Buying airline ticket for infant (18 months)

Your better bet is to fly to Frankfurt nonstop on Condor. There's no real reason to do a connecting flight to Munich if you're only heading straight to Nuremberg the next morning. Frankfurt to Nuremberg is an under 3 hour drive.

On the lap seat thing. Think hard about taking an 18 month old on a 10 hour flight as a lap sitter. I didn't do it with mine for any length flight - I wanted to have somewhere to strap her in so she could fall asleep in her carseat. Condor flights are a bargain. I see $486 each way on some days in June. It will vary with your travel date.

When my kids were little, I too wanted to save $$ by taking my babies on my lap. It was a calculated risk as always some seat on the plane was empty - and whoever was sitting next to me voluntarily moved there providing an extra seat for my baby. I guess I got lucky, not sure if that's possible these days.

If you decide to go with Condor, I'd definitely recommend to purchase a full seat for your toddler. I've never had a more cramped flight from Canada to Frankfurt than with them. I'm 5'7" and no matter how I moved my knees were always touching the front seat ...

In my experience, you book the regular tickets then call the airline to add the baby. Only once have I been able to book the baby online.

On a completely unrelated note, I strongly encourage you to book directly with the airline (or hotel, rental company, etc) rather than through AAA, etc. I've worked in the travel industry for 20 years and currently work for a 3rd party travel company, so I say this with some experience. If you have any troubles or need to make changes to your booking you will find it much easier if you can contact the airline directly instead of having to go through a 3rd party. As an example, my sister recently booked a flight through one of the popular 3rd party sites. One of her flights got cancelled the day before she left. After a lot of "it's not my problem" phone calls she finally got rerouted and made to make it to Peru 1.5 days later than originally planned. I'm not saying you won't run into problems if you book directly with the airline, it's just that who is responsible is a lot more clear.

This flight that the AAA agent quoted can be booked directly through Lufthansa's website. Where you select the number of passengers lap infants is a choice. You can also search kayak.com to include the price of an infant in your lap. This way you can compare options with different airlines and dates.

Thank you all for taking the time to respond. I assure you my sanity and parenting is not to be questioned. I simply thought I would ask. I purchased four tickets from Vancouver to Munich.

If you choose to not take a proper infant seat on the plane - your choice, entirely - how will you secure the child in the car? In Europe, especially Germany, it is illegal for an infant to travel in a car without being secured in an appropriate child seat or approved infant seat.

Can I suggest that taking the one that she is familiar with at home will make flying and then driving in Germany much easier than finding whatever the car hire company can fob you off with.

By the way - I noted your bristly attitude in your reply just above. You did say in your original post - "Any and all suggestions are greatly appreciated.".

Good for you for taking advantage of the good pricing out of Vancouver! Sorry that you felt preached at. I think people were genuinely wanting to help you have a great experience.

I carried a 9 month old on a lap ticket from Korea to Seattle once. It was a long flight with very little sleep for me. Half way through I would have paid anything for a safe place to put the baby down. It sounds like you and your daughter will be able to trade off. The flight attendants did what they could to help. I will say, it was worth every inconvenience for me to see the new parents' faces when they saw and held their child for the first time.

I definitely would contact the airline directly because they will often assign seats in a family friendly fashion if they know your situation. What a lovely gift and trip you are giving your family.