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

Why are half the people on this thread pretending that babies are ‘just hold’ by their parents and make an argument that no one can hold onto them if there is an accident. We know that, that’s why it is mandatory to use a baby seat belt when the seat belt sign is on. Stewards check that they are wearing their belt, just as they do with adult passengers. Neither you nor baby won’t get away not wearing it, that’s an international safety guideline airlines need to adhere to.

Car seat and a booked seat for the baby. At a reduced cost ideally.

Why don’t we trust the judgement of experts on this, presumably there is a reason why it is the law to use a car seat in a car, and a belt in a plane.

But in my non-expert view it does make sense because the impact of a survivable car and plane accident is different. Frankly, if your plane crashes frontally into something or if something crashes into you, it is irrelevant what sort of belt or seat you use. In a plane, you want to be protected from the plane dropping and you going into the ceiling, a belt seems to be sufficient for this.
But I don’t go by my own reasoning, I follow experts advice and that’s why I use a car seat in a car and a belt in a plane.

I’ve not flown for a few years, so I don’t know if lap kids are allowed by all airlines. I’m in South America at the moment, on a big trip.

My flight between cities was delayed yesterday due to bad weather. There were a lot of hot, tired people by the time we got on.

I was in the aisle seat and a woman with a baby arrived and indicated she was in the same row. I got up for her and she said something I didn’t understand and waited. Finally, she reluctantly sat in the middle seat with the baby on her lap. Her partner appeared from the other end of the plane and gave her some baby stuff.

She started complaining to the cabin crew, pointing at my seat. By now I understood she wanted to be in the aisle. I said no, and one of the cabin crew said to me in English, “Don’t worry we haven’t got time for this, we’re already an hour late. It’s only a 90 minutes flight so she can manage.”

I’m left wondering why lap babies are allowed on flights. He wasn’t restrained so if anything had happened, it would have meant he probably would have been seriously injured or worse.

I was on a cheap flight so I don’t care that I had to sit next to a wriggling baby. I just ignored him and read my book.

But I do think allowing babies on laps should be stopped. It’s fucking dangerous.

Genuine question, we've booked a flight for March, baby will be 14 months. When booking we had to choose the adult who would be her guardian on the flight (and, presumably, whose lap she would be on). We also, obviously, had to give her accurate date of birth. There is simply no way to book a separate seat for her, or am I missing something? To book a seat for her we'd have to book a fictitious person (older than 2 years) onto the flight?

How do you expect people to travel if they have babies?!? To visit family for example? As PP said, all European airlines provide a special seat belt loop to keep the baby safe on take off and landing. On long haul flights bulkhead seats have baby bassinets that can be used until about 8 or 9 months, but you are required to have the baby on your lap for take off and landing and if there is any turbulence anyway.

Airlines don’t require you to buy a seat for a child until age 2, but after age 1 we always bought a seat anyway so that our child had space to sit, but that’s only viable once the baby can comfortably sit alone unaided for a full flight.

The nice thing to do in your situation would have been to offer to swap seats with the dad. Then the parents would have been together, with an aisle seat, and you would have been sat far away from the baby. Of course you’d don’t have to do that - “why should I give up the seat I want that I paid for etc?” To which my answer would be you don’t have to, but sometimes it’s nice to just do a nice thing for other people, and generally cosmic karma rewards you.

Most infant car seats are certified for air travel. Airlines often allow infants to ride on a caregiver's lap during flight. But the Federal Aviation Administration recommends that infants ride in properly secured safety seats.

https://www.mayoclinic.org/healthy-lifestyle/infant-and-toddler-health/expert-answers/air-travel-with-infant/faq-20058539

You are normally given an additional restraint for the baby which attaches to your seatbelt. So in this instance, YANBU if this wasn’t used; but in general YABU. Parents of young babies sometimes have to travel - or just want to, whilst the baby is still at a relatively portable stage! I flew on holiday several times when my babies were tiny.

