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.

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.

Maybe they should put them in the the hand luggage above their heads.

strap a baby for 7/12 hours? How you will feed them , change their nappy? They should not be in a car seat for more than 2 hours. Do you even have kids and have these opinions?

Of course any sensible parent wouldn’t put them in it for a 12 hour flight, and they’d need plenty of breaks in the same way you do when driving long distances. The same rules for car seat safety would apply.

The taxes are minimal - £25 when I’ve flown with both TUI and Ryanair - in comparison to the cost of a full paying seat on the flight.

There’s pros and cons to it, which is why I said “a part of me” agrees. A newborn baby, up until around 6 months was okay for us. Past that, it was tough. I did a 4.5 hour flight with DD at 23 months old, it was incredibly difficult, not to mention the passenger in front reclined their chair whilst she was on my lap (which is their right to do). It was at that point that I thought she’d have been much happier if she was comfortably strapped into her car seat, with some breaks. Not ideal given the length of the flight, but we’d do a car journey that length with regular breaks too on the odd occasion so a one-off flight doing the same wouldn’t have been a problem. Alas, she’s now over 2 so we can purchase her a seat without needing to take a car seat, so all is well.

You must be pretty dim or not travelled much. Not only are babies allowed on your lap, you MUST have them on your lap for take off, landing and any turbulence. It's a pain in the arse when you managed to put them to sleep in the little bassinet they provide or next to you, if you bought them a seat, and you have to wake them up.

I have actually bought a seat for my baby once and it was a waste of money, he wanted to be on my lap the whole time.

Although I assume this is not actually about safety or comfort but the audacity of someone to take a baby to a public place.

We always book a seat, with some airlines you have to book via phone for a child under two.

There is or has been a tremendous amount of controversy about this...the ATM general view as I understand it is:

In a high deceleration but generally survivable accident (e.g. a high speed runway excursion) it's unlikely an adult willl be able to hold onto an unrestrained infant.....they can become a projectile....

Unfortunately there is also some evidence from accidents and tests that infants seemingly safely restrained by lapbelts can be injured or worse due to the adult doubling up or "jack knifing" down onto the child..

Overall the evidence seems to point to it being the case that infant restrained in a forward facing car seat, properly attached to the aircraft seat, stands the best chance of survival...

....Now the regulators are aware of all of this but their policy is also often determined by other factors...for example affordibility of car seats and the cost of buying a aircraft seat for it might force a family to drive,.not fly....and that might increase risk to the infant......

Yes four. Don't be ridiculous, obviously you can take them out for that. But during turbulence they should be strapped in. Look it up for yourself. Babies have literally died because they were travelling on parents laps.

The bassinet is a thing only on long haul flights, in my experience.

😂😁1

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.

It's not a safety guideline in America or south America though, as someone else pointed out.

Have you read the thread?

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.

Both times I've flown with a baby on my lap it was the aisle seat. In fact, the first time that was where the bassinet seat was - it was the central block of 4 seats, don't know if they still have that configuration. Admittedly in both cases DH had the seat next to me, and for the second time we had the entire row of three (as also had a toddler) so it's not impossible that the baby was officially in one of the other seats, but the flight attendants clearly knew I was holding them as they gave me the seat belt thingy.

I don't think it should be allowed from a safety angle. There's a flight attendant in America who has been vocally against it after a lap infant died when the plane she working on crashed. The crash was survivable and he would have survived in a car seat in his own seat.

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.

If the woman wanted to sit next to her partner then why didn’t she book it and pay for it instead of expecting some random stranger to book and pay for a seat to give it up?!?

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.

It sounds like she wanted her partner to sit in your seat and you to move.

Thank you. It's a short flight luckily. Myself and partner will sit together, and I'll ring the airline and ask about booking the extra seat. She screams bloody murder in car seats (car journeys are fun, but short by necessity!) so I really don't think we'll look into that option!

How are single parents supposed to manage long-haul, overnight flights with a baby on their lap without falling asleep? They should be seated by the window as policy. Probably the safest place for the baby. I flew to LA with my 20 month old on my lap on a night flight. We both slept almost all the way. She was perfectly well secured in the seat belt extension. For small babies they give you bassinets

Because OP BOOKED and PAID for the aisle seat. Why does she have to give it up for some random person with a baby? They could have also booked and paid for the seat they want. Having a child does not make you special in any way!

When I flew with DDs when they were small they were not allowed to have their own seat until they were two. With DD2 at 18 months she really could have done with her own seat as she was the size of a three year old and extremely wriggly!

Anyway, it wasn't a long flight and we coped. By the following year she was more easily distractable and had her own seat.

I've never had a problem with a baby on a plane. A noisy adult, sure!

This is true (the additional restraint) in Europe. It is not true in North or South America. In fact, they are illegal there.