We have had some of our customers in the past need to change the flight that they booked for their son or daughter. Before Covid-19, some of the airlines charged what we thought was an exorbitant fee for simply changing one or both of the dates of travel.For example, Delta used to charge $200 PER KID flying! So if a parent needed to adjust the date and had three children flying, he or she needed to pay $600 PLUS the increase of airfare if there was any.

Fortunately for us who needed to give the bad news to our customers and the parents or grandparents who needed to pay, things changed when Covid-19 arrived and stayed. Airlines who booked flights for minors realized that it just wasn’t fair anymore. Parents simply didn’t know if their child would be able to fly when the time came. All airlines waived the dreaded change.

Here ar Weflykids we shoot out quotes via texts and give options to people wanting to fly their child over the phone. At times, the parent had booked a flight for their minor already with an airline and was checking with us just to be sure that they got a decent deal. And once in a while they were shocked to hear our price! So they would ask if they could cancel their booking and book with us! If it was less than 24 hours since they booked that flight for their kid they would receive a refund. If not that change fee often didn’t make the change worth it.

So far most airlines still do not charge for changing an itinerary for a minor. And hopefully it will stay that way. So don’t be afraid to check with us even if you have booked that flight for your child days ago. There’s a chance that our price will be lower and our service will definitely be better!

The year 2022 so far has been difficult for many of our customers wanting to fly their son or daughter to another part of the country. Everyone knows about higher gas prices which have not only raised prices at the pump, but also airfares. As a result, many kids who need to fly alone will not see their other parent this Spring Break. As an example, it’s not unusual these days to give out quotes for $1200 round trip which does include the unaccompanied minor service fee. And that isn’t necessarily for longer coast to coast flights.

Here is the airfare for a flight from Texas to South Carolina: https://www.aa.com/booking/passengers?fromMetaSearch=true&bookingPathStateId=1649268375932-116&ischangedfare=false&ischangedservice=false&locale=en_US&c=MSE%7CKYK%7C20170213%7CDST%7CDST%7CWEB%7C%7CSNN%7CNNN&trackingid=kayakclickid%7CLOyrC27C1aO9RwL8_7UfzA If the child is 14 years old, the American Airlines policy of requiring minors of that age to pay for the unaccompanied minor service would apply. This means that in addition to the $860 airfare the parents would need to add an additional $300 for the chaperone fee. For many of us that is just too expensive for a flight for our son or daughter to spend just one week with their mother or father.

OUR ANSWER IS…

So is it EVER too early to book a flight for your son or daughter? By now you know to answer to that question. However, you might be surprised how many times we have heard a mom or dad ask us if we think that the price will go down! Evidently there are many people out there who don’t understand the basics about how airlines set their fares.

Simply put, airlines roll out their first fares usually anywhere from 7-11 months in advance. You might want to book a flight for your child one year in advance because you think it’s going to be super cheap. But airlines don’t work that way. They need to wait to see what the price of fuel is going to be along with other factors before setting the fare.

So the phrase ‘the early bird gets the worm’ fits when booking flights. Once those first low fares get purchased, fares jump up to the next level of pricing. Once those get booked, it jumps to the next level and so on. There always seems to be a few seats left if a person really wants or needs to be on that specific flight. BUT what you usually notice is that those few remaining seats costs many times more than the original low fare.

For more information on this topic please read our other blogpost: https://weflykids.com/why-flights-were-so-expensive-for-kids-this-past-christmas/