Budget airline hack: When buying a separate seat for your baby saves you money

As a new parent, I’ve learned a lot of things: “Sleeping like a baby” is a dirty, wretched lie, onesies are the ultimate fashion accessory, and Baby Shark belongs in Guantanamo Bay, not your home.

I’ve also learned that travelling with an infant on a budget airline can be surprisingly expensive.

That’s because low-cost carriers price their infant tickets quite differently from full-service carriers, with unexpected results. In some cases, you might be able to save money and enjoy greater comfort by booking a separate seat for your little one instead!

Aren’t infant fares only 10% of adult fares?

If you read my previous article on booking infant tickets with Singapore Airlines, you might recall that adding an infant (defined as a traveller under the age of 2) to an award or commercial ticket costs 10% of the lowest available adult fare class. 

Indeed that’s the policy across many airlines, but not all.

Sometimes it’s better, like in Japan or the USA, where lap infants under the age of two fly for free on domestic flights with most major carriers. Sometimes it’s worse, like Cathay Pacific flights to and from the USA where a lap infant costs 25% of the adult fare (particularly painful if you’re flying in First!).

And sometimes, it makes no sense at all, like with budget airlines in the region. 

How budget airlines charge for infants

I was booking tickets to Kuala Lumpur for myself, the MileLioness and the MileCub when I noticed something odd.

I’d narrowed my selection down to Jetstar Asia, which was offering one-way adult tickets at S$88. Airport taxes from Singapore are roughly S$65, so the adult fare was only S$23. Based on this, I expected the MileCub’s fare to be about S$2-3 (10% of S$23; lap infants don’t pay airport taxes), bringing our total to just under S$180.

But the final quote came to S$226. Why? An infant fee of S$50. 

Let’s pause for a moment to appreciate how odd this is. The MileLioness and I, who each occupy a seat, are paying S$22.80. The MileCub, who is sitting (and probably pooping) on our lap, is paying S$50. How does that make any sense?

As it turns out, budget carriers don’t price infant tickets as a percentage of adult fares; they instead use a flat fee. In the case of Jetstar Asia, a lap infant costs S$50 on all international flights- and it’s not even the worst of the lot.

I priced out the same route with Scoot, where an adult fare was just S$8.50. The infant? Brace yourself. Scoot charges a S$55 fee for lap infants!

To be fair, AirAsia’s infant fee was slightly better at S$25, though still a far cry from 10% of the adult fare.

You might argue that the higher fares are because infants are lower margin customers who can’t be upsold bags, meals, or exit row seats. 

But that’s the wrong way of thinking about it. The infant is not taking away a seat from a passenger who might have bought a bag, meal or exit row seat. The infant occupies the same seat as their parent, who come to think of it is much more likely to purchase upsells like a bag or meal than a regular traveler. 

It may be cheaper to buy an adult ticket!

Now, I’m sure some of you are already thinking: if a lap infant ticket cost more than an adult ticket, would it make more sense to just buy an extra adult ticket and enjoy the extra space while saving money?

Yes and no. This wouldn’t work out of Singapore because the airport taxes, which need to be paid on every seat — whether it’s occupied by an adult or infant — are relatively high at S$65.20 per person, more than the lap infant fee of AirAsia, Jetstar and Scoot.

Going back to my previous example, the cost of two adults and one infant ticket from Singapore to Kuala Lumpur on Jetstar Asia is S$226…

…but the cost of three adult tickets is S$264. 

Even though the adult fare (S$22.80) is lower than the infant fare (S$50), that’s more than offset by the need to pay an extra S$65.20 of Singapore airport taxes for the third adult ticket. Keep in mind though, you might still feel like the incremental S$38 for an extra seat is worth it!

However, it’s a no brainer if you’re flying from a country where the airport taxes are relatively low, like Malaysia.

For example, Jetstar Asia would charge MYR 392 for two adults and one infant ticket from Kuala Lumpur to Singapore…

…versus MYR 348 for three adult tickets on the same route!

Here’s another example from Scoot, where the price for two adults and one infant ticket from Kuala Lumpur to Singapore is S$115.87…

…versus S$81.56 for three adult tickets.

I know. It’s very strange, and no doubt an unintended consequence of charging a flat fee for infants, but at least now you know how to beat the system!

There’s one important thing to note. It’s not as simple as booking an extra adult ticket for your infant online.

For example, Scoot asks for the date of birth of all passengers, and if it sees that the passenger is below two years of age, it won’t let you proceed with the booking unless they’re not occupying a seat of their own (i.e. lap infant).

AirAsia and Jetstar don’t ask for the date of birth, but their websites still ask you to indicate the age of the travellers when choosing fares (i.e. infant, child, adult). So if you want to do things the proper way, you’ll need to:

1. Book the tickets for adults and children (if any) online first
2. Contact the airline to add an infant to your booking, mentioning that you want to purchase a separate seat

The pricing for the separate seat will follow whatever the prevailing price on the website is at the time you call in, so I’d recommend doing this as soon as you’ve made the adult booking. 

Bookings made through the customer service hotline usually attract a booking fee, but in my experience, Jetstar Asia and Scoot waive the fee if you’re booking a separate seat for an infant since that can’t be done online. I would assume the same applies to AirAsia.

Remember: a ticket for an infant in a separate seat will be subject to all the same airport taxes as an adult ticket, unlike a ticket for a lap infant. But the idea is that you still save overall because the total amount paid is less than the lap infant fee (before even taking into account the intangible benefits of additional comfort).

What other options are there?

I know we’re talking about budget carriers in this post, but as an aside, I wanted to highlight some frequent flyer programmes that offer great value infant tickets. 

In the end, I decided to book a Malaysia Airlines flight through British Airways Executive Club, which cost 6,000 Avios per adult + airport taxes and included 35kg of checked luggage allowance. The cost for a lap infant is just 10% of the adult Avios, so the MileCub’s ticket was only 600 Avios.

ANA Mileage Club and Turkish Miles&Smiles also charge just 10% of the adult mileage for a lap infant, so those are possible options too.

Alternatively, you might consider booking via Air Canada Aeroplan, though it’s almost impossible to earn their miles in Singapore except through HSBC (with very poor conversion rates) or Hey Max. With Aeroplan, infant tickets are a flat C$25 or 2,500 points per segment, regardless of flight duration or cabin class- even in First or Business!

Conclusion

While full-service carriers usually charge lap infants 10% of the adult fares, budget airlines charge a flat fee instead. And given that adult fares on budget airlines often go on sale (I have yet to see a sale for infant tickets!), there may be some cases where it makes more sense to buy a separate seat for your baby instead.

So when you’re making a booking, always compare the cost of a lap infant to an adult fare. If the two are close enough, or if the adult ticket is in fact cheaper, there might be an opportunity to save money and enjoy more comfort at the same time!