Can't decide which movie is best suited to your children?
Children are growing up fast. In the air, a two-year-old can be considered an adult, while on the ground, four-year-olds are being treated like mum and dad at the box office.
Parents are being slugged up to 90 per cent of the price of their own tickets to take their children to major events and attractions around Sydney. And in the case of rock concerts there is often no reprieve, even when the act appeals to all ages.
At Macquarie Ice Rink north-west of Sydney, adults pay $20 while children are charged $18, a mere 10 per cent discount. It is a similar story at the movies, where a ticket to a 3D session of a new release will cost $20 for adults and $16 for children. Tickets to the Royal Easter Show are slightly better priced: $33 for grown-ups and $22 for children, although tickets for children on the last day, Kids' Day, are $11.
One of the few attractions to offer 50 per cent discounts for the young is Taronga Zoo, where a child's ticket will set you back $20, less than half of the $41 for an adult ticket.
When it comes to air travel, the fare structure is even less forgiving. Infants fly free on domestic flights on Virgin Blue and Jetstar, but you pay the full fare for children older than two.
Qantas has a different system for infants, 10 per cent of the adult fare and 75 per cent from ages two to 11. On a round-the-world ticket, the difference between a one- and two-year-old can run into thousands.
Learning this lesson the hard way is the Martin family, who will leave Sydney on Friday on a nine-month global adventure.
Their daughter Emily turns two on October 1, six months into their trek, but Qantas forced her parents to buy a full child's round-the-world ticket. Steve Martin said his travel agent originally told him Emily would fly as an infant, but Qantas had a change of heart that cost an extra $2300.
''It's a significant amount for us to pay, having sold our car and house to fund the trip,'' he said.
Although the family was forced to buy a seat for Emily, the airline said she was not allowed to sit in it until she turned two. ''I don't want special treatment. I am happy to pay [the child's fare] when she's two, but for six months to pay the extra is appalling,'' Mr Martin said.
A Qantas spokesman said its pricing policy for children was fair and in line with global industry practice.
