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

[Frannyhy]

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.

They usually give you a belt that attaches to your own seatbelt to 'restrain' the baby. Maybe not a thing with South American airlines? Definitely with European ones though.

I've travelled multiple times with a lap baby. All was fine and not dangerous.

You're right. People should leave their babies at home when they go on holiday.

Well I would imagine it’s been massively risk assessed or it wouldn’t be allowed to happen

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.

Where's the laugh emoji when you need it ?

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

It sounds more like the problem was she wanted your seat, rather than the presence of the baby. I think babes on laps is better than them being in a too-big seat, especially if they can't sit up. People should pay beforehand for whatever seat they want though, and not expect you to move because they didn't bother to do 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.

Lap babies?
Do you get them from the same shop as laptops and lapdogs?

The safest option is to use a car seat.

God people who have babies and need to travel are sooooooo gross. Imagine the nerve of bringing your baby on a flight and putting the baby where the airline has told you to. Such entitlement.
<sarcasm>

That’s standard for babies in all airlines. How else do you think they travel? Sat on their own seat wobbling around.

What a silly rage baity thread. The baby will have been restrained by an attachable lap belt or this is a breach of the safety rules. If there’s an accident so severe that the lap belt and being held by a parent won’t protect the baby then it’s unlikely an adult would survive either, planes aren’t exactly known for minor crashes 🙄.

Babies are people too and obviously should be allowed to travel. You’d absolutely hate me OP as we regularly fly with our baby in business class.

It really isnt

planes are not cars, accidents are different and a baby on the lap of a parent is much safer if a plane experiences a disaster than fannying on with a car seat

You do know the OP at no point actually complained about the baby? Just that she didn’t think it was safe. This is hardly one of those “babies should be banned from flights because they cry” threads.

Are you annoyed she wanted your seat or that she didn't pay for a seat for a baby who wouldn't have sat in it? You seem to be conflating the two issues.

Does OP really think this hasn’t been risk assessed a million times?!

Also not buying “this is just about safety”. Some people have a bizarre intolerance to children in public but dress it up as something else.

Actually OP you’re right, write to BA. I better they never once thought of a safer option and need some rando to promote them

Car seats often take up more than one seat and also don’t easily work plane seat belt unless they developed a special attachment. Also unless it’s a car seat with wheels, quite heavy to carry a baby + car seat when you get off the plane

Okay so I’ve learned something, I didn’t know that some airlines require babies to be restrained. However this didn’t happen yesterday.

I could have swooped with the Dad? To a middle seat? No way.

The baby isn’t the issue although they should have an additional strap to hold them in place. The issue is entitled people, whether they have babies or not, thinking they can have something that somebody else has.

I did an internal flight in America with a 9 month old and when I asked for a lap belt they said don’t have lap belts in America. So they probably don’t in South America either.

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

Unless we were only travelling with hand luggage we normally put ours in the hold.

Babies under 2 must be on a lap for take off and landing, that's the rules.

I agree that a long haul flight with a toddler on your lap is not the one, for you or the people around you - those people should be buying a seat. But short haul with a newborn is entirely different, having a baby on your lap for a couple of hours, no big deal.
Even if you bought a seat for a smaller baby it's not like they can sit in it, and most UK car seats are not airline approved, and then the rules are different for every airline it's a minefield. Smaller babies can get a bassinet I bulk head seats for long haul.

You should never have to give up your seat though, if you've paid for that seat you're entitled to it and the mum with baby should have booked an aisle if that's what she wanted.