Olympics committee mulls baby ticket policy »

LONDON (AP):

The London Organising Committee made the statement after complaints flooded the British parenting website Mumsnet, with pregnant women who bought tickets for themselves - but not for their unborn children - wondering what they could do with babies who were breastfeeding. They argued that a month-old child would not be taking up a seat of its own.

"Of course, we understand that some new mums may want to take their babies to events they have tickets to, and we will look at what we can do when the remaining tickets go on sale in April," the committee said in a statement.

Organisers have said that every child - including newborns carried in a parent's arms - must have their own tickets, in part to keep track of the number of visitors so venue capacity is not exceeded. They said special programmes exist to make some tickets more affordable to young people, but those discounts did not apply to all events.

London's ticket policy is similar to that of Vancouver, which hosted the 2010 Winter Olympics. Organisers in the Canadian city used discretion at the gate, however, categorising parents who brought an infant without a ticket as a childcare issue. In other words, parents who appeared with children less than a year old - babes in arms, so to speak - were not turned away.

Many of the mothers who posted on Mumsnet said they had bought Olympic tickets before they became pregnant, or will have newborns by the time of the Games.

One fuming woman wrote that while she and her husband were lucky enough to get tickets to an equestrian event in August, organisers had told her there are no children's tickets so she will have to pay £95 ($147) for a three-month old in a sling.

The latest ticket gaffe is expected to boomerang unhappily on London organisers.

Tickets issues of all kinds have dogged the London Olympics as demand for seats at events from July 27-August 12 have far outstripped supply.

Edward Parkinson, United Kingdom director of the ticket resale site Viagogo, said he was somewhat surprised by the organisers' policy that even newborns need tickets.

He compared the Olympics to music festivals, where parents are given concessions for children. In some cases, organisers allow children under a certain age to get in for free.  

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