Why didn’t you do the kind thing and let the mother and baby sit in the aisle seat ?
I have flown lots with my children- babies generally sit on laps until 2y old when they need their own seat. When under 2 and on laps they get a special lap seatbelt that attaches to parents belt for takeoff and landing.

A parent should not fall asleep holding a baby with a belt or no belt. Is simple as that. This doesnt make it dangerous to travel on the lap. Is the parent's behavior that makes it dangerous.

As others have said, you would usually have to phone up (we do the whole booking over the phone rather than call to amend after booking online). Not all staff are knowledgeable about the process though so it can be pretty painful trying to get it sorted.

We have always booked a seat for our infants except once when we travelled with a ten week old, I just carried her. The seat gives us extra space, somewhere for them to sleep, and also the extra footwell space is very handy for them to sit in and play. We've never done less than 4.5 hours, so it may not be worth it for a shorter flight, depends on you and the child.

We sometimes use something called a CARES device, it's a kind of harness that goes over the back of the seat and then you thread it through the adult seatbelt to make it like a four point harness. The airlines don't provide them, you have to take your own. They're okay, I think I bought it when I was quite anxious about my child being contained by just the adult seatbelt, I'm not sure I'd bother in future but it's an option.

We've also used a carseat once, this was long haul to the USA with Delta. There aren't a lot of airline approved seats though, and most UK airlines say it needs to be airline approved and also forward facing, which I just don't think exists unfortunately, so we haven't taken the carseat since.

Our kids are pretty well behaved (in my opinion anyway), the flights can be hard work but I always tell myself that however the kids are, it doesn't make it any quicker, you'll still get there at the same time and it'll be over soon. I'd rather not do the flights but we have family abroad where there is no other option.

We've always found that people around us have been very kind, and if they were annoyed at all then they hid it well!

Because those aren't safe. Would you put a tiny baby in a lap belt in a car? No? Then why on earth do you think its safe on a plane? They risk injury to the abdomen and spine. Even a quick Google will tell you that.

How do you expect people to travel if they have babies?!? To visit family for example? As PP said, all European airlines provide a special seat belt loop to keep the baby safe on take off and landing. On long haul flights bulkhead seats have baby bassinets that can be used until about 8 or 9 months, but you are required to have the baby on your lap for take off and landing and if there is any turbulence anyway.

Airlines don’t require you to buy a seat for a child until age 2, but after age 1 we always bought a seat anyway so that our child had space to sit, but that’s only viable once the baby can comfortably sit alone unaided for a full flight.

The nice thing to do in your situation would have been to offer to swap seats with the dad. Then the parents would have been together, with an aisle seat, and you would have been sat far away from the baby. Of course you’d don’t have to do that - “why should I give up the seat I want that I paid for etc?” To which my answer would be you don’t have to, but sometimes it’s nice to just do a nice thing for other people, and generally cosmic karma rewards you.

We have flown regularly with our baby (from 4 months - 18 months) and we have always had to have her strapped in with an infant belt that goes around our own belt.

Also, you can't have an aisle seat with a baby on your lap. The only time it's allowed is if it is two seats in the centre aisle, as in a business class set up, and the other passenger can exit on their side of the row.

Flown all over Asia and Europe. Maybe the rules are regional?

Why are half the people on this thread pretending that babies are ‘just hold’ by their parents and make an argument that no one can hold onto them if there is an accident. We know that, that’s why it is mandatory to use a baby seat belt when the seat belt sign is on. Stewards check that they are wearing their belt, just as they do with adult passengers. Neither you nor baby won’t get away not wearing it, that’s an international safety guideline airlines need to adhere to.

Why are half the people on this thread pretending that babies are ‘just hold’ by their parents and make an argument that no one can hold onto them if there is an accident. We know that, that’s why it is mandatory to use a baby seat belt when the seat belt sign is on. Stewards check that they are wearing their belt, just as they do with adult passengers. Neither you nor baby won’t get away not wearing it, that’s an international safety guideline airlines need to adhere to.