Confused over infants and QFF Classic Rewards

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upupandaway

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I'm a little confused about the rules for infants when booking QFF classic rewards in J (EK metal):

For 1 adult: PER-DXB-CDG (return) 224,000 points $1307.20 taxes
For 1 adult and 1 infant added at the time of booking PER-DXB-CDG, the price is the same - 224,000 points and $1307.20.

Normally I would not hesitate in making this forward booking, but in my circumstance the infant is not yet born and Qantas advises: Unborn infants - do not add an infant to your booking if they have not yet been born. Book your flight and when your baby is born call your local Qantas Office to add their name to the booking".

However, I believe from various forums that if the infant is added to an already made adult booking, they have to pay the taxes (although no points).

Then the cost for 1 adult and 1 infant would be 224,000 points and $2614.40 (ie same points but double the taxes(!) compared to booking adult and infant all at once).

These seats are at peak time, and I am dubious the availability will last until the time the infant is born.

I note Qantas asks for the DOB of infants when booking online, could I just take a stab based on due date? Is the infant DOB on the ticket linked to immigration etc, and would there be potential problem if the DOB on the infant passport and the airline ticket were different?

Or do I just make the booking for 1 adult only then phone Qantas to add the infant to the booking, pleading my case that no additional taxes should be charged, as would be the case if we had booked both adult and infant simultaneously? The terms and conditions on qantas.com are ambiguous, with the use of the term 'may':

"14.3.4 Infants under two years and not occupying a seat, travel without the need to redeem Qantas Points as long as the accompanying adult is travelling on a Classic Flight Reward. There is a limit of one infant per adult travelling on a Classic Flight Reward. Taxes, fees and carrier charges (including GST) may be payable in relation to infants as specified by Qantas Loyalty at the time a Member books a Classic Flight Reward"
 
I don't know for sure, but I would think you would have to pay the infant taxes, which would be based on 10% of the fare, noting of course that you didn't pay for a revenue fare.

I have a revenue fare which I need to add our son to, when his passport arrives. That is 10% of the fare + taxes.

It's probably worth a quick call to QF to confirm what the infant taxes would be.
 
I am quite interested to know this, as I may have a similar situation to this this year.
 
I can't help you with your specific issue but i can confirm that my infant showed up with 0.00 tax when booking SYD -> BNE -> SIN on EK J on QFF award. She was born though so this is what you described originally. I would find it weird that they hike on taxes for what is essentially the same thing, with D.O.B. missing until verified.

-Andrew
 
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We had this exact issue. Bub was not born yet when all booked had 2 x paid business flights and 1x points classic award J flight. Definitely had to wait till Bub born and date and name could be confirmed. If went on paid J with first upgrade then had to pay 10% of ticket at date of addition (ie costly) but added to classic J award without any charge. Was WP1 at time though.
 
I have added an infant to a Qantas booking several times- most recently I made the J booking months in advance and added the newborn as soon as he was born (about 3 weeks before the flight). Qantas were fantastic - no charges, made sure I had a cot request etc. Admittedly about 2 years ago, but I have always found the call centre so helpful when it comes to infants and also with unaccompanied minors (which I have also used a lot over the years!)
 
Thank you to all for your replies and input. I am glad I am not the only one who is confused by the rules.
@Joda - can I just confirm the J booking you were referring to was a award/reward booking - and no charge in terms of points or taxes for adding infant retrospectively? Do you expect this would be any different given EK metal?

If that is the case, then I guess I will make my award booking now, and add infant later on. The staff I have phoned at qantas have been inconsistent in the response to my query :(
 
We added our infant son to our SQ suites SYD-CDG and QF FASA bookings LHR-SYD in Jan this year and it definitely wasn't free.

10% of a first class ticket for the little guy in both the directions was more expensive than our award tickets!

Perhaps different on classic awards?
 
We did this for a classic award BNE-LAX in J last year, added son after booking made.

Taxes were around $25 AU for him, no other charges. Bassinet booked at time, but at 8 months old he didn't fit.
 
I just got off the phone with Qantas. Just added infant to our classic reward J bookings: MEL-DXB-CDG (EK); then LHR-MEL in August / September.

Initially the rep said there was a $660 charge (taxes component) for the EK flight. I disputed it and she talked with the supervisor. Came back and said that EK had in fact tried to pass on the 10% cost of the actual seat and she was glad I queried it.

Took a bit of time but there were no charges. A separate booking reference for my daughter (that is linked to mine and my wife's booking). Also requested bassinets, infant meals, etc. Looking forward to it! Now to organise the infant passport....
 
Good luck with the trip. Under 6 months is a great time window to travel with an infant. After that it starts to get more interesting as they become more demanding!
 
Good luck with the trip. Under 6 months is a great time window to travel with an infant. After that it starts to get more interesting as they become more demanding!

I'm glad you have said that. ours will be 3 months old when we travel....
 
Hi all,

Sorry to dig up an old thread, but looking for anyone with more recent experience with booking J class classic rewards with Qantas. My partner an I are looking to fly PER-HKD-HND (Cathay) next March with a ~4 month old and are looking to lock in our flights (minus unborn child) soon.

Has anyone experienced any issues adding on an infant to their classic reward bookings (booked months earlier)in the last year or so? Or will I be safe to go ahead with our booking? I tried calling qantas but gave up after an hour on hold. I don't really want to wait for the child to be born (nov) as availability seems to disappear pretty quick

Thanks!
 
Hi all,

Sorry to dig up an old thread, but looking for anyone with more recent experience with booking J class classic rewards with Qantas. My partner an I are looking to fly PER-HKD-HND (Cathay) next March with a ~4 month old and are looking to lock in our flights (minus unborn child) soon.

Has anyone experienced any issues adding on an infant to their classic reward bookings (booked months earlier)in the last year or so? Or will I be safe to go ahead with our booking? I tried calling qantas but gave up after an hour on hold. I don't really want to wait for the child to be born (nov) as availability seems to disappear pretty quick

Thanks!

It's QF rules you'll be hit with and not CX if you use Qantas points. Book the tickets now and you can add the infant once they are born - they won't take up a seat anyway so it's not like you need to wait for availability.

This might be a good time to rehash not all airline points/miles are created equally. If you book this using Asia Miles (CX's program) the infant will cost you 10% of the revenue fare equivalent on top of standard award booking charges. This can create a situation where the infant costs more than your own ticket.

BA avios for example has zero extra costs for infants on CX.
 
Cool Ta - I tried to find the rules re using qantas points, but couldn't find anything that relates to what is charged for infants. They do mention that it is 10% for infants but I believe this is for non-reward flights.

Am I correct in that the infant shouldn't result in any additional fee (as per other peoples experience earlier in this thread?)
 
Am I correct in that the infant shouldn't result in any additional fee (as per other peoples experience earlier in this thread?)

I don't have experience using QF points on CX with infants, but others in this thread are using QF on non-CX airlines.
QF points on CX will be different to QF points on EK and other airlines.

Perhaps RedRoo could highlight in this thread for reference what airlines incur additional charges/which do not for infants when using QFF points...
 
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