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.

I find that wild! European airlines, Middle Eastern airlines and Asian airlines all have the infant belt. Have travelled multiple times long and short distances across Asia and Europe. Had no idea it wasn't a thing in America

You cannot compare a car with an airoplane. It feels strange, but cars and planes are very different. Car crashes happen often and involve sudden, violent stops, and cars also have airbags that can seriously injure a baby held on a lap. That’s why a baby must always be in their own car seat in a car.
On a plane, serious crashes are extremely rare. The seat belt is mainly for turbulence, not high-speed crashes, and planes don’t have airbags. Aviation rules are based on overall risk across millions of flights.

I guess, as a woman in her 50s, I'm also part of the problem with society today. If I have an aisle seat (which is always the one I'd choose given a choice), there's no way I would give it up for a middle seat, even for a short flight. That's not entitlement!

You may laugh, but many years ago we were coming back from Paris on Eurostar. A woman had placed her baby in a car seat in the space where 2 seats back on to each other and create a V shape. This is where luggage is stored. The woman had another child on her lap. Eurostar allows children on parents laps up to age 4.

If they are secured in a secured car seat leave them there....I'm.really not understanding this insistence by several posters that somehow lap carriage must be the safest option, it's contrary to all the info that's come out of decades of research.

This from a typical research paper on the subject:

:How do injuries occur?
Numerous studies have shown that adults are physically incapable of
holding onto a child in severe turbulence or in a crash, resulting in the child to being thrown
and at risk of striking objects within the aircraft, possibly incurring serious or fatal injuries as
well as injuring other people.

In aircraft crashes, lap held children can sustain crush injuries, or be trapped between the
parent and the seat or bulkhead in front of them, as a result of the lap belt restrained parent
flailing thrown forward, their upper body folding forward over the child. In response to these
occurrences, various devices (e.g., belly belts) have been developed to secure infants to the
parent. However, none of these devices provide the desired protection, because they do not
prevent the parent from crushing the child in a crash (13)."

(My emphasis)

I travelled alone from London to Dubai on an overnight flight with my 9-month-old baby and back just one month ago. I did not sleep at all. It was one night—difficult, yes; tiring, yes, but feasible.
If a parent feels they cannot manage this, they can choose to pay more for an additional seat and bring a car seat so the baby can sleep for a short period, usually up to a maximum of two hours. After that, the baby must be moved, as it is unsafe to leave them in a car seat for longer than two hours.
We are talking about human beings who cannot sit independently and for whom prolonged restraint in a car seat is unsafe. If someone cannot travel under these conditions, then they should either not take the trip or make alternative arrangements.

Surely nobody gives their seat up if they have paid extra for it.

Apparently @Dinoswearunderpants would!

I don't even usually pay extra for an aisle seat. I just select that seat when I purchase my ticket. I'm still not giving it up!

I partially agree but not about the reduced cost as then the other pax pay more.

Well I am travelling every year to Asia and europe and north Africa. I have never witnessed babies not safely strapped during take off , landing or turbulence. I cannot comment about other countries or airlines other than the big ones. But in any case we live in uk. My comments are for flights departing from the country we live in, and no flights departing from uk are allowed not to have these regulations.

I travelled with my 1 year old in 2019 from Madrid to Athens and I booked her a seat. She sat on my lap for take off and landing with the seatbelt attachment and in her seat playing with her little toys the rest of the time.

Laughing at this ...if you crash a plane a seat belt is'nt going to be much help is it.
And are babies expected to remain locked down in their own country of origin until they can tie a seat belt. Nice

Yes I absolutely would. It's really not going to be inconvenient for me to sit in a middle sit for 90 minutes instead of sat next to a baby.

Don't see how it's dangerous
Clearly you haven't travelled with a baby before lol

At no point have I said I paid to select my seat. I didn’t pay. So far on this trip I’ve been lucky enough to be allocated the aisle. Once I sat in the window by mistake, and the persons who booked insisted I moved. I apologised and did so.

Today I’m in the middle and I will have to suck it up. I wouldn’t expect anyone to move because of my leg length, that’s just rude.

Even if you had paid extra for your seat?
We had a whole family who wanted everyone to move so that they could sit together on the last EasyJet flight I took. They could have booked together like everyone else did. Eventually the mother and one of the children sat down next to me across the isle from each other. Everyone had to point out that they were in the exit row seats and children were not allowed there.
The airline had originally placed them together just behind each other. The crew were pretty fed up with them.

Read above, she never paid!

My question was even if you had paid?

Duplicate post

Short haul in South America is likely to be minimal amount to pay for a seat so yes, I'd move.

If it was a £90 extra leg room seat then no I wouldn't move.

Outside Europe and "the west" airlines do more or less their own thing. They pull rank when flying in and out of Europe etc but flying eg. Ethiopia to Nigeria they won't bother too much with the "excessive" rules. So they won't check your seatbelts or make people put up their tables. If you are happy holding a baby without an extra belt then who are they to force you. I haven't travelled in South America, but I imagine things are very similar in that respect.

Ex cabin crew, they’re meant to be seated on an adults lap until 2 year old. They also need an infant seatbelt connected to the adults.

Over 2 they need their own seat. I once was on a flight where the captain refused to take off until a kid (who looked about 8 or 9) got off their mothers lap as the crew couldn't pass the cabin secure checks . I think the kid had SEN but he kicked one cabin crew in the face when she was trying to help the mother get into his seat.

Personally I choose not to travel with my dc until they’re at least 4 and I’m confident they’ll sit in their own seat.

Any decent person would have swapped with the mum, or better yet swapped with the dad so the family could be together. Travelling with a baby is no joke and the mum would have been so grateful for some help. Would hardly have impacted you at all.

I wouldn’t move from the seat I had booked.

why? because I have had a bowel resection and need up several times per flight to go to the toilet! I pay extra to pre select that seat. NOPE sorry...baby or not..I will not give up my seat for someone that did not think to pre book..however I will be kind and move and even play with children. but NO I paid for that seat as I need the aisle.