Hong Kong Airlines discriminates against people with children

Experience was so bad I ran out of characters, haha...

The same exercise occurred yet again, except after 5 more days of not hearing back. After 5 days I decided to follow up and call. The call center told me a fellow named Thomas was working on my case and will contact me as soon as he gets in. Two more days pass and I call back again and finally get in touch with Thomas only to find out that he is yet another employee from the call center and not even from corporate. He tells me the same story about Hong Kong Airlines discriminating against people with children. I tell him that I will take my story to social media if I do not hear from corporate by the end of the day. I finally get an email from corporate stating the same thing -- shady pricing games that ultimately discriminate against people with children.

Right now I am stuck between a rock and a hard place. Hong Kong Airlines is making it such that our son can only meet his grand parents if we pay their "holding a baby on the flight" extortion fee and somehow come up with money that we do not have. Hong Kong Airlines kept telling us they will escalate the case, but in the time that has passed in waiting on their "fair resolution", the reasonably priced flights on other airlines are now gone. We are strongly considering cancelling our trip, which would be heart-breaking to all of us since my wife and Henry would not be able to see their family and vice versa.

In any event, my goal here is not to obtain sympathy for ourselves, but rather to warn other parents considering Hong Kong Airlines. Here are some of my conclusions:

(1) Hong Kong Airlines discriminates against people with children by charging them twice as much for their tickets in addition to the infant tickets. The advertised fare of 4070.60HKD for adults becomes 8500HKD if you have children. Same seat and same ticket -- just it becomes twice as much if you have children.
(2) Hong Kong Airlines does not offer transparent pricing. Where one agent might tell you an infant ticket cost 10% of the ticket price of the adult passenger, another agent might then try to charge you closer to 50% of the adult ticket price.
(3) Hong Kong Airlines does not value customer service, as illustrated by me having spent more than 50+ mins on my first call with no resolution. After doing so, I was called back by another call center representative rather than a manager, and spent another 30+ minutes on the phone with her. Four call later and I speak to the "manager on my case" who turns out to be another call center representative, spending another 20 minutes with him. After all this, I get nothing but a low-level email from corporate. I email back to corporate asking them to call me so we can discuss the case and never hear back.

Write the travel troubleshooter he will solve this
http://www.chicagotribune.com/lifestyles/travel/ct-christopher-elliott-travel-troubleshoooter-staff.html

Did you book your ticket directly with the airline?

He already stated that he purchased the ticket through a travel agent (who knows which one?) and not the airline. What is not clear is why the infant ticket was not part of that purchase. What is happening here is the standard problem of an airline not caring to deal with someone who bought their ticket elsewhere and then asking the airline for service. Perhaps the travel agent did not offer the discounted price the airline was offering and it seemed buying tickets from both was the way to get the best price. This will never work, and this policy is universally applied, not just versus parents.

Just pay for a ticket for your child and put him in a car seat for his own safety. Holding a child on your lap for the entire flight is not only tiring for you and your poor wife, who is probably already exhausted, but also dangerous for your adorable child. So just cough up the cash so everyone can enjoy the trip and his grandparents can adore him. This long complaint letter is taking up too much of your energy. Let it go and enjoy the New Year. You got such a good deal on the tix that baby deserves his own seat.

15 hours on a plane with a child on your lap?

That has to be the least well thought out idea I have encountered in a very long time.

Perhaps all the furor could have been avoided had you read this and called their customer service center before making the purchase

Infant Passenger
To check the applicable infant fare, infant seat availability and make a booking, please call our Customer Services Centres for assistance. Please note that there is limitation to the number of infants* that can be accepted on each flight due to safety reason and infant is currently not accepted to travel in business class cabin of aircraft type A350.

Infant ticket is usually calculated from a discount applied to an adult ticket. If the adult ticket fare of the accompanying adult does not offer an infant discount, the next higher fare that offers the discount will be used as the base for calculation. Calculation of infant ticket price is subject to the law of the country applicable to the ticket being issued.

The infant passenger must be under 24 months throughout the whole journey. Infants who reach their second birthday after their outbound flight must purchase a child ticket.

The infant ticket also subject to fare rules and conditions.

If passengers carry two infants on board, one of the infants must reach 6 months old with the applicable child fare and travel using the Hong Kong Airlines’ approved car-type safety seat*. The other infant will be charged by infant fare without occupying a seat.

*For details of the approved car-type safety seat and baby bassinet facility, please contact our Customer Services Centres.

EDIT- As you used a travel agent, it appears you may have recourse against them as it seems they failed to either a) inform you what the true cost would be or b) mishandled the purchase with the airline resulting in your not getting what you thought you were getting.

I would pursue the travel agent to make things right

Joe, I appreciate you posting the clear terms and conditions for infant fares on the site. There is no "discrimination" as charged by the OP but the airline clearly following its well documented procedures.

I feel sorry for the OP who had an idea of how he thought the tickets would price out that was based on some false assumptions. It is not correct to blame the airline for a situation that was caused more by a lack of research by OP than anything else. I do hope that you find a way to come up with the correct fare so this important family visit can take place. I'm sorry for the distress and frustration you have experienced.

I stand firmly behind Bets post . Holding a child that age for 15 hours is very hard and dangerous !

We always bought seats for our kids ( we had three and started flying with them by five months old ) yes it's not cheap , so we took less flying vacations for a few years , but we never tried to save money by endangering our children !
Also by 11 months child will be restless and having his own seat gives him room to stand and move about a bit , get a row of three and then he can play between you and wife .

Ps those tickets seem VERY cheap to me so I am not sure why you are upset

By bypassing the airline and buying your tickets from a--and I'm guessing--a discount ticket agent you neglected to see the portion about traveling with infants.

Not all fares apply to infant discounts. Had you called the airline, they would have told you prior to your purchase.

You said you called "many airlines." But did you call Hong Kong Airlines?

It may be frustrating, and I feel for you because I have been dinged for charges by not reading the fine print. But the rules for flying with infants is spelled out clearly on their website with instructions on what to do.

There is no discrimination against kids here. Chalk it up as a learning experience. When dealing with the ailrines, get all the answers before you spend your money. And since every airlines is different, get the exact word from the airline you are flying.