Why cannot I add a lap toddler to my Etihad award ticket?

American Airways: You may’t add a lap child to an award ticket on Etihad

Phillippe says that just some hours after reserving his household’s tickets, he referred to as American Airways so as to add the newborn.

“I defined that I wanted so as to add my six-month-old son to my seat,” Phillippe wrote. “Nonetheless, the AA worker instantly advised me that it was unattainable. She recommended I purchase a enterprise class ticket for my son on the flight. I advised her that infants below two aren’t required to have their very own seats. I simply wished my toddler to be added to my reservation. She refused so as to add him. Her suggestion was absurd.”

Absurd or not, it was the one possibility the American Airways worker needed to provide. Satisfied that could not be the one reply, Phillippe determined he would straighten the issue out on the airport on the day of journey.

Etihad Airways: We won’t add a lap toddler to your AA award ticket

On the day the household started the lengthy trek again to the US, they confirmed up on the airport in Muscat properly earlier than their first flight. Stepping as much as the Etihad business-class check-in counter, Phillippe handed over all their paperwork. On the identical time, he casually talked about that the newborn nonetheless wanted to be added to their reservation.

A lot to Phillippe’s shock, the agent advised him she could not add the newborn to any of the AAdvantage award tickets. He instantly interpreted that to imply that solely American Airways might add his son to the reservation, so the household stepped out of the check-in line so he might make some calls.

“First, I attempted to make use of the dwell chat function with American Airways,” Phillippe advised me. “It stated there was a 90-minute wait time. However even after 90 minutes, nobody responded. Then, I referred to as American Airways utilizing a global quantity. I advised the agent that I used to be on the airport with my household, and due to their [American Airlines’] mistake, Etihad was refusing to permit us to examine in. I requested them so as to add my son to the reservation from their finish instantly. The agent refused and finally hung up on me.”

Working out of time, and the newborn nonetheless has no ticket

Realizing that their time window was quick closing, Phillippe introduced his household again to the Etihad counter. He requested the agent what choices had been accessible.

An Etihad supervisor defined that there have been three choices. Phillippe might:

• Cancel the household’s journey and obtain a refund of the factors and taxes.
• Purchase his son his personal business-class ticket to hitch the household’s reservation.
• Phillippe might purchase himself an economy- or business-class ticket, after which he can be eligible so as to add a lap child to the income ticket.

Though none of those choices appealed to the now livid Phillippe, he agreed to selection No. 3. He did not have sufficient miles or money to purchase his son a business-class ticket, so he bought himself an financial system ticket from Muscat to London. The Etihad agent then was in a position to calculate a ten% fare for the toddler. After paying a further $662 for the financial system ticket with the lap child added, the household boarded their flight to Abu Dhabi simply in time.

In the course of the 45-minute flight from Muscat to Abu Dhabi, Phillippe says his spouse sat with the newborn in financial system. He remained in enterprise class together with his 2-year-old daughter.

“As a result of my son is nursing, there was no selection however for my spouse to take a seat with the newborn in financial system,” Phillippe advised me. “This created excessive hardship for my household to be separated. It was exceptionally insulting given that there have been open seats in enterprise class.”

In Abu Dhabi, Phillippe had extra tense conversations with the Etihad workers. There, he realized that he, like his child son, had no onward flight from London. With a purpose to guide the financial system ticket he had begun touring on, Etihad had canceled his unique business-class award ticket.

“They advised me I could not maintain two tickets for a similar flight, in order that they canceled my business-class ticket – all of it. I hoped that when we acquired to London, I might discover somebody at American Airways who might reinstate our flight house. However I advised the Etihad workers that it was unfair for us to be penalized for the airline’s mistake. As we had been discussing this, they closed the door on our flight to London and began to drag away from the gate. I could not imagine it. Now Etihad was going to depart us stranded in Abu Dhabi!”

Phillippe says after extra forceful pleading, Etihad relented and surprisingly introduced the plane again to the gate. Maybe to easily finish the disagreeable state of affairs within the easiest method doable, a supervisor relented. He agreed to let Phillippe and his child sit in enterprise class as a complimentary improve.

So, for the subsequent 10 hours, the household loved sitting collectively within the premium cabin on the way in which to England. However as quickly as they arrived at Heathrow, the group confronted extra challenges.

One other dear charge so as to add a lap toddler

As quickly as they landed in London, Phillippe headed to the American Airways check-in space and came upon he had a major downside: Solely his spouse and daughter had confirmed tickets for the remainder of the way in which house.

Stepping as much as the counter, he requested that his ticket to Houston be instantly reinstated.

The American Airways agent defined that she couldn’t merely reinstate his flight house. It had been canceled and the factors and taxes had already been refunded. To ensure that the daddy and son to be added again to the flight, there was only one possibility that made sense.

Phillippe might redeem 57,500 AAdvantage miles and pay $540 in taxes to reclaim a spot on the British Airways flight to Houston. As a result of British Airways permits lap infants to be added to associate award tickets, his son might be added to that ticket. The catch? It could value a further $1,194 since American Airways prices 10% of the grownup fare plus taxes and costs on award tickets booked utilizing its miles. Confronted with no various, Phillippe agreed to the dear plan.

