I want some cute babies like that. I don’t know if it’s in my grandparently future, though. 
@HiMom he did pay for the seat – the only issue was that the 4th ticket that they used for the infant was in the name of his adult son who he put on another flight. They could have done a re-book and put the ticket in the name of the infant right then and there. But instead they gave the seat to a stand by passenger.
It’s highly likely that adult son rebooked to the earlier flight, right? So, no he didn’t have a 4th seat/ticket on the flight.
As explained before, there is no such thing as rebooking an airline ticket to another passenger. It’s not a thing.
@busdriver11 – here’s another pic of the kids in a US publication (so I feel like I can share it):
http://www.wnd.com/2017/05/delta-boots-family-over-toddlers-seating/
No, the father has repeatedly said he bought a separate ticket for the adult son.
As has been pointed out, we do not have info on how the older S’s ticket was paid for. In any case, the family did NOT take whatever steps were needed to purchase the contested seat for the 2 year old so were NOT entitled to it. Full stop.
There are steps anyone who flies knows has to be taken to purchase a seat for a person to be entitled to said seat–no proxies, no transfers, no substitutions. I follow the rules and expect others, even those with young kids to do so as well.
Well but when a problem arises like this with 2 infants on a flight at midnight, give the family the chance to pay the fee and simply re-book the ticket in the infant’s name. Why give it away to another stand by passenger? Which is what the father asked the FA when she ordered him off.
It was clearly still in Mason’s name at the time of boarding or it would have already been given away due to the flight being filled.
If the family knows the don’t have a paid seat for ALL their kids, the time and place to hash this out is BEFORE boarding with the folks at the gate, not while passengers are boarding and they are readying the plane for takeoff. Plenty of blame to go around here. This was not handled well by crew OR family.
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It was clearly still in Mason’s name at the time of boarding or it would have already been given away due to the flight being filled."
But that’s what the airline was trying to do, put a standby passenger in Mason’s seat because Mason wasn’t there so it no longer was his seat. Standbys get assigned seats and boarded last once the cut-off window for passengers showing up ends. As soon as the older son took an earlier flight, the family no longer had a 4th seat on that flight. It wasn’t there for them to put a child in just because no one was seated there yet.
The family made a false assumption. I’m not saying the intentionally tried to be sneaky but it’s obvious they weren’t aware of how things work and assumed wrongly.
He had 4 tickets that he says were all paid for – I believe him. Yes, he has some blame because he did not technically switch the 4th ticket into the infants name. But when I look at the big picture the solution is pretty clear all things considered.
“because he did not technically switch the 4th ticket into the infants name”
Not possible. Just. not. done.
This has happened on flights I’ve been on as well, where someone puts a “lap child” who hasn’t purchased a ticket in his/her name in a seat and the crew looks to find that seat to put a paying passenger in it. Generally it’s resolved after a few announcements that lap children must be in laps and not occupying a seat they have not purchased.
Flying is really very challenging for everyone, especially with very full flights and people looking for any space they can find.
Lap kids are kids who are under 2 and have NOT purchased a seat in their name. They are NOT entitled to take a seat, PERIOD.
The parents knew all along they were traveling with two young kids–that’s on them. THEY have to plan so that it will work, not expect that they will get the airlines to let them magically be entitled to have a seat for a child who has NOT paid for a seat. I have flown with young kids – a lot. I paid and made it work.
If you call it can be accommodated for a fee - I have done it numerous times when my H’s schedule has changed and I want to take one of the children instead. Ticket is re-booked – once I had an issue in that the price went up and I had to pay the difference.
What airline let you use credit in your spouse’s name for your child?
Yes, the family COULD have done this (buying a ticket in toddler’s name) but chose to do things the way they did instead–create a scene and expect to have airline contort for them.
I’ve had several issues flying with infants with paid seats in their own names pre- 9-11. I was told my dd could not sit in the seat I had paid for, was hassled about a Britax 5 point harness carseat that they said was not “approved” was told my 22 month old that I paid full fare for would not get a meal because there wasn’t any “extra” food food for her.
Don’t even get me started on the flight where I was flying alone, pregnant, with a lap child, and a full paid toddler and the FA refused to put juice into the open sippy cup I handed her.
Poor airline customer service isn’t new, it’s just getting worse. DH and I have arranged our summer travel so that we can either drive or take AmTrak.
I’d be ok with taking Jimmy Buffett’s “Slow Boat to China” but my kids need to travel to Asia and Europe this summer and don’t had the luxury of time, so they must fly. Ironically I paid more for DD to fly Delta because I thought she’d get better customer service. Glad that Delta refunded those passengers that they initially kicked off or I’d have to revisit that decision.
I fly all the airlines - United, American and Delta included. I have more than one time called and had a ticket re-booked when my H could not make a trip - probably on all of them. I have never had a problem with customer service in that regard.
@Himom i assume the dad did it that way because there were no additional tickets available – so he used the one he had and flew the other adult child out earlier. Whether he paid for another ticket for the infant or paid for anther ticket for Mason is the same in the end.
HarvestMoon, I think you are confused about your tickets, or they were a long time ago. Perhaps they refunded your husbands ticket, and then got you a new ticket for your kid. They aren’t going to just change the name on the ticket. And why would they charge you extra if the fare went up, if all they were doing was change the name?
I think the problem is, is that you are believing a biased article without all the information, and you aren’t believing a single word that the frequent flyers on this board are telling you.
If he had no problem paying for the ticket, he would have bought a seat for his child in the first place. You don’t plan on having a lap child all the way to Hawaii and back, particularly with another child, unless you are trying to save money. You don’t bring your car seat onto the plane unless you’re going to try to put it in a seat, because obviously you can’t fit it in the overhead compartment. He said he flies a lot. He knows this. Another red flag is that first he says that on the way out it was difficult to have a lap child, so that’s why they decided to move the older son to another flight. Hmm. And then he says that the child sat in the car seat the entire way out. So, which is it?
He found out it’s difficult to have a lap child. But the kid sat in the car seat the entire way out. Perhaps the crew gave him a hard time about it (as they should have), but then allowed it, so he realized it could be tough to get away with again. And then what really creeps me out is how he talks about how hard it is for his wife to watch one child and have a lap child at the same time. How about he consider being a dad and hold one of the kids in his lap? Man! 
I have no idea how they re-booked the ticket on their computers @busdriver - maybe it was a new issue – but I got the ticket in my child’s name and either paid the difference or a change fee. Granted it was not on the same day as the flight as in this scenario.
My point really is that there was a seat available that their adult son did not use and that was paid for. Rather than re-issue a ticket to that family, they gave it to a stand by passenger necessitating a family of 4 to de-board at midnight with 2 infants with no place to go. I just don’t see that as a reasonable solution. Others see it differently.