ipad air fails to download iOS 12.4.4 update. fails on ipad as well as going thru itunes on macbook to update it

ipad air was returned by staff member. it has 10.3.1 on it. I can not get it to update at all. I have been spending hours trying suggested things such as hooking it up to itunes on my macbook. I also tried uploading firmware manually and nothing seems to work. If i try and download update on ipad it errors out with a message that reads "software update failed" An error occurred downloading iOS 12.4.4

I know its an older model but it is stated as supporting up to iOS 12.4.x and I can't even get it off 10.3.1