Not earlier than having extra disagreeable conversations with the agent, although. He requested that she report her notes in order that he would have the ability to have the whole lot documented for when he filed a criticism.

In her notes, which Phillippe shared with me, the agent wrote: “Pax may be very offended. Pax did not have sufficient miles to redeem [for his infant]. Pax cannot imagine American Airways would make such a mistake. Pax might be requesting a refund. Pax intends to contact buyer relations.”

The notes went on for 2 screens on the agent’s laptop. Sadly, all of this documenting and negotiating triggered the household to overlook their initially deliberate flight to Houston. They had been then reconfirmed on the subsequent flight to Houston.

Lastly, a number of hours later, the group boarded a British Airways flight that might ship them house. Phillippe spent a lot of that 10-hour flight ruminating and composing a prolonged criticism letter to American Airways.

Asking TPG for assist with this lap toddler fiasco

When Phillippe reached out to TPG for assist in coping with American Airways and its seemingly impossible-to-navigate coverage on including infants to award tickets, it had been about six weeks since his fiasco. He had already escalated his criticism up the company ladder and acquired little greater than type letter responses.

Phillippe was pissed off that American Airways wouldn’t settle for accountability for his expertise and provide some compensation for what his household suffered. Nonetheless, the responses from American Airways reiterated that the corporate didn’t agree with Phillippe’s evaluation of the state of affairs.

“I provided a number of occasions to pay the taxes and costs on my son’s ticket, however American refused so as to add my son to the itinerary and advised me to hunt assist on the airport,” Phillippe defined. “On the day of journey, Etihad refused so as to add my son as a lap toddler.

“Each airways pointed fingers at one another,” he continued, “however in the end, my household was the loser. We couldn’t sit collectively on considered one of our flights, and I needed to pay almost $3,000 out of pocket so as to add my son to the itinerary (by buying an financial system ticket) on the final minute.

“I’m in search of your help to carry consideration to this poor enterprise follow and put strain on airways to alter their mileage reward insurance policies in order that households don’t endure. I would additionally be glad about any help in recovering my misplaced mileage and cash.”

Once I learn by means of his criticism, it sounded acquainted. That is as a result of just lately, one other younger household contacted TPG after an identical lap toddler snafu. In that case, American Airways couldn’t add a lap child to a business-class award ticket on Qatar Airways. That household ended up buying a business-class ticket for the newborn as a result of, in line with American and Qatar, that was their solely possibility.

Qatar Airways doesn’t permit infants to be added to associate award tickets as a result of there is not any method to worth the newborn’s ticket.

I suspected Etihad had the identical coverage. And if it did, neither airline had made a mistake, and Phillippe’s anger was misdirected.

Asking American Airways about award journey and lap infants 

To seek out out what went flawed right here, I went to our govt contact at American Airways. This isn’t a customer-facing consultant. She is somebody I can attain as a shopper reporter and advocate.

I requested concerning the coverage that prevented American Airways from including the lap child to this household’s reservation.

“You are right, the fare guidelines are Etihad’s,” the American Airways spokesperson advised me. “The governing service is the service whose fares and guidelines are used for every fare part. That is based mostly on the precise route of journey of the fare part, and relies on the directionality of the fare. On this case, it was Etihad.”

I requested her about Phillippe’s competition that an American Airways agent advised him Etihad may add the newborn on the airport. Plainly suggestion spurred him to indicate up on the airport assured that his son’s ticketless standing might be simply remedied.

“The group reviewed many calls between [Phillippe] and Reservations on [three separate calls] the place he was suggested that on the Associate Award, he can both use miles for the toddler or buy a ticket so as to add the newborn immediately with the service.”

The American Airways spokesperson went on to say that if Phillippe had one thing in writing from an airline consultant exhibiting he was suggested airport workers might add the newborn, American Airways would think about further compensation based mostly on that error.

Nonetheless, on the recorded line, nobody suggested Phillippe his plan would work on the airport. The American Airways group additionally “combed by means of all of the chat historical past” and located no reference to that suggestion both.

This was not an airline mistake

As a shopper advocate, I all the time intention to make the individuals who contact me “entire.” That’s to say, a shopper ought to by no means be negatively financially affected by an organization’s mistake.

Phillippe believed he had been topic to an American Airways mistake to the tune of almost $3,000. He was asking for a refund for his and the newborn’s flight house, together with the miles he had redeemed for the ultimate flight on British Airways, along with the refund he already acquired for his unique ticket.

That was in all probability not going to fly irrespective of the end result. When making an attempt to resolve an issue with an organization, it’s all the time essential to maintain your recommended decision right down to earth. Even when the airline was at fault for the inconvenience, a completely free business-class ticket wouldn’t be an inexpensive request. Nonetheless, none of that mattered right here as a result of neither American Airways nor Etihad had been at fault.

I defined to Phillippe why American Airways had no blame right here. The airline that prevented the lap toddler from being added to his Etihad reservation was Etihad itself, and its refusal was not a mistake. In line with our govt contact at American Airways and the airport workers in Oman, Etihad does not permit lap infants to be added to associate award tickets. It is that straightforward. After explaining this to Phillippe, I requested him concerning the advice he had acquired from the AAdvantage workers member about going to the airport and including the newborn there.