To thnk that airlines should not allow lap babies on flights?

No one would be getting me out of a booked aisle seat! No way.

I haven’t got strong views about what is safest for babies on flights - lap, seat belt or not, or car seat. Car seat sounds the most comfortable all round but I don’t really know.In the end, if the plane crashes you’re usually all dead.

I think that if “anything had happened “ the seatbelt would’ve been the least of your worries.

In the USA it was normal to use a car seat from 1, under that on laps, can’t remember if you got extension belts for domestic flights but you definitely did for intercontinental flights. Within Europe and on European airlines they were really funny about car seats on planes and I actually ended up having to negotiate with the first officer who didn’t want me using mine (that had flown thousands of miles on us carriers) on a Virgin Atlantic flight, I got them on but had to play the disability card which thankfully I’d logged at the booking stage to get extra luggage for dd.

Surely a baby would fit in the overhead locker????😉

Babies and young children are safest in their own seat in a flight approved car seat. Many EU infant car seats are flight approved but unfortunately not the next stage seats.

EU airlines seem to make it difficult to travel with children in car seats for some reason (at least ime). Even more so for toddlers who still aren't particularly safe in their own seat as they don't fit the seat or seatbelt properly, but currently there is very little alternative. I believe US airlines are better but no experience personally, although I know that there are lots more options for flight approved car seats (both baby and toddler) in the US.

The little lap belt thing they give you for a lap infant is realistically only to stop the baby from becoming a projectile. It won't stop them from being injured hitting the arm rest or the seat in front or whatever, and could very well cause internal injuries in a serious accident given that it's on their soft abdomen. Obviously there are plane crashes where no amount of protection (car seat or otherwise) would keep the baby safe, but in less severe accidents the car seat could well be the difference between severe injury/death or walking away unharmed.

So ideally yes, I'd agree that lap infants should be banned in favour of babies properly secured in appropriate seats, but realistically that's not going to happen.

Op booked and paid for HER seat, was expected to move out of it, yet shes the entitled one??
make it make sense….

Agree with this as someone who flies with a toddler. It’s the reason why I book business class when I fly solo with DS because I don’t feel a toddler is fair to the person next to me. (Of course some people complain about a baby in business class but overall it still feels fairer to me because at least no one has to sit right next to us).

I have to say that toddlers on laps are not much fun for neighbouring seats. I once was on a 14 hour flight where a mother sat next to me in the middle seat with a 23 month old child. (I know because she had a conversation with another family about taking advantage of not needing a seat for as long as possible). The child was so large that their feet were kicking in my lap, they knocked my glasses off and touched my screen repeatedly. It was a very long take off but thankfully a steward found them another seat afterwards. It’s good to be understanding to families but being set up for a long haul like that is not really on.

Another reason to bring your car seat on the plane is that you have it at your destination. You should never check the seat because they get thrown around and the impact can be equivalent to an accident. You should never rent a seat because you should never use a seat you don’t know it’s full history.

this thread is an interesting cultural divide. In the U.S. where babies are put in car seats on planes during takeoff and landing if parents have purchased a seat, it is well acknowledged that this is the safest place to be.

Some countries require seatbelts whilst others including the US and India don’t allow it.

Well you sound lovely 🙄

The other issue with car seats on planes is, I often travel on my own with DS and pushing a pram with one hand, having a backbag with travel essentials plus a suitcase in the other hand is just about what I can manage. I don’t think there’s a way to bring a car seat as well if you need to travel on your own. Not that I think that this would be safer than the belt, as I said already.

if a plane crashes then no safety belt or car seat is helping so its different to travelling by car, where car seats are safest

Slightly off topic but I really can't get my head round this seemingly popular view here that safety belts and car seats etc won't help in the event of a 'plane crash...because..?? reasons?

History shows that there have been a multitide of what would definitely described as crashes where the chances of a passenger or crew member surviving have been improved due to the wearing of seat belts....

There's the horrendous Sioux City DC-10 crash that I mentioned a while back, through British Midland at Kegworth..those are obvious ones where aircraft pretty much came apart but despite that there were survivors...

Even on the less dramatic crashes such as the one on the Hudson or the BA38 (Hatton Cross) the belts allowed people to get through the impact, deceleration and jolts without too much damage and left them in better shape to evacuate.

🤣🤣😂

I have 5 children but I would be fully supportive of child free flights if they came into being !!!!

same reason why kids go free in metro up to one age and have reduced prices in boats , museums etc

I took my twins on a flight when they were 5 months old. Partner and I had one each in a baby carrier. We were told they had to be removed from the carrier and have the plane seat belt around them. Utter madness. The seat belt isn’t giving them any protection.

I think they're safest on Laps with a seat belt, the reality is, if a plane crashes then no safety belt or car seat is helping so its different to travelling by car, where car seats are safest. If they're strapped to a parent and held on their knee then they are protected from turbulence and can have any required oxygen mask fitted easilyor be instantly grabbed and easily carried for an evacuation or emergency landing situation. A car seat on a seat would also be safe for sure although might be harder to quickly grab/fit an oxygen mask/equipment. You can't have a 3 month old flopping around in an adult seat with nothing to protect them and keep them upright!

You’re a charmer.

Why?
That would cost parents more and airlines would lose money on standard seat if sold at a reduced price to a baby.

As you rightly point out the problem with car seats is the associated costs, but they definitely do appear on board, even on Long Haul flights, but certainly not usually in big numbers and not on every flight.

I used to fly London to Vietnam semi regularly with my baby/ies. About 15 hrs with a stop in Dubai. I definitely slept for some of that. Most of the time baby had a bassinet as we booked those bulkhead seats, or I had the baby in the extended lap belt on my lap, curled up asleep while I dozed. Buying an extra seat just wasn't an option with the costs of long haul flying. It's weird because looking back, I don't recall ever seeing a baby in a car seat on a plane. Every flight I've been on has had babies on it, but they always sit in their parents lap

"Some baby" you're a charmer. It can be difficult to manage kids on flights. But anyway, a lot of the time people sitting next to the baby prefer to move. OP didn't want to and didn't so maybe you should find something else to get oddly and disproportionately angry about. don't call kids brats.

I agree they should have a seat, more for all the baby paraphernalia in easy reach instead of trying to pop a hip bending over in a tight space while simultaneously holding a wriggling baby, or if a wriggling 18 month old would have been lovely. I actually would have loved this. Cuddle time and then optional sit and play with toys. It was hard work sometimes. At least parents have a choice.

If parents want to sit together they need to book and pay to book seats, yes flights can be cheap but you have to factor in pre booking charges.

Yeah well some people can't afford to buy that seat? I live overseas for work, we fly without the extra seat till they're two and have to have their own. If OP thinks kids shouldn't be on laps that's something to take up with airlines, not individual customers who are doing something they're allowed to do. It's very weird that this seemed novel to her.