you out of some of the better sale fares, as hitting that button shunts you only to seats that are eligible for the "child fare" discount off the unrestricted fare. Most of the time, that unrestricted fare is going to be at least twice as much as the sale fare, so even with the discount, it is not as good a deal.

A paid adult-fare seat can be occupied by anyone of any age, no difference at boarding.

 

[Geoff_M]

On domestic big-6 airlines, clicking "child" is likely to shut you out of some of the better sale fares, as hitting that button shunts you only to seats that are eligible for the "child fare" discount off the unrestricted fare.

"Vellly Intell-est-ing!" I never knew that. I haven't had any problems finding good on-line fares when using the adult/child split on searches before.

 

[safetymom]

You just found out one of the steps you need to check with your airline to see if they can beat that price. Most times they can't beat internet specials but sometimes they can.

Also you might have been coming up against they only have so many seats at certain prices for sale. Sometimes changing the numbers affects this.

 

[Geoff_M]

safetymom,

I used to do that, but for the last several trips the airlines were a lot higher than the big internet travel sites... so I hadn't checked this time. I didn't tell the NWA agent what Expedia was offering since I assumed it wouldn't be that good, and being the typical Midwestern I didn't want to "hurt her feelings".