Family Travel Reservation

Yes, booking family flights will always be cheaper. Travelling with a family basically means that you will be flying in a group. Airlines offer discounts when making family travel reservation. Do remember that booking for multiple travellers at a time on the same flight will get you cheaper rates rather than booking for an individual passenger.

If you are flying with your family then booking mid-week flights should always be a good option. This will also help you make significant savings on your travel too. The travel demand usually goes up mostly during weekends and ticket prices sharply increases. If you want to get cheap family flight tickets then plan to book during midweek.

The guarantee of your family being seated together on a flight isn’t guaranteed. The airline will however try its best that you and your family are seated together when a booking is made for more than one person of the same group, at the same time and on the same flight. This is once again not guaranteed. The airline offers seat selection for a small fee at the time of booking. This is one of the best ways to ensure that the family will be seated together, not separately. If you however don’t want to spend on seat assignment then make sure that check-in is done as early as possible for increasing the chances of the family being seated together.

Yes, most airlines do provide families travelling with children a reduced fare child’s ticket and even offer a free ticket for a lap baby. Let’s take a look at the discounts offered for children.

Infant Travel: Parents of children under 2 years of age are allowed by airlines to hold their baby on their lap, and the tickets are generally free for lap babies or airline fees and taxes only are charged on domestic flights. However, a small ticket fee is included on international flights. Southwest Airlines provide a ticket discount for infants traveling in an FAA-approved child restraint, while United Airlines provide complimentary bassinets on international flights for an infant under 6 months of age.

Children on Domestic Flights: For a child aged over 2 years the parents are required by the airlines to pay full adult fare for their children. Reduced fares are offered for children by Southwest Airlines, though discount offers may vary by flight. Some airlines offer discounts on domestic flights, while most airlines allow a car seat and stroller to be included in child’s baggage allowance without any baggage fee. Families flying with United Airlines are allowed to carry a government approved child seat, breast pump and a diaper bag, in addition to the maximum carry on allowance.

Children on International Flights: Discounted fares provided to children on international flights vary from airline to airline and offered on select flights only. The airlines don’t advertise such discounts online, and restrict reduced fares to children under the age of 11.

It may however be noted that the proof of age is required for children travelling on discounted fares when checking in for a flight. This may be in the form of passport or birth certificate. The baggage allowance for children with discounted fares is also limited by airlines.