Questions and Answers

My wife and I have a trip booked to India next spring on Etihad (first class apartment from JFK-AUH, normal first onward to DEL) for 180K AA miles R/T pp (360K miles total). Our child will be 20 months at the time of the trip. Originally thought it would be an adults only trip, but now feel like we can’t leave her behind for so long. Should we bring her as a lap child at a cost of $3500 (which is 10% of the retail full fare first class ticket price) or try to find availability for 3 biz class seats (135K miles R/T each; 405K miles total), or just cancel this trip and go somewhere else (probably central or south america on AA using SWUs). $3500 is really steep, but maybe it is worth it? Also, she is mellow and a good traveler so not worried about being disruptive (has been on 15+ flights to 3 different countries already)

Really depends on how much extra cash or miles you have lying around and how much you want to go to India right? Agree that the cost of lap children is crazy…

Not familiar with taking a lap child using SWUs. Is the fee waived or reduced then?

@Eric
Sorry to sound a bit harsh, but at 3500 USD could you not hire a nanny for trip and put her and the child in Y or J?

The baby is quite attached to us (ie her mom) so she won’t stay with a stranger for 15 hours straight. The reason I’d consider going to South America instead and using a SWU is that the lap child fee on AA metal would be considerably less. For example we’re taking her to HKG on AA first and her ticket is $750 vs the $3500 Etihad wants to charge to DEL.