Tickets for son

Greetings all -

I'm trying to put together an economical flight to get my four year
old boy home. The flight must include a family member to help my
son (and a way home for that person). So far, I've come up with the
following:

Ticket A for dad: SAN to JAX 6/11/04
JAX to SAN 6/14/04 **

Ticket B for son: JAX to SAN 6/14/04 **
SAN to JAX DONTCARE

Hopefully this means I sit next to my son on the flight.

Any experience or advice on how to better do this?

Thanks,
Brian

In article , Brian
wrote:

Greetings all -

I'm trying to put together an economical flight to get my four year
old boy home. The flight must include a family member to help my
son (and a way home for that person). So far, I've come up with the
following:

Ticket A for dad: SAN to JAX 6/11/04
JAX to SAN 6/14/04 **

Ticket B for son: JAX to SAN 6/14/04 **
SAN to JAX DONTCARE

Hopefully this means I sit next to my son on the flight.

Any experience or advice on how to better do this?

As good as you can. Call the airline to reserve seats and link
reservation. BUT dont tell them your son is not going to travel the
return leg(!)

Brian wrote:

Greetings all -

I'm trying to put together an economical flight to get my four year
old boy home. The flight must include a family member to help my
son (and a way home for that person). So far, I've come up with the
following:

Ticket A for dad: SAN to JAX 6/11/04
JAX to SAN 6/14/04 **

Ticket B for son: JAX to SAN 6/14/04 **
SAN to JAX DONTCARE

Hopefully this means I sit next to my son on the flight.

Any experience or advice on how to better do this?

If you book far enough ahead, you should be able to book seats ahead
without a problem. In any case, if you and your son both have a window
or aisle seat, it should be easy to find a middle seater to trade with.

Ticket A for dad: SAN to JAX 6/11/04
JAX to SAN 6/14/04 **
Ticket B for son: JAX to SAN 6/14/04 **
SAN to JAX DONTCARE

First of all, go to Orbitz or any of the booking sites and compare prices
for the dad ticket for those dates. Find the cheapest price, and note the
airline.

Then look at the booking sites for the child ticket on the same
airline--except here is one consideration:
The throwaway return for the child does NOT have to go SAN to JAX. It
can go from SAN to the cheapest market that is served by that airline that
fits as an "open jaw". For instance, maybe JAX-SAN//SAN-MCO (orlando) is
cheaper that a straight round-trip JAX-SAN. As long as the child will not
be taking the return, the child might as well not return to Orlando, rather
than not return to Jacksonville. For the cheapest return, in most cases
look for a Tuesday or Wednesday--though you might try random dates to see if
there is any other way to get the non-used flight cheaper.

Again--the round-trip ticket you book for the child will need (of course) to
be OUTBOUND on the same airline (and flight) as the one you are taking, but
the phony phantom RETURN can return to a DIFFERENT airport (open jaws
geneally permit flights to anything that forms a good "V" shape--maybe
Orlando, but maybe Miami or as far as Washington or even New York--you can
check it out using the "multiple destinations" or "multi-city" feature on
the airline websites to see what work and what's cheapest), as well as on a
cheap day (usually Tuesdays/Wednesdays). Trial and error will yield the best
total fare.

Hilary wrote:

Ticket A for dad: SAN to JAX 6/11/04
JAX to SAN 6/14/04 **
Ticket B for son: JAX to SAN 6/14/04 **
SAN to JAX DONTCARE

First of all, go to Orbitz or any of the booking sites and compare prices
for the dad ticket for those dates. Find the cheapest price, and note the
airline.

Then look at the booking sites for the child ticket on the same
airline--except here is one consideration:
The throwaway return for the child does NOT have to go SAN to JAX. It
can go from SAN to the cheapest market that is served by that airline that
fits as an "open jaw". For instance, maybe JAX-SAN//SAN-MCO (orlando) is
cheaper that a straight round-trip JAX-SAN.


Except that then as far as the airline is concerned, the child is booked
as a 4-year-old unaccompanied minor for the return. Best to keep it with
the same return, and then just call the airline to cancel the child seat
before check in.


Why would he have to give the age at booking? I don't think there is
going to be a child discount on this route.
No matter what return destination he gives the child, the child is
still going to be alone on the return ticket, so why is it best to keep
the "same return'?

