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.

@CatCaretaker I flew to Thailand with family last year. My grandson was 15 months. He had his own seat, though had to go onto a parents lap for take off, landing and turbulence.
My son contacted the airline to request a seat for my grandson, it couldn't be done online. Obviously you have to pay for the extra seat, but none of us wanted a 15 month on one of our laps for 14 hours.

Me neither. Never. Can't stand the goddamn entitlement. 'ooooh, I have a baaabyyy, it's sooo diiiificult for me, mooove' - like I give a single fuck about you and your brat? Want to sit somewhere specific: book it and pay for it. Don't want to pay - suck it up. You and your baby are not important, not 'speshul', and no one cares about you, except yourself.

I would go out of my way to NOT give them the seat.

Flew last week, and there was a couple, who sat separately, a few seats from each other. As soon as they sat down, they started harassing people around them to swap, so the dude could sit with his gf. No one did. The couple weren't best pleased, but had to suck it up. I don't see why some baby should be an exception.

South American family here, my baby was born in South America and we have travelled around. We got lap belts on planes, I don't remember not being given one at any point (they don't let you book a seat for a baby on most airlines unless they are two - this applies in Europe also).
Car seats in cars are also not a thing. I took my baby home from the hospital in my arms in the taxi and held him on my lap for most car rides as a baby. People are used to having their babies and young children on their laps in buses, planes etc.

You sound lovely

The issue with car seats on flights is it’s not just about the safety of the baby. Plane belts are not designed to hold car seats. So in the event of severe turbulence etc you have a massive heavy unsecured object in the cabin that could hurt someone. For all the people saying car seats are safest, if anyone could show CAA guidance on car seats on planes I would be interested.

Was she supposed to leave the baby at home? Do you think he should have had his own seat? What if the baby can’t sit yet? Don’t be so ridiculous. He should have had a seatbelt over him though for take off.

Infants on lap are safe, and different airplanes have slightly different safety set ups, but in Canada I haven’t seen or heard of infant belts or even been able to purchase a seat for an under two. I have friends in the states who prefer to fly with a car seat.

My husband used to have his own plane and did a LOT of research. He did install a car seat for when the kids were babies, but had me hold them for take off and landing and heavy turbulence because the seats are not as safe in a plane. I will garble this but direction of forces and impacts are all different as well as the fact you can’t install it properly. There is a red belt you can get to turn an airplane seatbelt into a 5 point harness that is excellent, but many commercial flights won’t let you use them for take off and landing.

And very much agree it’s annoying to sit next to small kids and all their paraphernalia and watching tablets without headphones. We apologize in advance and do our best. Most people prefer 8 hours of paw patrol and toy cars rolling around to 8h screaming and kicking, but not all. Overall our kids have generally been good on planes but that is truly just luck

On long haul flights small babies go into fixed bassinets which are like cots & these seats have extra room

The usual way this works (uk anyhow, and certainly where I worked) is the car seat is secured to the underlying seat using the passenger seat's own belt threaded as required through the frame, tightened and then buckle fastened.

As a result the seat and it's contents should never become an unsecured object...

Details should all be made clear in the relevant airline's guidance, usually on line..but if you want to pass time reading CAA guidance/tech specs on seats here's something for starters (it's from the helicopter section of the rules, fixed wing will be in there some where and there will.be commonalities.

.https://regulatorylibrary.caa.co.uk/965-2012/Content/Document%20Structure/07%20NCO/3%20AMC/AMC1%20NCO%20IDE%20H%20140%20Seats%20seat.htm

Not swapping with the dad ideally or the mum at a minimum was a dick move

I’m more shocked that she actually managed to fall asleep whilst holding a baby on a plane😂 . Mine daughter wouldn’t sit still

I mean when my child was a baby- talking 3 years ago- there was not an option where he could have had his own seat- It was a completely must that he had to be on my lap- and while seatbelt sign was off my husband and I could pass him between- for take off and landing he HAD to be on me with his seatbelt that attached to mine.

It isn’t safe. It’s that it is safer than road transportation so babies lives are put at risk because people can’t be trusted to make smart decisions.

I still think it should be banned. It is an imposition on adjacent passengers. Babies can also become projectiles. Most regions don’t use any sort of tether and even if they do it doesn’t protect the baby during turbulence, it just makes sure the baby stays in the crush zone of the parents body.

people should be buying a seat and using a car seat on the plane. If that is too expensive, they can’t afford the travel.

You can get headphones for small children.

Parents with infants should seat in the window seat... If there's an emergency, you don't want them between you and your exit.

Where are they meant to go if not on
lap

Or pack them in their suitcases

This.

You could have read your book in any seat and an aisle seat would be easier for a parent with a baby

I remember the first flight we took withDD (now 12). She was tiny, so appeared to be a small toddler, although was 2.5 (they visually thought she was about 16 months until they checked her passport)The pilot was asked to make the decision about whether she was safer on a lap for take off/landing or in her own seat. It clarified... its based only on age, not actual size so yes the tiny toddler had to sit alone, but the massive 21 mo in the row behind had to sit on his parents lap. She was gone a baby life jacket however.

I'm surprised that airlines haven't designed a proper baby seat yet, similar to a car seat.

Why didn’t they book one then?

How do you fit a car seat on a plane seat. How can you get the car seat on the place given you can only take a bag that fits a certain size

Also aren’t car seats going to be incredibly dangerous if because they aren’t designed for airplane seat belts they become loose and end up with turbulence lifting off the seat with baby in them and ending up who knows what position.

could you imagine the queue to take your seat if there are mums and dads trying to attach a car seat to a plane seat.

Even in cars you can travel with a child on your knee. Without the seat belt going around them

It’s more of an American thing. Many car seats there are airline approved and tested. I used to have an FAA approved toddler car seat with a specific airline belt routing path and instructions. It’s also common for infant carriers to be fitted only using the lap part of the belt as opposed to the ‘European belt routing’ so they can easily be fitted on a plane too. Whereas there are currently no CAA approved toddler seats on sale in the UK so it just isn’t a thing here.

Interestingly on the point about the safety of lap infants it’s widely accepted that it’s dangerous. The FAA had banning them on a wanted list of safety improvements for decades but never went ahead with the changes because they reasoned that if forced to pay for the extra seat many families would opt to drive instead and because air travel is so much safer than car travel it would likely cause more kids to be hurt in car accidents. I know that’s US specific but still interesting nevertheless.

Send them freight, it's cheaper and you get a nice first week on holiday without them there

You think a baby sat in a plane seat is safer thah on their parents lap?
If you think anyone is surviving a plane crash because of that little seat belt, you're nuts.

Babe, if the plane crashes it doesn't matter a fuck where or on what you, the baby or the pilot is sitting.