Expedia.com charging more per person when kids travel?

Interesting situation. I would look through the fare rules to see why this is happening. Alternatively, call Expedia and ask for an explanation.

Also, is this all on one airline or a combination of carriers?

Worst case - there is nothing stopping you from treating the kids as adults in the booking process if it is to your advantage.

I know in the past a lot of the non-NA carriers would give a child's discount of 10-25% but am not sure if this is still the case.

The itinerary is usually more than one carrier, it was UAL and LOT when I checked today.

I thought about booking 4 tickets for adults (instead of 2 adults and 2 kids), today's Expedia itinerary it would save me $600. I am uncertain if the tickets would reflect "adult" and there might be complications with security at SEA, FCO or MXP if the tickets do not reflect the age of the childrens passports.

You might also want to run the same itinerary through kayak.com, yapta.com, travelocity.com, and some of the airline websites to see if you come up with the same issue.

Almost all airlines discount children's tickets. I would definitely make some phone calls and check other sites. Something isn't right about that.

I've only had the issue appear with Expedia.com and looks like I'll need to give them a call to see what they say. I haven't experienced reduced airfare for children on very many airlines, i.e. UAL. Some airlines i.e. KLM has reduced fares for kids but not most in my experience.

Try kayak.com and see what happens.

Try booking direclty with United Airlines. Both it and LOT Airlines are Star Alliance partners and codehsare flights.

Thanks everyone. I have been researching multiple sights to check for airfares (Kayak, yapta and ual). Steve, I was checking the same itinerary with different combinations of passengers (4 adults v 2 adults 2 kids) at the same time using two browser windows). Also, thanks for the tidbit that the fares are high right now for June travel to Italy. I did notice that in 2009 it seems people were getting the good fares in April (reading from earlier posts on RS).

Lufthansa had reduced fare for children, as did Iceland Air, I believe!

Lisa - I think I know what's happening...? lol

Are you searching for the 4 adults first?
Expedia temporarily holds fares at a certain point, and the airlines only let them see 6-9 tickets per price point. So, if you do a second search it can drive the price up if there aren't enough cheaper tickets for both searches. Using multiple browser windows on Expedia will make this worse.

Try: Closing your browser, give it 10-15 mins, then try again searching with the kids first. Might fix it! =) Otherwise, give them a call, or try another site.

Important!
***DO NOT BOOK YOUR KIDS AS ADULTS!!!!!**

Something people don't think about -
If the flight is overbooked, the airline system WILL separate adults on the same PNR/Record Locator, but (usually) not ADTs (adults) and CHD (children) on the same record. -Thank goodness!

You could wind up with a nightmare situation: kids get bumped and you don't, vice versa, you're scattered all over the plane, etc, etc. Not the best way to start your vacation! =)

And once the check-in desk staff sees you created the problem yourself; it's not going to win you any favors...

Yes, they can see SNR, ADT and CHD next to each ticket. Avoid the stress. =)

Two other quick reasons:
- If documentation requirements for the airline or the destination country change for traveling with children, you won't be notified (makes a difference if traveling with step children or one parent, etc.)
- New security rules can pop up at any time (as we saw last month). Best to have your ticket match exactly! =)

Hope you find the fare you need! Any reason you have to stick with Expedia specifically? :)