Hilary wrote:


Not if the child ticket is booked for the same "return" as the adult.
Having an unaccompanied child booked on the return might cause more notice
to be taken of the booking, particularly at check in! It's easiest to
avoid problems from the start.

The child isn't being booked for the same return as that would mean the
adult would have to buy a 2nd trip for himself.

Adult was flying A to B to A
Kid is flying B to A with return to X (cheaper city)

How would they know there is a child on the return flight.
You don't need to specify there is a child in the booking.

Hilary wrote:

Ticket A for dad: SAN to JAX 6/11/04
JAX to SAN 6/14/04 **
Ticket B for son: JAX to SAN 6/14/04 **
SAN to JAX DONTCARE

First of all, go to Orbitz or any of the booking sites and compare prices
for the dad ticket for those dates. Find the cheapest price, and note the
airline.

Then look at the booking sites for the child ticket on the same
airline--except here is one consideration:
The throwaway return for the child does NOT have to go SAN to JAX. It
can go from SAN to the cheapest market that is served by that airline that
fits as an "open jaw". For instance, maybe JAX-SAN//SAN-MCO (orlando) is
cheaper that a straight round-trip JAX-SAN.


Except that then as far as the airline is concerned, the child is booked
as a 4-year-old unaccompanied minor for the return. Best to keep it with
the same return, and then just call the airline to cancel the child seat
before check in.


Why would he have to give the age at booking? I don't think there is
going to be a child discount on this route.
No matter what return destination he gives the child, the child is
still going to be alone on the return ticket, so why is it best to keep
the "same return'?

Not if the child ticket is booked for the same "return" as the adult.
Having an unaccompanied child booked on the return might cause more notice
to be taken of the booking, particularly at check in! It's easiest to
avoid problems from the start.
Hilary

And how would anyone know that the child would be unaccompanied. The
escort could be a completely different individual with a different name
on a new ticket. Since the child isn't going to check in for the return
there is no problem there. FFM

mrtravelkay wrote:

Hilary wrote:


Not if the child ticket is booked for the same "return" as the adult.
Having an unaccompanied child booked on the return might cause more
notice to be taken of the booking, particularly at check in! It's
easiest to avoid problems from the start.


The child isn't being booked for the same return as that would mean the
adult would have to buy a 2nd trip for himself.

Adult was flying A to B to A
Kid is flying B to A with return to X (cheaper city)

How would they know there is a child on the return flight.
You don't need to specify there is a child in the booking.


it will be hard to ignore that the passenger is 4 at check in -- an
alert clerk will note that there is an unaccompanied 4 year old on a
flight in the future

jenn wrote:

mrtravelkay wrote:

Hilary wrote:


Not if the child ticket is booked for the same "return" as the
adult. Having an unaccompanied child booked on the return might
cause more notice to be taken of the booking, particularly at check
in! It's easiest to avoid problems from the start.



The child isn't being booked for the same return as that would mean
the adult would have to buy a 2nd trip for himself.

Adult was flying A to B to A
Kid is flying B to A with return to X (cheaper city)

How would they know there is a child on the return flight.
You don't need to specify there is a child in the booking.


it will be hard to ignore that the passenger is 4 at check in -- an
alert clerk will note that there is an unaccompanied 4 year old on a
flight in the future

What check in clerk? The kiosk won't care.
Why would the clerk know the child is traveling alone on the way back?
For all they know, another adult is bringing the child back. There is no
requirement on an outbound flight with an adult for there to be to a
ticket back that is linked to an adult ticket back.

jenn wrote:

mrtravelkay wrote:

Hilary wrote:


Not if the child ticket is booked for the same "return" as the
adult. Having an unaccompanied child booked on the return might
cause more notice to be taken of the booking, particularly at check
in! It's easiest to avoid problems from the start.

The child isn't being booked for the same return as that would mean
the adult would have to buy a 2nd trip for himself.

Adult was flying A to B to A
Kid is flying B to A with return to X (cheaper city)

How would they know there is a child on the return flight.
You don't need to specify there is a child in the booking.

it will be hard to ignore that the passenger is 4 at check in -- an
alert clerk will note that there is an unaccompanied 4 year old on a
flight in the future

And just how would they know that. I suspect that they would simply
assume that someone else would be accompanying the kid on the future
flight. FFM