I just received a bill for my children’s plane tickets with an explanation that by paying full price, plus the ‘child’s discount’, that it is cheaper than shooting for a kids’ discount off the mark- WTF?. This time I couldn’t care less as it is on the wife’s company’s nickle, not mine. However, I’m taking my month off in December and have two children. What is up with the pricing system? What should I pay?
Travel agent? Destination?
And how old are the kids?
Kids are 1 yr/old and 4.5 yr/old and destination is LA. I’ve received an email from Jenny Su again urging me to by a full price ticket for the 4.5 yr/old but I remember my son, the 4.5 yr/old, flying to the US for NT$3000 on Eva when he was 2, and past the bassinet age. I’ve got to submit receipts for these tickets and I don’t want a screw up. BTW, we’ll be flying the sub-first class, but not business class, and I’ve forgotten what it is called.
Personally, I think flying full price for half-pints is one of the reasons people hate the airlines.
I think that passengers sitting next to kids are the ones who should be getting a discount.
Maoman, DECLAN IS NOW MAD AT HIS UNCLE MAO!!! 
Harry,
Having done TONS of travel with my son, and now my daughter, here are the general rules:
If your child is under the age of 2, they are considered a lap baby, and so long as they do not require a seat, they are usually only charged the airline tax ($3000-4500NT) IF they are under 2 and you want them to have a seat, it is 3/4 price (I purchased direct from NW airlines)…
I am not sure at what age they start to charge full price, but it may be around the age of 5 or 6. Anyway, if you can get a cheaper adult ticket than 3/4 price direct from the airline, it is a good deal. BUT on your 1 year old, unless you will have a separate seat for her… you should not be paying that much.
Here is a great website btw with info about traveling with your kids.
Good luck!
Sharky
You’re right, the cut off for a “lap baby” is “under 2 years old.” The cut off for a “child fare” is “12 or under.” A lap baby fare is usually 10% of adult fare plus tax (same as adult tax), and for a child fare is 75% of adult fare plus (adult) tax. Sometimes the airline offers discounted fares that do not qualify for additional discounts for child or infant fares. Sometimes they do not allow discounts if you are travelling with children in Business or Executive or whatevery-they-call-it-now-class. They wouldn’t want the over-paid businessmen’s peace to be infringed upon by a 4 year old asking for crackers or something. The airlines do as the airlines want to do!
I’m not sure exactly what your travel agent is trying to tell you, but it sounds like she’s not describing the situation very well. I think what she means is that it’s cheaper to buy a “more expensive” ticket for the 4.5 year old and take the child discount, than to buy the same priced ticket that you are flying on, as it might not allow a further discount. I don’t know. I was a travel agent before I came here, and I can tell you that Airline Economics makes no sense whatsoever, and follows no laws of economics that seem to work elsewhere. It’s dice rolls and coin tosses I think!
For your December trip, I would recommend shopping around and finding an intellegent travel agent who DOES NOT specialize in business travel. Find someone who specializes in leisure travel, as they are more likely to have relationships with consolidators and discounters who can get you a better price, but at the cost of the flexibility that business travelers require. Good luck!
Karen