Adding a lap infant to an award ticket can be anywhere from annoying to downright impossible. My daughter is 15 months old, and adding her to the 26 flights and counting she's taken in her young life has decreased my own life expectancy by about 15 months.
For years, booking with Alaska Atmos – otherwise among the most valuable miles in the world – has been the one of the worst: The airline's website would explicitly forbid infant award tickets or force you to call in and pay 10% of the cash fare (plus taxes and fees) to add an infant. The success rate would vary from agent-to-agent.
Alaska and Hawaiian has gone from worst to first, starting with a new policy last month that only charges the taxes and fees for adding lap infants to award tickets – but only on its own, Alaska-operated flights abroad. But it just got even better: Alaska has introduced an industry-best international award ticket policy where you only have to pay the taxes and fees to add an infant to any Atmos award ticket … on Alaska or on any of its partner airlines.
Hallelujah! One Mile at a Time was the first to spot this change on Alaska's website, which now reads:
For long-haul international Atmos Rewards bookings, lap infants are charged only the applicable international taxes. At this rate, the infant will travel on your lap and won’t have their own seat.
The fine print clarifies that this policy only applies to long-haul international tickets that were booked using Alaska Atmos – not Alaska/Hawaiian flights booked using partner airline programs. Importantly, the new policy does include flights on Alaska partners that were booked with Atmos.
Here are two real-life examples I have coming up:
- One is a Japan Airlines premium economy flight, which I booked 50,000 Atmos each way. On this flight, I'll only pay the taxes and fees to add my daughter: Just $5.60!
- The second is an Alaska business class flight, which I booked with 60,000 American AAdvantage miles. In this case, I'm beholden to American's lap infant policy and will likely have to pay 10% of the adult fare, plus taxes and fees.
On revenue fares – those not booked using points and miles – adding a lap infant to an international Alaska itinerary costs 10% of the adult fare plus taxes and fees, the same math you'd find at most other airlines. But book that ticket using Atmos Rewards points instead, and you'll only pay the necessary taxes and fees for your lap infant – no additional points.
Alaska gives you access to a genuinely excellent roster of partners: AA, British Airways, Japan Airlines, and more, often at pretty reasonable rates. And now, if you're traveling with a lap infant, those award bookings are covered by this fix.
Bottom Line
Alaska has gone from worst to first in its infant award ticket policy, now only requiring payment of the taxes and fees on long-haul international tickets.
This new change includes both Alaska-operated flights and flights from its partner airlines, too. It's just another thing that makes Atmos Rewards points incredibly valuable.
