Infant on seperate booking

[jasrulz63]

Hi all,

My partner and I had booked flights from NRT to MEL via SIN via Qantas in April, with the first leg as a code share on JAL (we used the multi city search to find the flights).

We went to add our recently born newborn onto the booking, and the CS team have said since the flights we booked are unavailable, they've booked the newborn onto their own booking with my name attached.

Apparently because of this, we can't add a bassinet to our booking, which is unfortunate given his age at the time.

I wanted to check if this was indeed the case, and also if there were any other forseeable issues that I haven't been informed of?

 

[ChrisMars]

I had a couple of agent wanted to add the infant as a separate booking. I cant remember if I eventually let the second agent do it, but what I remember is that I eventually got everyone on the same booking, when I talked to a qualified agent. After that I could pick the bassinet seats. It was on a QF/BA classic reward.

 

[jasrulz63]

I had a couple of agent wanted to add the infant as a separate booking. I cant remember if I eventually let the second agent do it, but what I remember is that I eventually got everyone on the same booking, when I talked to a qualified agent. After that I could pick the bassinet seats. It was on a QF/BA classic reward.

My agent did it without my approval. Put me on hold for a while, came back and said they'd done it. Paid cash for my flight.

 

[sudoer]

Strange the QFF agent has done it that way. I've had no issues adding an infant to several QF and JL operated flights booked through QFF on the existing PNR - however these were not codeshares.

I was also able to request a bassinet in all cases, however for the JL operated flight it was done by calling JL direct. FYI JL has a very limited number of bassinets (there's just one in J on some configs) and they will not move passengers for access to the bassinet unlike other airlines. You should check the bassinet seat is actually available using ExpertFlyer before going to that hassle.

Side note: I've also booked a JL award through CX and later added an infant. In this case, CX refused to add the infant and said it needed to be handled directly with JL. JL did create another PNR for the baby - similar to your experience - and then charged 10% of the flex J cash fare. I was able to add the bassinet to this booking too.

 

[knightfall88]

Are you flying business class? Unsure how old the baby is and what specifically is appealing from a bassinet but when I travelled several times with my baby at the time, the seat in flat position was way better than a basinet

 

[sudoer]

Are you flying business class? Unsure how old the baby is and what specifically is appealing from a bassinet but when I travelled several times with my baby at the time, the seat in flat position was way better than a basinet

I'd agree with this for J/F. But if OP is in Y/W (they did say it was a cash fare) then the bassinet can be very useful.

Edit: I don't think QF offers W codeshares on JL metal

 

[jasrulz63]

Strange the QFF agent has done it that way. I've had no issues adding an infant to several QF and JL operated flights booked through QFF on the existing PNR - however these were not codeshares.

I was also able to request a bassinet in all cases, however for the JL operated flight it was done by calling JL direct. FYI JL has a very limited number of bassinets (there's just one in J on some configs) and they will not move passengers for access to the bassinet unlike other airlines. You should check the bassinet seat is actually available using ExpertFlyer before going to that hassle.

Side note: I've also booked a JL award through CX and later added an infant. In this case, CX refused to add the infant and said it needed to be handled directly with JL. JL did create another PNR for the baby - similar to your experience - and then charged 10% of the flex J cash fare. I was able to add the bassinet to this booking too.

Yeah I thought it was a bit bizzare too. Though I also currently can't find the same NRT to SIN flight via Qantas anymore.

I was happy to accept no bassinet for NRT to SIN (looks like there are seats available on Expert Flyer, thanks for the tip), but doing it this way has also locked me out of the bassinet from SIN to MEL on Qantas.

We're flying Y so the option of the bassinet would be great.

 

[Quickstatus]

We went to add our recently born newborn onto the booking, and the CS team have said since the flights we booked are unavailable, they've booked the newborn onto their own booking with my name attached.

Not sure what you mean by "the flights we booked are unavailable".

What is unavailable?

 

[jasrulz63]

Not sure what you mean by "the flights we booked are unavailable".

What is unavailable?

They told me they couldn't book onto that flight anymore (NRT to SIN).

Just an update, I contacted Qantas via Facebook messenger (advice I'd read on here), and they were able to add our newborn on without any issues, and cancelled the other booking reference (which hadn't been ticketed yet).

So if anyone is reading this in the future, give that a go!

 

[Quickstatus]

Normally if you have an existing booking on a flight, all it takes is to ring the airline or the travel agent - in this case Qantas and they will add an infant. No seat of course and bassinet is never guaranteed.