Cost of lap baby on SW if we purchase a seat

[DMRick]

And - Yes more details would have been helpful especialy since you indicated you were purchasing a seat for the baby but not that he/she wouldn't actually be flying with you! .

In my OP I did say :

"Does anyone know if SW will count that as a piece of our luggage, since we won't actually have a child with us?"

But I understand I wasn't very clear..sorry.

 

[DMRick]

Thaks for the info. My son has used the bed/box several times and was fine with it. They (lucky for us) visit often..he works in Ireland but is flown to CA several times a year for work, and his place of work has let his family come with him, they make a stop in NY, we get his family, and they stay with us.

What I said to SW is, we are flying to Orlando to meet my son. They need a car seat once we meet them, so we'd like to bring one with us. Can I gate check it or have it not count as luggage since I won't have a child with me. I finally heard back and the answer was, officially no, but people do gate check them often, because at the gate, they do not know (as you said) if there is a child.

I didn't get into lap baby vs infant with them. That was just said here, to try and clear up why I was bringing a seat, why my son wouldn't already have two seats, and also to ask about pricing.

I did ask about pricing for the trip back, while I had the supervisor on the phone, when we will have kids, and she said, if I decided to buy the lap child into an infant seat, the price should be a a little lower than a full passenger cheapest seat, but she won't know until we go to book it. We are buying all the tickets, (and using points and an old reward) and we will buy a seat from Orlando to here for everyone.

I think some of the confusion is coming from your verbiage. The words you use for the child's seat when talking to the people from SW will matter, and the answer will change depending on the words you use, so hopefully this will help:
- A lap baby is a baby WITHOUT a seat on the plane. On domestic flights, they fly for free. On international flights, they are charged a small fee (usually a percentage of the accompanying adult). The "bed" they have reserved for the baby will just hook into the bulkhead wall in front of them - they still won't have a seat for the baby flying over. (Personally, I'd slit my wrists before flying with a lap baby internationally, even with the bulkhead bed, but that's just me...) With a lap baby, you don't bring the carseat into the actual plane cabin - it gets gate checked or checked at the counter. If you call southwest and ask about a lap baby, they will assume you are talking about a child under 2 who does not have a seat on the airplane, and will answer accordingly.
- From Orlando to your house, you will be buying the baby a ticket. The baby then becomes just any old ticketed passenger, for the most part. SW does offer "infant fares" as a courtesy, but, as a PP said, they aren't guaranteed to be cheaper than the cheapest available adult fare, as they are a discount off of a FULL FARE ticket - and those are usually hundreds of dollars more than the restricted fares. Assuming you buy the restricted, cheaper, fare, than southwest doesn't care one whit how old the person in the seat is. You can just bring the caresat for the baby onto the plane and gate check the 3 year olds seat and you wan't have any issues at all.

As for flying down with a carseat and without a baby... for us, on Korean Air, when we did that it did count as one of our pieces of luggage. That said, there have been many times when I've asked for a gate check tag for my stroller or carseat when DH and DS are off somewhere else and the kid isn't around. The gate agents usually need to see the actual item (stroller or carseat) but I haven't ever run into anyone asking to see the actual kid. I'm sure if you just don't mention it and bring the carseat to the gate you'll be fine.

 

[kimkoz]

Just my experience - We've flown SW about 3 times now. I see your NY, we fly out of Buffalo.

I have flown with a lap child and I have flown where I've purchased seats. However when I've purchased seats I was lucky enough to get good online deals that I didn't even check lap child prices. I figured 100 or less one way was good so I didn't check. Never hurts to check, worse case I'd hope back online and buy the additional seat. Unless this is busy holiday time then I may not chance it.

Car Seats - Now for us we travel with about 4 adults per 2 children so maybe they don't question us but normally I go through the gates without my DH. He's normally parking the cars and unloading car seats. He brings the car seats and meets us at the gate. They have a play area at the one in Buffalo so thats why we don't wait for him. He's never been questioned about bringing car seats and I honestly never thought twice. He just goes through alone with 2.

Once he's there he gets tags to gate check, well the only time we neede the tags was when the child was an actual lap child with no seat.

But like I said this has only been my experience. I think families seperate all the time so I'm sure they wouldn't second guess anything.

 

[DMRick]

Thank you. We're flying out of Albany. It's not until November and we hope to be there and out there before it gets too busy
I couldn't ask for prices yet, since SW isn't that far out yet.

Just my experience - We've flown SW about 3 times now. I see your NY, we fly out of Buffalo.

I have flown with a lap child and I have flown where I've purchased seats. However when I've purchased seats I was lucky enough to get good online deals that I didn't even check lap child prices. I figured 100 or less one way was good so I didn't check. Never hurts to check, worse case I'd hope back online and buy the additional seat. Unless this is busy holiday time then I may not chance it.

Car Seats - Now for us we travel with about 4 adults per 2 children so maybe they don't question us but normally I go through the gates without my DH. He's normally parking the cars and unloading car seats. He brings the car seats and meets us at the gate. They have a play area at the one in Buffalo so thats why we don't wait for him. He's never been questioned about bringing car seats and I honestly never thought twice. He just goes through alone with 2.

Once he's there he gets tags to gate check, well the only time we neede the tags was when the child was an actual lap child with no seat.

But like I said this has only been my experience. I think families seperate all the time so I'm sure they wouldn't second guess anything.

 

[kaytieeldr]

Okay.
Soutwest's 'infant fare' will not coordinate with Aer Lingus's in any way.
As others have indicated, any infant fare will be discounted from SW's full (and fully refundable) fare, not its likely lower Wanna Get Away fares.
Opinion only: especially if you board separately, you should each be able to gate-check a car seat or a stroller, or possibly use the car seat as your carry-on item. Also opinion only: there's a problem you could run into difficulty at security, since yolk have baby equipment but no baby.

 

[Twende]

Thank you..we won't have a child with us, so that makes it a bit more confusing. SW says they will call me back tomorrow with an answer. She thinks each of us can gate check one item..me a carseat, and my husband a stroller..however she said she has never been asked the question, if there is no baby with us LOL. I'm confused as to why the cost would be double..couldn't you just buy an adult seat the same cost as you paid for each adult? Or, if you buy a seat, did it have to be an infant seat, and those are more? Doesn't seem right.

The infant fare is often double the "I wanna get away" fare. so, it is less expensive to purchase the "I wanna get away fare" for the child rather than the infant fare which is usually less than the full adult fare. Make sense now?

Yep. this is exactly what we found. The Get Away fare was under a $100 and the baby fare that was quoted to me when I called to get the discount baby fare was $200. We said no thanks!

Our boarding passes were split up between A and B. I entered first in the A group with the car seat and no baby. No one questioned me about not having a baby.

I had no trouble going through security with it either. We were directed to different lines at security.

You do have to go to the desk at the gate and get a Gate Check Ticket for the item. The print it out of a computer at the gate desk.